Inpatient services
We offer services to inpatients at Boston Children’s Hospital who have feeding and swallowing difficulties. The speech-language pathologists in the Feeding and Swallowing Program work closely with medical, surgical, nursing, and other allied health professionals, as well as with families, to achieve the best outcomes possible for our patients.
Outpatient services
We offer outpatient feeding and swallowing services in our main campus in the Longwood Medical Area. We are also providing services in our Waltham and Weymouth locations.
The following services are available outpatient:
Clinical feeding evaluations
During a clinical feeding evaluation, the feeding therapist will generally observe your child eating and drinking to learn about their feeding and swallowing skills. The feeding therapist may ask questions about your child’s feeding, medical, and developmental history, any current challenges or difficulties related to feeding and feeding behaviors, your child’s feeding skills, and your child’s response to new strategies, techniques, and/or feeding equipment.
The following skills may be observed during a clinical feeding evaluation:
- Breastfeeding and/or bottle feeding
- Cup drinking
- Spoon-feeding
- Chewing development
- Solid food texture progression
- Swallowing safety
The following areas may also be assessed during a clinical feeding evaluation:
- Oral mechanism examination
- Oral reflexes
- Oral motor skills for feeding
- Sensory-based feeding responses
- Behaviorally based feeding responses
Swallowing skills and airway protection during swallowing
Instrumental Swallowing Assessment: Modified Barium Swallow Studies (MBS) and Fiberoptic
In collaboration with the Radiology Department, we offer dynamic X-ray swallowing assessments at Boston Children’s Hospital in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston.