What Is Feeding Therapy for Picky Eaters?

“What is Feeding Therapy for Picky Eaters?” was written by Yemina Goldberg and edited/reviewed by Maurya Hart, BSc, RD and Jackie Silver, MHSc, RD.

Medical Disclaimer: The information in this article is meant for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be personalized medical or nutrition advice. For a plan tailored to your needs, please consult with a Registered Dietitian or qualified healthcare professional.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links with which I may earn a small commission but at no additional cost to you. Affiliate links help bloggers like me to provide you with free content. All opinions expressed here are genuine. 

Last updated: August 4, 2025

Introduction to Feeding Therapy for Picky Eaters

There are many different types of feeding therapy. Feeding therapy involves working with a healthcare professional to manage challenges with eating. It may be done with a registered dietitian, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist or psychologist/therapist .  

Although feeding therapy is usually done by healthcare professionals, there are many components that are carried out by individuals and parents of children who have feeding challenges. In this blog post, we will cover examples of feeding challenges and how therapy can help, different types of feeding therapy, and common misconceptions. 

Note: Throughout this article, we will use the terms “picky eaters” and “selective eaters” interchangeably. 

When Is Feeding Therapy for Picky Eaters Necessary?

Feeding therapy can be helpful for many different challenges related to eating that span from physical challenges to behavioral challenges. Here are some examples of challenges that may warrant exploring feeding therapy:

Physical challenges associated with feeding include:

• Trouble chewing or swallowing, for example, having trouble chewing hard foods, such as raw carrots. This can also look like gagging or vomiting at mealtimes.
  
• Sensory sensitivities that impact eating, such as an aversion to certain textures, tastes or smells
  
• Symptoms of nutritional deficiencies, such as fatigue, delayed healing, or frequently getting sick 
  
• Poor growth or weight loss, for example, not following their growth curve or unintentionally losing weight

Behavioral challenges that impact feeding include:

• You or your child has a very limited diet, with fewer than 10-15 safe foods in their accepted repertoire
  
• Consistently avoiding entire food groups for extended periods of time, for example never eating vegetables or fruits
  
• Extreme anxiety or distress around new foods. For example, having a panic attack when being asked to try a new food

Regardless of the challenge, there are a variety of feeding therapies to choose from that may help. 

What Are Different Types of Feeding Therapy For Picky Eaters? 

There are three common types of feeding therapy: sensory feeding therapy, nutrition feeding therapy, and parenting feeding therapy. Depending on your unique situation, one of these therapy types may be more helpful to you or your child. 

Sensory Feeding Therapy

Sensory feeding therapy focuses on addressing challenges with feeding that are related to sensory sensitivities. The goal is to gradually increase sensory tolerance to different foods.

One popular therapy in the sensory category is called SOS, which stands for Sequential-Oral-Sensory. SOS feeding therapy helps people with feeding challenges by looking at the whole person to find the root cause, which may often be sensory challenges. 

Rather than focusing just on eating, the program uses playful, stress-free activities to slowly make a child comfortable around new food. Kids learn about food in gradual steps, starting with just being near it, then touching, smelling, tasting, and finally, eating it. 

For example, they might make practice having a food on their plate and moving it around with their fingers, as first steps to get used to the texture and smell of the food. 

It’s a gentle, step-by-step process designed to make mealtimes happier and more successful. SOS feeding therapy tends to be the best for selective eaters (e.g., less than 10-15 accepted foods, avoids entire food groups), with sensory preferences or who have anxiety around trying new food. SOS techniques can be used alongside other therapy techniques for people with other challenges, such as swallowing difficulties.

Jackie Silver, founder of Jackie Silver Nutrition, is trained in the SOS Approach to Feeding and incorporates its techniques to support neurodivergent clients in gently and gradually expanding their list of safe foods. By the end of the process, parents of autistic children or neurodivergent adults often feel confident and empowered with practical tools to continue introducing new foods at their own pace.

