Infants and Children with Complex Feeding and Swallowing Disorders: Challenging Decision Making - Live Webinar - Two Sessions

Infants and Children with Complex Feeding and Swallowing Disorders: Challenging Decision Making - Live Webinar - Two Sessions is organized by Education Resources, Inc. (ERI) and will be held from Dec 11 - 12, 2025.

Description:
Challenges with infants and children demonstrating complex swallowing and feeding disorders are addressed in a holistic evidence-based framework that considers interrelating systems. Populations range from newborn infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) through children in school based & rehabilitation settings. Problem solving/intervention will be addressed through lecture, videos, and case analyses. Functional outcomes are emphasized through targeted intervention strategies based on sensorimotor learning principles and consideration of neural plasticity. Problem areas include: airway (e.g., laryngomalacia, laryngeal cleft, vocal fold paralysis, tracheostomy/ventilator); GI tract (e.g., gastroesophageal reflux, eosinophilic esophagitis); nutrition/hydration; advancing feeding in NICU and beyond to include tongue & lip tie; tube feeding & weaning; barriers to oral feeding & intervention strategies with; picky/finicky eaters. Discussions will include the urgent need for specific measurable outcomes and pros/cons for varied frequency and intensity of direct and indirect interventions/therapies.

Learning Objectives:

• Apply knowledge of airway deficits for management decisions with infants and children who demonstrate oropharyngeal dysphagia
• Identify barriers to successful oral feeding (e.g., nutrition, GI tract, and neurologic conditions)
• Determine primary factors necessary to advance oral feeding for infants in NICU with primary caregivers actively involved
• Demonstrate strategies for advancing oral feeding with tube feeding
• Implement intervention strategies for picky eaters/children on autism spectrum with a range of sensory and behavior principles
• Determine strategies to measure intervention/treatment outcomes by time, frequency, and intensity.