THE STAR CENTER FOUNDATION

Feeding Therapy at SOS Feeding Solutions at STAR Institute is referred to as coming to “Food School.” The Feeding Therapists are Food School Teachers and our job is to help infants and children learn how to eat better. But it is not just children who are in Food School. Parents in our program are an active part of every Food School Meal/Session.

The SOS Approach to Feeding is a Play-Based program that teaches children to eat at a pace that respects their readiness to progress through learning the 32 different steps involved in the task of eating. We teach the children the skills they need in order to eat a wide variety of food types and textures using the natural, social reinforcement of playing with the food and interacting with adults.

For infants and toddlers, the SOS Approach to Feeding also uses developmental strategies and social engagement with parents to help the baby eat and grow better. The Food School offers Individual, Group, and Infant Therapies.

Our Clinic Director, Dr. Kay Toomey, is recognized around the world as one of the leading experts in understanding and treating infants and children with feeding and eating difficulties.

The speech and language pathologists at STAR Institute provide services to help children communicate. We offer consultations, comprehensive evaluations and individual therapy services. Our speech pathologists believe in using play-based, natural interactions to address a variety of issues.

They are trained to integrate a sensory-based approach to help children with SPD build the foundations needed to develop engagement and attention on which to build and expand communication skills.

Developing communication skills is one of the most important elements to socializing and creating valuable relationships. Our goal is to help children to become successful communicators and independent language learners by tailoring our programs specific to each child's needs.

Using short-term, solution-focused methods, we help family members identify and alleviate problems as needed and desired. Clients leave with enhanced skills and strategies to independently address current and future family challenges. One focus and expertise of our social worker is advocacy related to school issues.

Our Parent Coaching program offers individual coaching for parents, grandparents, nannies or whoever is responsible for the child’s care. We find that parents often benefit from short-term coaching around specific behavioral issues.

Other domains for family coaching and counseling include:
- Managing positive and negative behaviors in individuals with sensory challenges
- Balancing positive interactions between children with sensory issues and their caregivers
- Promoting well-being when “difficult” behaviors are exhibited

Coaching and/or counseling services are usually short term (1 to 20 sessions) and may be provided to children, couples, individual adults or families as a whole.

A growing body of scientific research suggests that the human brain remains capable of change and adaptation at any age. What this means for adults and older children with SPD is that they, too, can benefit from intervention for their sensory challenges.

Effective services for adults and older adolescents include direct therapy, home programs, education, and/or accommodations. Many adults do well with evaluation and consultation for treatment. We do not put adults into the same equipment we use with children, but we provide the consultation they need to treat themselves. Often we can prepare a home program using some equipment such as Interactive Metronome at home, Integrated Listening Systems at home, proprioceptive activities (resistive weight bearing) and other activities designed to raise the adult’s threshold to sensation and normalize his/her reactions.

In direct treatment, therapy improves sensory processing and decreases sensory symptoms. Specific sensory inputs such as tactile stimulation, movement, auditory input, and/or other sensory experiences are utilized to normalize the client’s specific symptoms.

Adults who have never before experienced heights, touch, or movement with comfort can become much more successful and happy during those activities.

Since we opened the STAR Institute’s Adolescent and Adult Program, we have seen a number of adults with subtle autism spectrum disorders, who were never appropriately diagnosed or treated as children. These individuals have lived life as best they could, but never felt “normal.” They have done their best and in some ways have been able to achieve success professionally.

STAR Institute provides clinicians with a unique opportunity to receive training in assessment and intervention for Sensory Processing Disorder during intensive, one-week programs at the STAR Institute in Denver, Colorado. Level 1 Intensive Mentorships include a combination of didactic lecture sessions by researchers at STAR Institute and mentored clinical experiences.

STAR Institute provides clinicians with a unique opportunity to receive training in assessment and intervention for Sensory Processing Disorder during intensive, one-week programs at the STAR Institute in Denver, Colorado.

STAR Institute provides clinicians with a unique opportunity to receive training in assessment and intervention for Sensory Processing Disorder during intensive, one-week programs at the STAR Institute in Denver, Colorado. Level 2 Intensive Mentorships provide participants with the opportunity to apply knowledge from the Level 1 Intensive Mentorship by treating STAR Institute clients and participate in active mentoring from the STAR Institute faculty.

SPD University has the latest online courses on Sensory Processing Disorder. SPDU offers a rich set of e-learning courses for professionals and parents that is accessible 24/7. Over 70 online courses are currently available.

This is a 2-3 day symposium featuring the most recent SPD information, research and strategies in a different U.S. location each year. In 2017, the symposium will be held in Denver on October 6 & 7, highlighting the research accomplishments of the SPD Scientific Workgroup and strategy presentations by clinical experts in the field.

The STAR Institute Research Center is committed to enhancing the quality of life for children and adults with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and their families by conducting and collaborating in rigorous research into the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of SPD.