Hallie BulkinAsk HallieAI:Your On-Demand Mentor in Pediatric Feeding & Myo

Is It Sensory Refusal... or Motor Difficulty?

15 Sept 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:14

In this YouTube monologue, Hallie Bulkin examines how feeding difficulties in children are often labeled as "sensory refusal" when they may actually stem from motor or physiological challenges. She points out observable clinical signs—feet dangling at the table, chronic congestion, habitual mouth‑breathing, a low‑forward tongue posture, and a jaw‑dominant chewing pattern with limited tongue lateralization—that suggest the child’s body is struggling to manage the mechanics of eating. Bulkin argues that focusing solely on sensory exposure techniques (e.g., food play, texture chaining) without addressing these underlying motor or airway issues can lead to ineffective therapy. She cautions clinicians to assess the deeper layer of the problem before implementing sensory‑based interventions. The video concludes with an invitation to a free three‑day training, “Screen the Peeds to Feed the Peeds,” hosted at feedthepeeds.com/training, aimed at helping professionals screen and treat feeding difficulties more accurately.

Chapters

We see texture selectivity. And naturally, someone might start working on sensory exposure, maybe food play, food chaining, gradually introducing textures, taking the pressure off eating. And there can absolutely be a place for all of that. But let's pull back a little bit because this child's sitting at the table with their feet dangling, they're chronically congested, they're habitually mouth breathing, the tongue is sitting low and forward, right? And when they chew, the jaw's doing most of the work with very limited tongue movement or lateralization. Now the case starts to look a little different, doesn't it? Right? And we have to ask like, okay, is there a sensory component? There may be, but what if what we're calling sensory refusal is actually a child communicating like, hey, this is really hard for my body to do? Yeah, that's totally different, right? And if I spend 4 months in therapy trying to get that child more comfortable touching and tasting a texture without understanding why managing that texture is difficult, I may be doing really good work at the wrong layer of the problem. Why am I talking about this? So come hang out with us. Go to feedthepeeds.com/training and register for Screen the Peeds to Feed the Peeds. Like I said, it's free. We're doing it together for 3 days, and I want you there.