Overview

Each SOS Certification Course will consist of 6-8 participants working together and in individual consultation with the SOS Professors to improve each student’s assessment skills, observation and understanding of children’s communication (verbal and non-verbal), clinical reasoning and planning abilities, parent education strategies, and SOS feeding therapy skills to maximize the participants’ effectiveness in utilizing the SOS Approach to Feeding Program.

Students will be asked to select a current Feeding Therapy Client to serve as an ongoing case study throughout the Certification course.  Case study presentations, written homework on Food Hierarchies and Play Plans, and observation of two videotaped clinical sessions will be used to document the progress of each student towards SOS expertise.  A written final examination will verify the highest level of understanding of SOS principles and techniques.   Participants will learn from one another’s videotaped sessions and class discussions with feedback provided by the SOS Professors and the other students.  The SOS Professors will also provide each participant with individualized mentoring via written and in-person discussion to elevate each student’s clinical skills to qualify as an SOS Certified Feeding Therapist.

SOS Certification Program Benefits

• Opportunity to gain the additional training and expertise in the use of the SOS Approach to Feeding program with the Participant’s clients.
• Individualized consultation and feedback.
• Additional education and professional coaching around the implementation of SOS Approach to Feeding tenets and techniques into the Participant’s own practice.
• Opportunity to understand how to use the SOS Approach to Feeding across a wide variety of settings and with various clinical populations through group mentoring and video review.
• Group mentoring and observation of fellow course participant’s clinical videotaped feeding therapy sessions.
• Engage in high-level professional dialogue, as well as connect with other like-minded colleagues in the field.
• Placement on a Preferred Providers Referral list (if desired) given first to families seeking Feeding Evaluation and Treatment in their home community.
• Opportunity to build a network with other therapists who specialize in Feeding Therapy to develop ongoing support and teaming abilities.
• Certification will be the next step required for any professionals wishing to engage in Research on the SOS Approach to Feeding program.

Learning Objectives

Practitioners successfully completing the SOS Certification Program will:

1. Explain and utilize the Five Tenants of the SOS Approach to Feeding program
2. Employ knowledge of typical feeding development and milestones to create an accurate Feeding Assessment (including current status on the Steps to Eating and Developmental Food Continuum).
3. Plan activities and an environment that will help their client achieve and maintain an optimal state of arousal for learning.
4. Build Food Hierarchies which meet all requirements and support oral-motor and sensory skill acquisition.
5. Design and implement Play Plans to facilitate clients moving up the Steps to Eating Hierarchy in a session utilizing principles of Systematic Desensitization.
6. Accurately utilize Key Phrases, Sensory Based Problem Solving and Emotion Based Discipline during feeding therapy sessions to manage any problems which occur.
7. Create a Partnership with their client’s caregivers that includes Parent Education and problem solving implementation of the SOS program in the Family Home.

Demonstration of Competency

Certification Program Participants will be evaluated based upon review of their written course work, video review of therapeutic intervention with actual Client Cases, response to constructive feedback provided, and final examination score. Outcomes of the Certification Program can include:

• Successful completion = SOS Approach to Feeding Certification Awarded.
• Remedial completion = additional mentorship will be required, including submission of additional course work and video case studies prior to being awarded a Certification. Depending upon the level of additional mentorship, an additional fee may apply.
• Unsuccessful completion = participant will not be awarded SOS Approach to Feeding Certification.

Prerequisite Requirements

1. Completion of the SOS Approach to Feeding Course by completing one of the following:
   1. Completion of the SOS Approach to Feeding Course (4 Day Course).
   2. OR completion of the SOS Approach to Feeding Course prior to 2015 (3 Day course) PLUS the Advanced SOS Workshop “Tools In Your Pantry: Effectively Using the New Oral Motor Steps”.
2. Completion of either
   1. The SOS Mentorship Course
   2. OR the Video Submission of a full Feeding Therapy Session to be reviewed for clinical competency by SOS Approach To Feeding Certification Professors.  Please note, it is at the SOS Professors discretion as to to whether submission of a Feeding Therapy Session video meets the prerequisite requirement for this requirement.
3. Completion of the Advanced SOS Workshop: Parents as Partners: Helping the “Challenging” Family within the last 8 years.

** Please note you will be required to submit a copy of your Certificate of Attendance for all of the required prerequisite requirements as part of the Certification Application Process.