Core Interventions for Pediatric Feeding Disorders: A Beginner’s Guide
Pediatric Feeding Disorders (PFD), including Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, is on the rise in both children and young adults. Psychologists rarely get educational training in graduate programs, outside of hospital experience. PFD is a multidisciplinary diagnosis where psychologists play a significant role in assessing and treating the psychosocial domain. This webinar provides introductory information on basic psychology interventions used in the treatment of psychosocial issues in PFD (including lack of interest in food/eating, concerns about aversive consequences of eating, and food avoidance based on sensory aspects of eating.
Learning Objectives
- Match interventions to primary cause of PFD’s in the psychosocial domain
- Learn ways to implement 1-2 of these interventions in your treatment of psychosocial aspects of PFD
About Instructor
Kimberly Brown, PsyD has been working with families of children with feeding disorders for 30 years. Her journey began in graduate school, when she took a job out of necessity and unexpectedly discovered a passion for helping children learn to eat new foods. Over time, that passion deepened, fueled by the joy of seeing parents experience reduced stress around mealtimes and feeling they had been part of a life-changing transformation.
Throughout her career, Dr. Brown has witnessed countless milestones—children taking their first taste of solid food, overcoming fears of choking, and sitting at the family table for the very first time. She has shared in both the challenges and the triumphs, sitting alongside parents in moments of stress and shedding tears of joy together over even the smallest successes.
With experience in hospitals across the country, Dr. Brown has worked with many different feeding techniques, always tailoring the approach to each child’s strengths. By listening closely to parents, understanding their needs, and creating individualized strategies, she has helped children make lasting progress.
Driven by compassion, Dr. Brown aims to empower parents to create meaningful lifestyle changes around mealtimes so they can once again enjoy eating together as a family. Using family-friendly strategies that are simple to implement and considerate of each family’s concerns, her goal is always for children to taste and try new foods, discover their preferences, and participate in family meals with confidence and joy.
