Mealtimes Should Not Be a Battle

PediaSpeech offers an individualized pediatric feeding therapy intensive for struggling eaters in Atlanta and the greater Georgia area — combining the SOS Approach to Feeding, the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol, and the Get Permission Approach to address every dimension of your child's feeding challenges.

Program introduction

Feeding challenges are among the most stressful experiences a family can face. When mealtimes become a source of anxiety, conflict, or fear — for your child and for you — the impact reaches every part of daily life. And yet feeding difficulties are among the most under-treated conditions in pediatric therapy, often dismissed as phase behavior or mismanaged with approaches that increase food refusal rather than reduce it.

At PediaSpeech, we take a different approach. Our pediatric feeding therapy intensive is built on the understanding that a struggling eater is rarely struggling for just one reason. A child who gags on textures needs a different clinical entry point than a child with weak jaw muscles or one who has experienced feeding trauma. Matching the right framework to the right child — and knowing how to layer multiple approaches when needed — is what separates effective feeding therapy from ineffective feeding therapy.

Our feeding intensive combines three evidence-informed frameworks: the SOS Approach to Feeding for sensory and behavioral feeding challenges, the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol for oral motor strength and coordination, and the Get Permission Approach to ensure that every step in treatment is guided by the child's own readiness. Together, these frameworks address the sensory, motor, and emotional dimensions of eating — which is exactly what complex feeding cases require.

OUR CLINICAL APPROACH

No single feeding framework works for every child. Our clinical team is trained in three distinct, evidence- informed approaches and integrates them based on each child's individual profile — their sensory processing, oral motor skills, feeding history, and emotional relationship with food.

SENSORY & BEHAVIORAL

SOS Approach to Feeding

The Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach addresses the full sensory experience of eating — smell, sight, touch, taste — using a progressive, play-based hierarchy that reduces food anxiety and expands food acceptance without force or pressure.

Best for: Children with extreme food selectivity, sensory-based refusal, anxiety around new foods, or highly restricted diets.

ORAL MOTOR STRENGTH

Beckman Oral Motor Protocol

The Beckman Protocol uses assisted movement and stretch reflexes to assess and improve the strength, coordination, range, and control of the lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue — the physical structures needed for safe, efficient chewing and swallowing.

Best for: Children with weak oral motor skills, difficulty chewing age- appropriate textures, jaw instability, or reduced oral awareness.

CHILD-LED READINESS

Get Permission Approach

The Get Permission Approach ensures that every step in feeding therapy is guided by the child's own readiness signals rather than a clinician-imposed timeline. Treatment progresses only when the child indicates willingness — building trust, reducing trauma, and creating lasting change.

Best for: Children with feeding trauma, significant mealtime distress, history of force-feeding, or extreme anxiety responses to food.

Why We Use All Three

Most feeding therapy programs specialize in one framework. We use all three because feeding challenges are rarely one dimensional. A child with extreme food selectivity and weak jaw muscles and a history of gagging-induced distress needs the sensory hierarchy of SOS, the oral motor support of Beckman, and the pacing structure of Get Permission, often within the same treatment plan.

Our clinical team conducts a thorough feeding evaluation before the intensive begins. We assess sensory responses to food properties, oral motor function, feeding history, mealtime environment, and the child's current emotional relationship with food. The combination of frameworks used in your child's program is determined by that evaluation — not by a predetermined protocol.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE FEEDING INTENSIVE

The PediaSpeech feeding intensive is a structured, individualized program that moves through three connected phases — identical in structure to our Intensive Family Program for speech and motor speech disorders.

Phase 1: Intensive Launch

Your child's program begins with a concentrated period of individualized feeding therapy sessions — a personalized schedule designed around their specific feeding profile. Alongside the intensive, your family participates in twice-weekly synchronous video coaching sessions where you review footage from your child's sessions and learn the exact strategies being used. You leave the intensive period with a written home feeding program tailored to your child's current level, your family's mealtimes, and the foods most relevant to your daily life.

Phase 2: Active Coaching
Following the intensive, your child continues with weekly feeding therapy sessions at PediaSpeech with guaranteed priority scheduling. Biweekly family coaching calls keep you supported as you implement strategies at home and navigate the natural ups and downs of feeding progress. Your home program evolves as your child's skills and tolerance develop.

Phase 3: Maintenance and Independence
As your child'ss comfort and skill with food increases, we taper the coaching support intentionally. Monthly check-in calls replace biweekly sessions, and the focus shifts from building new skills to consolidating gains and expanding independence. Our goal is a child who approaches mealtimes with curiosity rather than dread — and a family that knows exactly how to support that.

What's Included

• Individualized feeding evaluation: A comprehensive assessment of your child's sensory profile, oral motor function, feeding history, and mealtime environment before the intensive begins.

• Intensive feeding therapy sessions: A personalized schedule using the SOS Approach, Beckman Protocol, and/or Get Permission Approach based on your child's specific needs.

• Twice-weekly family coaching video calls: Live synchronous sessions during the intensive where you review session footage and learn the strategies your child's therapist is using.

• Personalized home feeding program: A written plan built around your child'ss current level and your family's actual mealtimes — not a generic food list.

• Priority scheduling for weekly therapy: Your standing weekly appointment is held for you after the intensive ends. No waitlist, no disrupted momentum.

• Ongoing family coaching calls: Biweekly during active therapy, monthly during maintenance — keeping you confident and supported throughout.

• Tapering support toward mealtime independence: A deliberate structure that builds your family's capacity so mealtimes are manageable long after the formal program ends.

