"This has made a huge difference in my daughter’s life.”

We were so fortunate to be able to have CARD’s Kate Gutshall, Emily Barba and Rob Davison work with our daughter. They managed to accomplish in fifteen hours what eight other therapists, over the course of two years, failed to do.

My daughter is considered at risk for autism, and has had feeding issues since she was an infant. She has gagged on foods, drooled excessively until age three, mouthed non-food objects constantly, and has both oral-motor muscle tone and sensory issues. The result was that she was an extremely picky eater at age five with a limited and unbalanced diet. Other therapists, including speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists and habilitation providers, had worked with her on this issue since her third birthday with very little progress - two new foods in two years.

Kate, Emily and Rob were extremely thorough in their approach. They correctly assessed and addressed the relevant issues and introduced a new approach to eating and trying new foods that has been very successful for our daughter. Over the course of the feeding sessions, our daughter has successfully tried over ten new foods. My husband and I were trained in this new approach so that we could continue it ourselves, which we have done.
 
I know that without the grant we would never have been able to find or afford such capable and qualified therapists, and the fact that my husband and I received the necessary training to successfully continue the program is so wonderful. This has made a huge difference in my daughter’s life.

A.L.