Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapist

Definition

Occupational therapists provide interventions to clients of all ages with feeding, eating and swallowing difficulties. Occupational therapists provide comprehensive rehabilitative, habilitative, and palliative dysphagia care, which includes collaborating with clients to provide individualized compensatory swallowing strategies, modified diet textures, adapted mealtime environments, enhanced feeding skills, preparatory exercises and positioning to clients, reinforcement of mealtime strategies to enhance and improve swallowing skills, and training to caregivers to enhance eating and feeding performance. Occupational therapists provide screening and in-depth clinical assessment which may include instrumental dysphagia assessments including videofluroscopy.