Working with babies, children and teens with feeding difficulties.
ABOUT US
Debbie
Alvarez
Debbie is a mum of two teenage girls, wife and paediatric feeding speech pathologist. She has eighteen year experience working with babies and children with feeding difficulties Debbie has worked in the acute hospital setting including at St George and Sydney Children’s Hospital, where she met and worked with Val.
Debbie is the owner of Feeding Kids Sydney, a busy private practice in Southern Sydney. She sees a range of children including fussy eaters, those on the autism spectrum, children with a disability and with complex medical needs as well as children requiring enteral feeding.
Debbie works on developing chewing skills, expanding food variety, increasing oral intake, reducing stress and anxiety at mealtimes and supporting families to make changes at home that are life long. Debbie has completed extensive training in a range of feeding therapy approaches including systematic desensitisation (SOS approach to feeding), operant conditioning (Broccoli Camp) and responsive feeding approaches (SENSE-ational mealtimes).
Debbie uses responsive feeding techniques in her practice and has, together with Val, developed the Responsive Feeding House Model of feeding therapy. She supports therapists around Australia working in paediatric feeding and has presented both in Australia and internationally. Debbie is a firm believer that there is no one size fits all approach to feeding and that a non-judgemental attitude, realistic expectations, achievable recommendations and easy to follow strategies are paramount to making therapy a success.
ABOUT US
Val Gent
Val’s practice, Let’s Eat! Feeding Therapy, is a private specialised feeding service for babies, toddlers and children with feeding difficulties in Newcastle NSW.
Val has eighteen years of postgraduate training in paediatric feeding in her acute work at Sydney Children’s Hospital and John Hunter Children’s Hospital as well as in NSW disability services and schools.
In her private practice (started In 2012), she has completed further training in fussy/restricted eating in operant conditioning (Broccoli Camp), systematic desensitisation (SOS approach to feeding) and responsive based feeding programs (SENSE-ational mealtimes, Marsha Dunn Klein ‘get permission approach’, Jennifer McGlothlin from Extreme Picky Eating & ‘responsive feeding pro’ and Satter Division of Responsibility).
Val has completed additional workshops with American feeding experts including Lynn Wolf, Robin Glass and Joan Arvedson as well as Australian experts including Dr Pamela Dodrill, Dr Jeanne Marshall and Dr Kelly Weir (Cervical Auscultation with Dr Thuy Frakking).
Val has completed her oral myo-facial training with Kristie Gatto and is a Circle of Security trainer. She has published a kids responsive based fussy eating preschool book called “I’m NOT hungry for my dinner” which has received the Ellyn Satter Seal of Approval. She is currently doing her Masters In Medical Research In children with Autism and feeding difficulties at Griffith University.
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