Join Melanie Potock, international speaker and renowned author on the topic of "paediatric feeding" for her Australian Tour in March 2023!

Melanie is presenting in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

Presented Live In-Person by Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP

By utilizing a “whole child, whole family” feeding approach, therapists can develop their own tool kit of strategies to customize treatment plans. Why do children have trouble eating? How are physiology, the sensory system, motor skills and behaviour linked to a child’s desire to try new foods? How do family dynamics and parenting styles influence progress? Why is it that a child eats well in the clinic setting but cannot generalize those skills to the home and school? This course answers those questions while participants learn how to problem solve common roadblocks in eating and then continue to build progress by following a hierarchy of steps to success. Most importantly, this course emphasizes the importance of keeping the fun in feeding, while developing consistent positive behaviours at mealtimes, so that everyone in the family can enjoy their time together around the family table!

DAY 1: Your Feeding Tool Kit

Thursday the 23rd March 2023 - Melbourne - 9.00am - 4.30pm

What you will learn

Upon completing the seminar, participants will be able to:

Discuss how protective behaviours develop when GI discomfort, sensory processing challenges, and delayed gross and/or fine motor skills impact a child’s willingness to eat
Teach gentle, basic parenting principles to support the caregiver’s carry-over of the child’s treatment plan
Implement strategies of responsive feeding in typical feeding development and guide the family to a responsive feeding model upon discharge
Apply gentle, basic behavioural principles in therapy while respecting a child’s unique sensory system, temperament, and emotions
Describe how to teach the following skills as they coincide with the developmental process of learning to eat: biting, chewing, swallowing independently, straw and open cup drinking
Implement a hierarchical method of problem solving to meet functional outcomes
Understand how to problem solve new challenges with future clients by systematically breaking the task into smaller steps and teaching one step at a time

DAY 2: ARFID: The Anxious Eater

Friday the 24th March 2023 - Melbourne - 9.00am - 3.00pm

What you will learn

You will walk away with a rich understanding of the steps it takes to take kids from anxious to adventurous, including:

How anxiety hinders a child’s ability to try new foods
Why kids get stuck “just licking” or “just kissing” a new food and can’t make progress from there
Strategies to help the hesitant eater take a bite
Specific techniques to help the anxious eater manage anxiety
The relationship between parental anxiety and a child’s anxious behaviours
The research behind Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Who should attend?

Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Registered Dietitians, Pediatricians and other health professionals. Parents are welcome.

What is included in the ticket price?

This is a catered event and morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided.
You will have access to digital materials to download

Please note that we use Humanitix, a non profit platform where the booking fee is donated to a children's charity. The booking fee is in addition to the ticket price.

Melanie Potock

Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP is a mom who once had a picky eater. She’s experienced first-hand the stress that parents feel when they are worried about their child’s nutritional health. Fast forward to today, and you’ll find Melanie blending her knowledge of feeding therapy with practical parenting strategies that help the entire family eat healthier. She’s an international speaker and author of three books, including co-authoring the award-winning Raising a Healthy Happy Eater. Whether your raising a child who seems to be on the path to loving all kinds of healthy foods (and you want to keep it that way!) or you are seeking help for picky eater to enjoying more than chicken nuggets and fries, “Coach Mel” is here to guide you.

Covid Policy

Hopefully we have seen the back of lockdowns and restrictions due to Covid. However, to be fully clear on the Covid policy for this event please read the following:

If the event is cancelled because of Covid restrictions imposed by the government then your ticket price will be refunded.
If you are unable to attend because of a government mandated rule then your ticket will be refunded (examples include - travel bans if you are travelling from a different state/country, mandated isolation etc). We may require documentation.
You must comply with any government rules which are in place at the time of the event (for example mask wearing, vaccinations, physical distancing etc)
We will endeavour to use common sense and practical solutions to overcome any obstacles to running the event due to Covid/sickness. This could include venue changes / catering changes / agenda alterations / technology solutions / mode of delivery etc. We obviously know that participants will have scheduled the training days into their calendar so we do not anticipate date changes and in the event that the tour is rescheduled, participants will have the option to cancel their booking.