FAQ

Emily has worked via telehealth since the early 2020. After 100s of sessions and successful outcomes, she can say with confidence that it works.

YES. Most of Emily’s clients are regular people, just like you. Emily has developed simple to implement techniques that are easy for families to learn and apply. She has done extensive telehealth with an interpreter and even via screen with an interpreter, coaching was successful.

YES. Acupressure gives us many effective ways to treat the neck in safe and easy to access areas on the back, arms and legs. Integrative Manual Therapy uses positioning the body and holding near, but not on the problem area. There is no need to touch sensitive areas.

YES. Most kids start treatment with “sensory” issues or “defensiveness”. This behavior is a sign there is pain or injury in the area. First we use other areas of the body to clear the restrictions. With treatment, the defensiveness goes away and the child will allow touch and FOOD into their mouth!

Feeding coaching is a commitment. Time for 1 on 1, 45-60min sessions 1-3 times per week are needed. Plus home programs require 15-20 minutes each day. Coaching is only successful if families implement the program between sessions. Emily has a busy family life too, she understands to be effective coaching has to be do-able. She uses passive techniques as much as possible, such as kinesiology tape and earseeds that can be applied in the session and stay on for an extended period of time.

Feeding issues are complex by nature and can be compounded by medical issues. Most clients see some improvement in 1-3 sessions, such as better eye contact, less defensiveness or better movement. Significant results, like passing swallow studies and eating solids, usually take 12-15 sessions.

It depends. If there is a known swallowing/aspiration problem, you MUST continue to be followed for swallow studies and other routine care for the feeding issues. In this case Feeding Coaching is an adjunct treatment to address structural problems while you work with your feeding team. If you are working with a behavioral or sensory based feeding therapist you may want to continue and add feeding coaching as well. Others may not have been successful with behavior based or sensory approaches and are looking for a completely different approach. You are in the right place!!

Emily mainly works with babies and toddlers. However, she has successfully worked with children and teens to improve their chewing and swallowing skills or transition from tube feeding to solids. She has also worked with adults and older children to improve feeding skills which regressed following a surgery or neurological event.

Yes. Alignment issues are common with many genetic syndromes and Feeding Coach can be extremely helpful.

YES. Often kids without a medical diagnosis who struggle to eat had a difficult birth. Stress and strain on the neck from birth can interfere with feeding later. Feeding coaching will help resolve these issues.

Perhaps. We will not change the malformation. We might be able to improve the function. We definitely can teach adaptive techniques for feeding. Massage can be invaluable tool for keeping the lungs healthy if there is some aspiration potential, in conjunction with your regular medical team.

You need a computer or other device that works for Zoom calls. Other items that can be helpful include towels or blankets for positioning, earseeds, and kinesiology tape are helpful.

Yes. Adhesive sensitivity is a common problem. It limits the more passive ways to address the feeding issues, but there are many ways to do feeding coaching without tape or seeds.

Yes. Disrupting a sleeping baby is not necessary. If baby is keen to participate in Feeding Coaching during the session, that is great. If not, videos, diagrams or whatever learning supports you need to follow your child’s program when she’s ready to participate are provided. Just make sure to schedule when the carers are available to learn.