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This course provides a base of knowledge in assessing and treating children older than one year of age with eating, feeding and swallowing (EFS) challenges.

You will learn about aspects of EFS including: typical development, common disruptive conditions, how to identify the nature of disorders, and how to develop effective therapy interventions tailored to specific needs.

You will also put theory into practice, working through cases to develop a plan for assessment and intervention. Guidance will be provided to develop holistic plans that are family-centered, individualized, multi-disciplinary, and responsive to support the development of each child's EFS abilities.

Now registering for the course running September 22 - October 31, 2025 

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Course Goals

This course is designed to provide you with a base of knowledge in the roles a feeding therapist plays in the multidisciplinary context of an eating, feeding, and swallowing team. You will develop an understanding of common conditions that affect children beyond infancy, their impact on development, feeding, and swallowing, and approaches to assessment and treatment.

Course Hours

The microcredential is approximately 1 credit equivalent (13 content hours).  However, you should expect to spend somewhere between 18-35 total hours on the course (varies depending on the individual). We do equate the course on the high end of that and 35 educational hours appear on the digital certificates that are issued after course completion

Course learning objectives

• Recognize factors contributing to pediatric feeding disorders (PFD), their severity, prevalence and impact.
• Identify common presentations and causes of PFD across domains of dysfunction (medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and psychosocial).
• Describe typical development of eating, feeding, swallowing (EFS) and sensory processing skills.
• Identify components of a pediatric clinical evaluation of EFS.
• Assess form and function of oral and pharyngeal structures.
• Apply understanding of development, texture progression, and sensory responsiveness to assessment of EFS skills.
• Describe assessment of the developmental skills involved in drinking, biting, chewing and swallowing.
• Recognize the impact of the environment, setting, caregiver behaviour, and cultural practises on a child’s feeding experience.
• Identify compensatory strategies and adaptations to support individuals in development of their EFS skills.
• Describe the components of a clinical summary and impression.
• Recognize the multi-faceted nature of feeding difficulties, the roles of individual team members, and the benefits of a team approach.
• Identify considerations in making a plan to improve EFS skills in children.
• Describe responsive feeding and its impact.
• Identify appropriate compensatory strategies and adaptations to apply in stepwise progression of individual EFS skills.
• Apply understanding of development of feeding skills, sensory responsiveness, and texture progression to develop individualized treatment plans.

Course Instructor

Julia Giesen, MSc. SLP, R.SLP, S-LP(C) is a speech-language pathologist with 14 years of clinical practice working with pediatric patients in their homes, community programs, rehabilitation, and acute care settings. She previously worked as a clinical educator in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the ß÷ßäÉçÇø and is an Assistant Lecturer, teaching the elective course “SLP in the NICU”. She currently works as a feeding and swallowing specialist in the Stollery Children’s Hospital’s Philip C. Etches Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She is certified as a NIDCAP professional (the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program) and as an instructor for Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education (FINE).  She draws on this learning to coach families and NICU staff in providing developmentally supportive, responsive care for infants.

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