ARK's Blog

Question:  I am a speech therapist who works mostly with adults but a little in early intervention.  I currently have a two-year-old who was fed and is still fed quite a bit through a feeding tube, but who is able to chew and eat solid food now. However, she has a habit with all solid foods of taking one bite and then sucking the rest until she is either able to swallow it or she sp …

Question:  Hi Debbie - I work at a school for children who have special needs.  I serve a lot of students (many tube-fed) who really crave oral stimulation to the point that it is difficult to get them to do anything else with their hands.  We have awesome SLPs, but their main focus is more on communication.  I'm not so much looking for feeding preparation and support bec …

      As a feeding therapist, there are a lot of different tools in my therapy bag.  These are my favorites: . PROBE The  Probe is a simple but versatile tool for both feeding and oral motor applications. It was the very first product my husband and I made together 18 years ago, and it’s still a staple in my therapy bag today. The Probe has a white handle with a bl …

Chewelry is jewelry that's chewable (chew + jewelry = “chewelry”).  If you crave chewing on non-food items for any reason, chewable necklaces and bracelets are a way to safely satisfy that need (instead of chewing on other potentially harmful items like pencils, pens, shirts, toys, etc.). Why is chewelry needed?  Chewing can be a very effective way to calm and self- …