Dr Toomey Presents

A challenge faced by all pediatric practitioners is in determining when a family can be reassured about their child's feeding, eating and/or growth issues versus when a child should be flagged for close monitoring, and when a child needs to be sent on for more in-depth evaluation and intervention. It is imperative that physicians, mental health providers and rehabilitation therapists, as well as other professionals working with children, have tools that can help them to identify early, which child and family would most benefit from a Feeding and/or Eating Assessment. This talk will review the most recent research that has now allowed us to operationally define what a Picky Eater is, as well as review the diagnostic criteria for Pediatric Feeding Disorder and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, laying a foundation for a Differential Diagnosis Decision Tree. The questions within the Decision Tree will be examined with regard to how those questions guide the Clinician to a differential diagnosis. The Differential Diagnosis Decision Tree will then be applied to Case Studies to achieve accurate diagnosis. Global recommendations for intervention will be given for each type of diagnosis.