Subject(s)
Antipsychotic Agents/adverse effects , Body Weight/drug effects , Risperidone/adverse effects , Antipsychotic Agents/therapeutic use , Child , Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/drug therapy , Child, Preschool , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Retrospective Studies , Risperidone/therapeutic use , Weight Gain/drug effectsABSTRACT
Feeding problems are common in children with special healthcare needs, and inquiring about feeding skills should be a routine part of the developmental assessment. Failure to meet normal feeding milestones, the presence of swallowing problems, and the presence or history of placement of a nasogastric or gastrostomy tube are all reasons to refer a child for a feeding evaluation. An interdisciplinary approach that includes the pediatrician along with a feeding team that includes a speech pathologist, occupational therapist, feeding-oriented nutritionist, and often others, should be taken to diagnose and manage feeding disorders in such children as early as possible for the best prognosis. However, caregivers also play a critical role in intervention, and effective management of feeding disorders should always be seen as a partnership between the caregiver and the interdisciplinary team. The additional benefit is the feeling of competence by the caregiver who is properly trained in the feeding of his/her special needs child. Providing caregivers with proper training as well as realistic goals, regular instruction for home practice, and the expectation for periodic setbacks, can help the child and the caregiver reap the most benefit from feeding intervention.
Subject(s)
Feeding and Eating Disorders of Childhood/diagnosis , Interdisciplinary Communication , Child, Preschool , Feeding and Eating Disorders of Childhood/physiopathology , Humans , Referral and Consultation , United StatesABSTRACT
It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that food and nutrition misinformation can have harmful effects on the health and economic status of consumers. It is the role of nationally credentialed dietetics professionals to advocate for and promote sound, science-based nutrition information to the public, function as primary nutrition educators to health professionals, and actively counter and correct food and nutrition misinformation. The federal government has recognized the strong link between nutrition and health in recent years. Consumers are taking greater responsibility for self-care and are hungry for food and nutrition information, creating opportunities for nutrition misinformation, health fraud, and quackery to flourish. The media are consumers' leading source of nutrition information, but news reports rarely provide enough context for consumers to interpret the advice given. Promoters turn preliminary findings into sales pitches with baseless claims, often for the sole purpose of economic gain. Effective nutrition communication is consumer focused and presented with sufficient context to allow consumers to weigh the information and determine whether it applies to his or her unique needs. Nationally credentialed dietetics professionals are best prepared to communicate sound advice and scientific advances about nutrition. These dietetics professionals have a responsibility to take an active role in providing accurate, easily understood food and nutrition information, interpreting emerging research for media and consumers and encouraging consumers to look for credentialed dietetics professionals as nutrition experts.