If you’re interested in working with one of our dietitian nutritionists to expand food variety, book a FREE 15 minute discovery call today!

Nutrition Therapy

Nutrition therapy focuses on making sure a person is eating enough to meet their energy and micronutrient requirements and that a child is growing and developing appropriately for their needs.

Oftentimes, if an individual is not meeting their energy or nutrient requirements, the first priority will be to make sure that they eat enough to meet those needs. It’s important to manage challenges such as unintentional weight loss (especially in growing children), before moving on to introducing new foods.

A registered dietitian will work with you or your child to optimize your dietary intake, to make sure you are getting enough energy, protein, and nutrients needed for daily activities and growth. One way we might do this is by using a high-energy, high-protein diet, which involves adding high-calorie and high-protein foods like nuts, dairy, and meat.

If it is difficult for someone to meet their needs through food, we might also use oral nutritional supplements (ONS) to help meet energy and nutrient needs. ONS, such as Ensure or Boost, can be store-bought or homemade, and are designed to provide you with nutrients in the same way that a meal does, but they are drinkable and easier to consume!

ONS can be a useful tool, for short term or long term, and there are many different flavors and varieties (e.g., plant based, gluten free) to meet individual needs. One plant-based nutritional shake that we love is Sperri, which comes in Strawberry, Vanilla Maple, and Chocolate Flavours. 

Another popular approach in the nutritional category is supplementation. Using vitamin or mineral supplementation, a registered dietitian will assess you or your child for micronutrients  that may be missing in the diet (such as iron, vitamin D, vitamin B12, etc.), and assess whether there are any signs of nutritional deficiencies. 

A dietitian will also likely recommend that you get bloodwork from a pediatrician or primary care physician to check for any nutrient deficiencies. Then, we’ll make a plan to add supplements to your daily routine. 

This approach could be used for children or adults and is especially useful if there are certain food groups that are avoided or symptoms of nutritional deficiencies. For example, if a child does not accept dairy products, it would be important to add vitamin D and calcium supplements to support bone growth. If someone does not eat many fruits or vegetables, we may add a multivitamin. Micronutrient supplementation can be also used while other feeding therapy is pursued.

To learn more about vitamins for picky eaters, check out this detailed blog post.

Parenting Based Interventions for Feeding Therapy

Parenting based interventions for feeding therapy focuses on techniques that parents can use to support their children during feeding times

For parents that report mealtimes are extremely stressful, one of the first things we’ll work on is establishing a meal time routine. Creating a predictable eating environment often helps reduce stress and anxiety surrounding mealtimes for all members of the family.

This might involve giving children a verbal warning (e.g., “We’re about to eat in 10 minutes!”) and starting to create the expectation of them clearing their dishes away at the end of the meal. Once a consistent routine is in place, we may start to expand accepted foods.

Another popular approach in the parenting category to increase variety in the diet is food chaining. Food chaining involves starting  from a food that is already enjoyed or accepted, and gradually builds a chain from that food by making small changes. The goal of food chaining is increasing the number, types, and nutritional value of foods that you or your child eats. 

For example, if your child eats hot dogs, you can work towards a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, starting by changing their beef hot dog to a turkey hot dog. This is a good strategy for children who eat very few foods, or don’t eat entire food groups.

To learn more about food chaining, check out our blog post which goes into more detail about it. 

If you feel like you need more support, our team of dietitian nutritionists at Jackie Silver Nutrition is equipped to help neurodivergent children, teens, and adults with gently expanding their food intake. Book a FREE 15 minute discovery call to chat with us about how we can support you.

Combination Feeding Therapy

Combination feeding therapy for picky eaters involves combining multiple techniques 

Many of the above examples and other feeding therapies include elements of multiple categories. For example, both SOS and food chaining have sensory and parenting components. 

Another popular feeding therapy that includes multiple components is responsive feeding therapy (RFT). Its main goal is to help people build eating skills and confidence. RFT is flexible, prioritizes relationships involved in eating and feeding, and supports autonomy. 

