Screening Tool
Screening is a strategy used for the purpose of investigation, and is positioned alongside the Pediatric Feeding Care Cycle as an optional precursor to assessment and management.
This section includes screening considerations related to:
- the purpose of feeding and swallowing screening
- screening tools
Assessment Tools & Questions
Assessment is the foundation for intervention of every care plan. Assessment and re-assessment of feeding difficulties includes working through the assessment questions, considering each of the health domains (Goday, et al., 2019), identifying where there may be dysfunction, and documenting.
This section includes assessment considerations related to:
- feeding and swallowing assessments
- oral hygiene and dental care
- lingual frenulum function
Food Record
A food record gives insight into a child’s daily food and drink intake, diet variety, the family routine, and feeding environment. Providing caregivers with a food record in preparation for their visit with the healthcare team can facilitate conversation and build rapport during the clinical visit.
Collaborative Goal Wheel
Collaborative goal setting provides a means by which to plan ahead, provide direction and establish a clear, mutually understood trajectory of the child’s management or treatment plan between the healthcare professional and parent or caregiver, and across the interdisciplinary team. Parent, and if possible child, participation in the development of the child’s own meaningful goals and treatment plan, provides:
- confidence that their treatment team is working in a coordinated way to help them work towards goals that are important to them
- consistency, e.g. commitment to one plan, across the EFS team, and parent or caregivers
- improved patient outcomes.
Feeding Care Plan
A clearly defined feeding care plan is an important part of successfully managing a pediatric feeding disorder. It is an essential part of communicating, and implementing safe and successful strategies across multiple care settings, e.g. grandparents, daycare and school. A feeding care plan is also a useful means for documenting interventions that may also require extra caution and attention, e.g. related to aspiration risk, allergies.
