Sensory Feeding Group

One continual obstacle that I encountered over more than a decade as a practicing pediatric feeding therapist was a lack of exposure to sensory exploration or play. Our brain development depends highly on opportunities to explore the world through sensory play.  These sensory experiences are crucial to feeding development as well. So, I embarked on a search for ways to create positive memories between food and sensory play for my little patients.

Since kids tend to be each other’s best teachers, I decided that whatever method I found had to be something I could implement in a group setting. Why reinvent the wheel I thought, there must be something out there that is full of sensory evidence based fun and easy to replicate in a hospital setting. One thing I was sure of – I didn’t want another cookie cutter “let’s just eat our food” type group activity. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much luck. So I took a leap of research-filled faith and decided to explore on my own. And after years of beta runs, pre- and post- parent surveys, at times confusing data, and plenty of toddler eye-rolls, I think I’ve landed on something good. Actually, I know it’s good.

My husband and I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world and we always rate our trips based on two components – food being one. For some reason, food can trigger memories and emotions in a way that other experiences can’t. In order to deconstruct this culinary mystification, we have to go back to Neuro 101 to understand how memories are created, retained and retrieved in our brains – but that is probably a topic for another article. For current purposes, it’s important to know that memories are stored throughout the brain as groups of neurons that are primed to fire together in the same pattern that created the original experience, and each component of a memory is stored in the brain area that initiated it (e.g. sight, touch, taste).  Confusing? Let’s use a trip to Thailand as an example, specifically a cooking class where my husband and I learned to make the best fried Thai-rolls that were wrapped in basil leaves, and dipped in a delicious concoction of vinegar, shallots and sugar. Even now years later while typing this, my mouth is watering and I physically remember the heat in the tiny kitchen. All my senses spring into action and a really good memory is retrieved by all the senses that once helped create that original memory. This was a great feeding experience, or what I like to call “a food-gasm”. Now let’s flip the coin and share a bad food related memory. One of my fondest memories growing up was the numerous weekend sleepovers at my cousin Mylene’s house. Every morning, we would have sugary filled cereals for breakfast. It was there however, where I also I tried brussel sprouts for the first time. I was probably six years old, but I remember it like it happened yesterday. I gagged in reaction to the tasteless, peculiar texture (blanched brussel sprouts are never a good idea). To this day, I do not eat brussel sprouts cooked like THAT. It wasn’t until I was a fully-grown adult (double innuendo) that I was able to enjoy brussel sprouts (only in salads or roasted with bacon). That was bad feeding experience that has altered one of my food choices for life. 

Now enough about my food related memories, and let’s bring it back to why we’re here in the first place – sensory feeding group. Knowing what we know now about how food memories are influenced by the sensory experiences that create them, we have to ask ourselves this question: “How does sensory memory affect our pediatric population in regards to feeding?” Using this question as my guide, I decided to figure out a way to create a similar positive food experience for my little patients. And it goes as follows.

First order of business: Design a setting and atmosphere that will allow for good memories to unfold. One that they will look forward to coming back to. Second, offer fun and non-food specific introductory activities. For example, I like to use books, most have nothing to do with food. This step is important as we set the focus not on food and eating, but on shared experiences and collaborations. That is followed by hands on exploration. This is the part where we dive into sensory play. It’s important that as the leader, you lead by example. So, roll up your sleeves and dive in. Make it a step-by-step process and allow the kids to excitingly look forward to the final product. Teach the little ones to enjoy the process rather than worry about putting anything in their mouths. Then bring it all together. We talk about how the food items felt and what we were able to do with them (e.g., what was easy, surprising, fun) and what we didn’t like. We encourage talk about how the sensory experiences make us feel, but we do not allow negative labels. For example, one can say “it was mushy and I didn’t like it”. However,”it’s yucky” is not allowed. What one might find yucky, another might find yummy and we have to respect each other’s tastes. Finally, clean up. This is my last attempt for everyone to touch all items one last time. It’s interesting how ‘clean up’ will sway kids to quickly touch non-preferred items in the hopes to be all done. 

Remember, this approach to sensory feeding group is about leading kids through a journey of senses, and not rushing to the finish line of eating. Feeding is an adventure, even for those of us who are good eaters. Through my groups, I try to create food-related opportunities to alter sensory experiences in a positive way. So, next time my patients encounter the same food items in the real world, or during individual feeding therapy, only good sensory memories are retrieved.