Hungry Monkeys Feeding Therapy

18/06/2025

I've been largely absent from social media processing the news of the NDIA price review 2025-2026, it's impact on my clients, their families and my capacity to continue providing a mobile service. However, in the background, like so many of my Allied Health colleagues, we have been advocating.

I wanted to share that whilst a small step, today we were heard. Myself and fellow Allied Health colleagues and met with MP and MP for Murrumba to advocate and voice our concerns.

There was tension but the Member's listened and we have opened a door for further conversations with a Teams meeting booked for next week. Thank you Ali and Steven for your time!

13/06/2025

⚠️ Warning ⚠️ Distressing content ahead! The NDIA annual price review has been released and it is devastating for the families that so desperately need our services, for our fellow Dietitian/Physio/Podiatry colleagues whose services have been disgustingly undervalued and for 100% mobile therapists (like ours) whose travel reimbursements have been cut by 50% making our service unsustainable. It's time to say, 'enough is enough!'

18/05/2025

As of tomorrow, NDIS will be changing how funds may be accessed. A great summary regarding these changes can be found in this post by Coastwide Therapy Services.

03/03/2025

A weekend of professional development, with Speech Pathologist Linda D'Onofrio from Portland, Oregan discussing diagnosis and treatment of Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMD).

Speech Pathologists are trained in the structure and functional of the muscles of the head and neck.

07/11/2024

'For children, behaviour is communication'

Parents often express concern about their child's mealtime behaviours such as:

⭐️ food refusal
⭐️ mealtime refusal
⭐️ refusing to sit at the table
⭐️ running from the table
⭐️ whinging, crying, shouting, arguing
⭐️ throwing food, plates, utensils
⭐️ using words like 'yuck', 'I don't like that',
'I'm not eating' etc

These behaviours are a child's way of saying that something isn't ok. Perhaps:

⚡️they know that eating causes them pain
⚡️they have difficulty knowing when they
are hungry, thirsty or full
⚡️they don't feel safe
⚡️they remember that scary choking
incident
⚡️eating is hard work and takes a lot of
energy
⚡️ they feel out of breath when they eat
⚡️ mealtimes are not a positive or
enjoyable experience
⚡️eating is too overwhelming for their
sensory system

Our role as feeding therapists is to look beyond the surface of behaviours and help parents unpack the 'why' ⁉️

27/08/2024

🌟Happy Speech Pathology Week 2024- 'Communicate Your Way'🌟

Everyone communicates differently.
Whether it’s spoken, signed, digital, or written, communication bridges gaps, fosters meaning and understanding, and strengthens relationships.

There is communication in everything we do.

At Hungry Monkeys Feeding Therapy🐵, we focus on understanding and supporting each child's unique way of communicating to build positive and supportive mealtime connections with those around them. This creates a strong foundation for any mealtime challenges they may face.

A big shout-out to the incredible Speech Pathologists working tirelessly to support every form of communication!

26/07/2024

Did you know......we are keeping up with the evidence!

Here at 🐵, we regularly attend professional development opportunities to provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based feeding therapy to our clients.

Today it was all about 👄 Oral Motor Feeding Therapy.

Yes! You guessed it, it was all about looking at and working on the function of the lips, cheeks, tongue, jaw (and more) used in eating & drinking.

Quote of the day:
'The best way to get better at eating is to eat'
(whenever safe to do so)

Evidence brought to us by two amazing feeding therapists and Katherine from . Thanks ladies!

19/06/2024

Two huge days listening to,
'Hot topics in Paediatric dysphagia'
presented by Pamela Dodrill and Memorie Gosa.

Added bonus was the amazing networking opportunity with fellow feeding therapists from around Australia!

22/05/2024

May is Paediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) awareness month and this month we are highlighting the similarities and differences between PFD and ARFID.

PFD is a multidisciplinary diagnosis of impaired oral intake, lasting more than two weeks with dysfunction in one or more of the following areas:
Medical
Nutrition
Feeding-Skill
Psychosocial

Red Flags for PFD include:
🔸 Coughing, choking or gagging on food
🔸 Lengthy mealtimes > 30 minutes
🔸 Refusal to eat in a new environment
🔸 Restricted diet and decreased variety of foods accepted
🔸 Faltering growth
🔸Refusing age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate foods or liquids
🔸 Need for supplementation or tube feeding
🔸 Stressful mealtimes for children, parents and carers

ARFID is a mental health diagnosis involving a feeding or eating disturbance, with persistent failure to meet nutritional needs associated with:
- Significant weight loss / growth failure
- Significant nutritional deficiency
- Dependence on enteral feeding or oral nutritional supplements
- Marked interference with psychosocial functioning

Whether it be PFD, ARFID or both everyone’s experience and journey is going to be different and therefore the support they are offered should be individualised and tailored to their experiences and needs.

Our diagram outlining the similarities and differences between ARFID and PFD aims to raise awareness of these diagnoses and the required support. Another way to build understanding and awareness is to look to those with lived experience as everyone’s journey and experience will be different.
To learn more, we recommend you start following some amazing accounts that are also working hard to build awareness.

12/05/2024

Beautiful Mother's day poem from my talented speechie friend and business owner, Calla, at Rainbow Speech Pathology .
Happy Mother's day 💐🌈

For the special needs mums: the unsung heroes this this mothers day. I wrote you this poem from the bottom of my heart. Happy Mothers day. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

Your hair’s a mess, you’re barely dressed,
You live on coffee and dry shampoo,
But when it comes to your special child,
No one cares more than you.

You are a master at juggling it all,
Paed, physio, OT, and speech,
But in terms of knowing your child’s needs,
There’s little they can teach.

You have patience, courage and thick skin,
to protect from those who judge you,
Just know they wouldn’t last a day,
Walking in your shoes.

You have so many days you doubt yourself,
The grief makes your heart sink,
But you always show up anyway,
You’re stronger than you think.

You are always in their corner,
Advocating for your child’s rights,
While it is exhausting and thankless,
You never give up the fight.

So give yourself a pat on the back,
Pour an extra large glass of wine
And know that even if they can’t say it yet,
You are loved unconditionally for all time.

Written by Calla Dolton speechie and special needs mum 🌈

24/04/2024

LEST WE FORGET🌺

New Allergy-friendly Anzac biscuits recipe available!

https://hungrymonkeys.com.au/recipes/

Inviting children to participate in food preparation and cooking is a great way for them to explore new food.

08/04/2024

What a great reminder to take a step back and carefully look at a child's behaviour around food, eating and mealtimes.

'All behaviour is a form of communication' in other words what is our child trying to tell us?

We adults sometimes forget that children don’t have the repertoire of experiences we have. They don’t have the multitude of opportunities for familiarization and learning that adults have had over many, many years. Children are still developing, learning so much all the time, and that requires a LOT of brainpower and energy. 🧠

With so much going on in their little bodies and brains, how can we expect them to “just do it”, when IT might be one of the hardest things for them? Eating is a complicated act, encompassing so many of our bodies’ systems and organs, and is hugely personal. When a child is exhibiting a “problem” behavior, they are communicating that there is a PROBLEM. We need to investigate to figure it out so we can facilitate a BETTER situation for them.

Reframing children’s willingness to eat different foods not as WON’T but as CAN’T (yet) helps us give them the space and environment to develop skills and comfort at their own pace.

Does this reframing help you see your child's feeding struggles differently?