Specialized knowledge and skills in feeding, eating, and swallowing for occupational therapy practice.

Occupational therapy’s long-standing expertise in activities of daily living includes involvement in the feeding, eating, and swallowing performance of individuals across the life span (AOTA, 2002). Both occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants1 provide essential services in the comprehensive management of feeding, eating, and swallowing problems. These problems can be wide ranging and may include physical difficulty (e.g., bringing food to the mouth), processing food in the mouth (e.g., motor or sensory deficits), dysphagia, psychosocially based eating disorders (e.g., food obsessions, maladaptive eating habits), dysfunction related to cognitive impairments (e.g., understanding nutrition or food preparation), surgical intervention, and neurological impairments, as well as positioning problems that affect feeding, eating, and swallowing. Interventions focused on occupations of daily living include facilitating an individual’s ability to participate in feeding and eating activities that are valued and meaningful to that person, such as learning to eat independently, joining friends for lunch, or feeding a child. Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants possess the education, experience, knowledge, and skills necessary in the evaluation and intervention of feeding, eating, and swallowing problems. Physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural elements of feeding, eating, and swallowing are considered in evaluation and intervention. The purpose of this document is to describe the knowledge and skills that are necessary for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants to provide comprehensive feeding, eating, and swallowing management and services. It provides information on occupational therapists’ and occupational therapy assistants’ roles in feeding, eating, and swallowing; outlines advanced-level knowledge and skills; and defines feeding-, eating-, and swallowingrelated terms.