Therapists often back away from children's distress to avoid upsetting them, but avoidance actually fuels anxiety. Good therapy means tolerating manageable discomfort. One clinical mistake: confusing autism-related picky eating with ARFID instead of catching pediatric feeding disorder early.
I think we spend too much time making sure that kids don't seem upset. And it's like they're allowed to be upset. This is scary for them. And every time we back off too much. And it's an art. It's an art we're actually helping them avoid and only making them more scared because anxiety feeds on avoidance. So that's, you know, that's one of the reasons I teach so many courses in this is It. Again, it's an art. And, and I do make mistakes. We all do in therapy. But I think what makes a really good therapist is being able to reflect on what worked for that individual child and what didn't work and where you should make the shift. You know, you mentioned kids with autism. Yeah. And I think it's so easy. I've, I heard this for so many years from very well meaning pediatricians. Well, all kids with autism are picky. Like it just goes with it. And then I don't get those kids to like nine or 10, and then they're diagnosed with ARFID because it's seen more as an anxiety disorder. But maybe they actually have pediatric feeding disorder and they miss that little window of time and early intervention where we should have addressed it. Yeah.
What I Was Missing in Feeding Therapy: ARFID, Airway, and Myo with Samy Hernandez
