Get Permission Institute

What if the key to unlocking progress with selective eaters and children with feeding challenges isn't on the plate at all — but inside the body?

Join Marsha Dunn Klein and Karen Dilfer for a two-hour conversation with occupational therapist and interoception expert Kelly Mahler, as they explore how interoception, our body's internal sensory system, shapes the way children experience mealtimes. Drawing on Kelly's groundbreaking research into ARFID and interoception, this conversation will offer a paradigm-shifting lens for feeding therapists, early intervention specialists, speech-language pathologists, and parents alike.

In this conversation, Kelly will unpack how parents and professionals can use interoceptive science to better support children who struggle with eating. The conversation will explore how internal experiences like pain, fear, emotional distress, and shame can override hunger and fullness signals and what that means in everyday life at the table. Kelly will discuss why compliance-based approaches may inadvertently deepen the very challenges well-meaning professionals are trying to address in their feeding therapy practice. The conversation will be live, interactive and will dive deep into the influences on interoception on eating and mealtimes. Join us!