Welcome
Providing Speech Therapy services with a focus on feeding/swallowing for all ages in the comfort of your home.
About us
Providing Specialized Feeding and Swallowing Solutions via TeleHealth or in-person at your home depending on your location/individual needs.
We specialize in evidence-based feeding and swallowing therapy for clients from birth to end of life. Using holistic approaches, we provide individualized care in order to promote optimal feeding outcomes and help individuals of all ages achieve their nutritional and developmental goals.
About Our Feeding Therapy Services
We offer services in the comfort of your home in order to create a familiar and natural environment during sessions. Following a free phone consultation, we will develop an intervention plan that is individualized to you or your loved one's specific needs.
Using a combination of therapy techniques, we ensure the most effective outcomes for you or your loved one. We specialize in cerebrovascular accidents, tracheostomy care, autism spectrum disorders, prematurity, sensory-based feeding, Parkinson's disease, dementia, as well as a variety of other diagnoses that may have an impact on the swallowing mechanism.
Services
Feeding Difficulties in Infancy and Childhood
We provide feeding and lactation support to help you reach your nutrition goals for your infant. We can assist in counseling and parent/caretaker coaching to develop the most effective way to provide nutrition and promote optimal growth outcomes. With specialized training in supporting oral feeding in fragile infants, we can assist in medically involved care and work closely with your physician to ensure safety, quality, and efficiency during feeding. We assist in providing treatment techniques with a focus on proper positioning, adjusting bottle nipple flow rates, pacing, and assessing for signs and symptoms of aspiration.
Throughout development, your child may require ongoing follow up for feeding and swallowing with the transition from the bottle. Feeding therapy can be helpful when initiating pureed and solid foods, as well as introducing cup and straw drinking when appropriate.
Warning signs your infant may be a candidate for feeding intervention: poor weight gain, coughing/gagging, arching/crying during feeding, only eating when asleep, increased time during feeds, and poor latch or weak suck.
Sensory/Oral-Motor Based Feeding Therapy
With specialized training in sensory/oral-motor based feeding, we can assist your child in texture aversions, poor food tolerance, food avoidance, immature chewing, overstuffing, and behavioral difficulties during meals. Early intervention is critical for future mealtime success once you identify a possible feeding delay.
Warning signs to identify possible feeding difficulty: poor weight gain, frequent gagging/coughing/choking, avoidance of a particular food group of texture, ongoing picky eating, difficulty transitioning to purees or table foods, increased family/child stress during meals.
Dysphagia in the Adult Population
Adult dysphagia may occur in people who have been diagnosed with neurological disorders (such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's Disease), following a stroke, traumatic brain injury, cervical spinal fusions, vocal pathologies, after receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, and more. A speech therapist can help determine the potential causes of oropharyngeal dysphagia. The Feeding Therapist is trained in interpreting instrumental swallow assessments (MBSS/FEES), to create an exercise and/or safe feeding plan to suit your specific needs based on your individual diagnosis.
Warning signs for dysphagia in adults: weight loss, history of frequent pneumonias, coughing/choking episodes, feeling like liquids/solids "get stuck", hoarseness, repeatedly clearing the throat, wet voice or sounding "gurgly" after swallowing, and shortness of breath associated with eating/drinking.
Telehealth/Virtual therapy
Overview of Virtual Therapy
There are many benefits to virtual therapy to consider:
- Provides increased opportunity for family coaching at the same as individualized therapy
- Sessions can be held during preferred times during the day when the client prefers to eat
- We help bridge the gap in carry over between foods accepted in therapy versus foods tried at home
- Creating therapy within a home environment can assist with overall comfort when developing feeding and swallowing skills
In order to complete therapy via telehealth, you will need a computer with a working camera and access to the internet. All therapy will be conducted using HIPAA-compliant platforms for safety and confidentiality.
Not every client will be a good candidate for virtual therapy. During the initial phone consultation, we will discuss a plan of care that best suits your individual needs.
Meet The Feeding Therapist
Meet The Feeding Therapist
Hannah Steiger, M.S. CCC-SLP, CLC
Hannah is certified by the American Speech and Hearing Association, maintains her Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) and is licensed by the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. Also holding a certification in lactation management, she is competent as a lactation counselor (CLC) to assist with breastfeeding and human lactation support, including assessing the latching and feeding process, providing corrective interventions, counseling mothers, and applying knowledge of milk production.
With a background in psychology, child and family studies, as well as women and gender studies, she creates an evidence-based and holistic treatment approach in order to improve the client's quality of life in whatever capacity that means for them. With a background in working in the acute care hospital setting, Hannah has had extensive training and experience conducting swallow evaluations and implementing intervention plans for medically-complex individuals across the lifespan. Hannah founded The Feeding Therapist on the principle that feeding and swallowing should be comfortable, enjoyable, and promote optimal nutritional outcomes for all ages and walks of life.
Advanced trainings:
- SOS Approach to Feeding
- SOFFI (Supporting Oral Feeding in Fragile Infants)
- Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile Certification (MBSIMP)
- Emory Voice Center Laryngeal Imaging and Fiber Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing Workshop (FEES)