Who the Feeding Intensive is for

The PediaSpeech feeding intensive is designed for children whose feeding challenges are significantly impacting their nutrition, growth, development, or family wellbeing — and for families who are ready to make a committed, structured investment in change.

The program is particularly well-suited for children with:

Extreme food selectivity or severely restricted diets: Children who eat fewer than 20 foods, refuse entire food groups or textures, or whose diets are nutritionally inadequate.
Sensory-based feeding difficulties: Children who gag, retch, or panic in response to food smells, textures, colors, or temperatures — particularly common in children with autism, sensory processing differences, or ARFID.
Oral motor feeding challenges: Children who fatigue quickly during meals, pocket food, struggle to manage mixed textures, chew inefficiently, or have reduced tongue and jaw coordination.

Feeding trauma or severe mealtime anxiety: Children with a history of force-feeding, traumatic medical feeding experiences, NG or G-tube dependence, or extreme distress responses at mealtimes.
Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD): Children with a formal or emerging diagnosis of Pediatric Feeding Disorder, which may involve medical, nutritional, skill-based, and psychosocial components.
Children who have not progressed with weekly feeding therapy: Families who have been working with a feeding therapist in a weekly model without meaningful progress often find that the intensive structure and increased frequency produces the breakthrough they have been waiting for.

The program is also an excellent fit for families who want to be active, informed participants in their child's feeding treatment. The family coaching component is central to the program — not optional. If you want to understand what your therapist is doing and why, and you want to be equipped to handle mealtime challenges at home with confidence, this program was designed with you in mind.

SIGNS YOUR CHILD MAY NEED A FEEDING EVALUATION

Many families wait years before seeking specialized feeding therapy — often because their child's challenges were minimized, misattributed to normal picky eating, or addressed with approaches that weren't a good fit. If any of the following sound familiar, a feeding evaluation at PediaSpeech may be the right next step:

• Your child eats fewer than 20 different foods
• Mealtimes regularly involve crying, gagging, vomiting, or complete refusal
• Your child panics or shuts down in response to new foods on the table
• Food refusal is affecting your child's growth, weight, or nutritional status
• Your child can only tolerate one texture, temperature, or brand of a food
• Feeding has become a source of daily family stress and conflict
• Your child was tube-fed and is transitioning to oral eating
• Your child has been in weekly feeding therapy without meaningful progress

WHY PEDIASPEECH FOR FEEDING THERAPY

PediaSpeech Services is a pediatric speech-language pathology practice in Decatur, Georgia, serving families throughout the Atlanta metro area. Our feeding therapy team holds advanced training in the SOS Approach to Feeding, the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol, and the Get Permission Approach — and brings the clinical judgment to know how and when to combine them.

We are a small practice by design. Every child who enters our feeding intensive receives individualized evaluation, a customized treatment plan, and the direct involvement of a senior clinician throughout the program. We do not apply the same protocol to every child. We assess each child's specific feeding profile and build their program around what that child actually needs.

Our approach to feeding therapy is grounded in a fundamental clinical belief: children do not refuse food to be difficult. They refuse food because eating feels unsafe, uncomfortable, or overwhelming. Our job is to make food feel safe — one small, clinically reasoned step at a time. The Get Permission Approach ensures we never move faster than the child is ready for. The SOS hierarchy ensures we build food acceptance systematically and without force. The Beckman Protocol ensures the oral structures are physically capable of the demands we're placing on them.

That is what comprehensive, integrated feeding therapy looks like. And it is what every family who comes to PediaSpeech for a feeding intensive receives.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the SOS Approach to Feeding?

The Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach to Feeding is a comprehensive, transdisciplinary program developed by Dr. Kay Toomey that addresses feeding challenges by systematically building a child's tolerance for and interaction with food across all sensory properties — sight, smell, touch, taste, and texture. Rather than forcing food exposure, SOS uses a carefully sequenced hierarchy that begins with the child simply tolerating the presence of a food and progresses gradually toward tasting and eating it. It is one of the most widely used evidence-informed frameworks for pediatric feeding disorders.

What is the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol?

The Beckman Oral Motor Protocol is an assessment and intervention approach developed by Debra Beckman, CCC-SLP, that uses assisted movement and stretch reflexes to evaluate and improve the strength, coordination, range, and control of the oral structures — lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue — needed for safe and efficient chewing and swallowing. It is particularly effective for children whose feeding challenges have a motor component, including difficulty managing specific textures, jaw fatigue during meals, or reduced oral awareness.

What is the Get Permission Approach?

The Get Permission Approach is a child-led feeding framework developed by Lori Overland, CCC-SLP, that prioritizes the child's own readiness signals above all else. Rather than moving through a feeding hierarchy based on a clinician's timeline, the Get Permission Approach requires explicit or implicit permission from the child before each new step in treatment. This approach is particularly important for children with feeding trauma, significant anxiety around food, or a history of experiences where eating was forced or coercive. It creates the trust and safety that make lasting feeding progress possible.

Does my child need all three approaches?

How is this different from regular weekly feeding therapy?

The intensive model concentrates treatment into a focused period with much higher frequency than weekly therapy allows. This is particularly important for feeding, where consistent, repeated exposure and practice is critical to building new food acceptance and oral motor skills. The family coaching component also sets this program apart — you leave the intensive period equipped to handle mealtimes at home with clinical-grade strategies, not just hoping your child generalizes what they did in the therapy room.

Do you accept insurance for feeding therapy?

How do we get started?

Your child deserves a mealtime that isn't a battle

If your family has been managing feeding challenges alone — or has been through feeding therapy without real progress — we would like to talk. The PediaSpeech Feeding Intensive is available to a limited number of families each quarter.

Schedule Your Feeding Consultation