RFT supports a child’s autonomy by respecting their preferences, but also uses techniques such as parental modeling (parents eat different foods in front of the child) and offering new foods in a low pressure way (no coercion or forcing).

It works to reduce stress and anxiety around feeding, establish healthy eating routines, and build skills. It also has clinical components, such as using assessments and tools like a food log. 

Feeding Therapy for Picky Eaters: Common Misconceptions and Myths Debunked

There are several myths that exist about feeding challenges and how to address them on your own. However, every child is unique. When in doubt, consult with your registered dietitian or feeding therapist.

Pressuring kids to eat:

It’s natural for parents to want their children to eat a balanced diet. This can often lead to children being pressured or forced to eat foods they don’t enjoy.  However, this can backfire by linking eating with negative feelings, and creating fear about trying new foods.

Instead, offer foods in a neutral way and don’t force children to finish eating things they don’t enjoy. With this approach, the pressure and fear surrounding new foods goes away, and children are often curious and willing to try new things. 

Using food for rewards or punishment:

Bribing kids with dessert (“Eat your veggies and you’ll get a cookie”) may work short-term, but in the long term it can harm their relationship with food. It teaches that some foods (like treats) are more valuable than others, and may cause kids to eat to please others, and not because they’re hungry.

Instead, let your child decide what and how much to eat from what you serve. Offer dessert occasionally as part of the meal, not as a prize. Label food as neutral instead of “good” vs “bad”. These strategies help build trust and encourage a healthy, pressure-free attitude toward food.

Distractions:

Screens can sometimes be helpful in getting kids to the table and reducing mealtime stress. However, relying on them every time can make it harder for some kids to eat without that stimulation in the future.

If possible, try starting the meal with 10–15 minutes of screen-free time to give your child a chance to connect with the food and those around them before adding the screen back into the meal. This could look like eating together as a family, chatting about the day, or listening to an audiobook. If screens are part of your routine, that’s okay, the goal is to build flexible eating skills over time, not to eliminate tools that are currently working for your family.

Hiding vegetables in other foods:

This can help in the short term by providing a boost of fiber and micronutrients, but if the vegetable is hidden in the food it doesn’t actually get the child any closer to accepting the vegetable itself. If vegetables are always hidden, some kids may become wary of trying new foods or feel unsure about what’s in their meals, and it can lead kids to mistrust adults because they always know when a food is hidden

Instead, be honest with kids when vegetables are added to foods (e.g., “This is a special pasta sauce with extra veggies to give you superpowers!”) Talk about vegetables in a positive way, make meal time a fun activity, and introduce foods gradually, such as food chaining. We are fans of being transparent to kids about what is in their food.

Benefits of Feeding Therapy for Picky Eaters

In summary, feeding therapy for picky eaters can take many forms and address a multitude of challenges related to feeding. By trying out feeding therapy, you may find that a lot of the stress you have had around mealtimes and getting your child to eat healthy or try more foods is reduced and over time you will be provided with solutions that work for you and your family.

At Jackie Silver Nutrition, our team of dietitian nutritionists is trained to use feeding therapy techniques to support neurodivergent children, teens, and adults. Book a *FREE 15 minute discovery call today to learn about how we can work together to meet your goals. We provide non-judgemental care and meet you where you are in your nutrition journey. 

*Currently only available to Canadian residents of Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and US residents of certain states, including but not limited to New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, and California. If your state is not listed here, please inquire to see if we can still support you.

Have you tried feeding therapy? If yes, what was your experience like? Tell us in the comments below.

👉 Check out these other blog posts that may be of interest to you:

• Why Working with an Autism Dietitian Is Key To Your Health
• Autism and ARFID: When ‘Picky Eating’ Is So Much More
• Nourishing Neurodiversity: Vegetables for Picky Eaters
• Meal Prep for Picky Eaters: A Parents’ Guide
• 17 Food Chaining Examples for Selective Eaters
• Autism and Food Aversion: 7 Practical Eating Tips