Making Feeding Fun - News and Weather For The Quad Cities -

Making Feeding Fun

Updated: Oct 24, 2012 05:02 PM CDT
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For many parents, trying to get their children to eat can be exasperating. It's estimated that about twenty percent of children from birth to five years old have feeding difficulties.

At the Genesis Pediatric Therapy Center in Bettendorf, there is a program designed to make feeding fun. At Food School, kids are encouraged to play with their hotdogs, crackers, buns and other foods.

Professionals encourage children to smell, touch, and taste food in a playful and positive way. It's an effort to make food a child's friend and help children to understand that food is not something to be feared.

Three and a half year old Jonathan Garrison has a feeding difficulty. His mother Bridget often says that some foods are too hot or cold.  He is very sensitive in his mouth to different types of textures and temperatures.

The program is helping Jonathan. At one class, he actually took a hotdog and put it to his lips. He also will sit at a table with other children in the program. Jonathan also will eat food at a select few restaurants in the area,

Bridget says her goal is to send her son to school and be able to pack a lunch. She is optimistic that Jonathan will eventually get to that point.