The ABA Speech Podcast- Easy Strategies for Speech Therapists, BCBAs, and RBTs
Jun 23, 2026 · 33 min · 11 segments
Some kids are picky eaters, but when does it become something more? Feeding challenges can feel overwhelming for families, especially when mealtimes become stressful, food choices become extremely…
Margarita KuzminGuest
Rose GriffinHostNo entities detected.
Is my client a picky eater or do they have a feeding disorder? Today we are talking all about that with my wonderful guest, Margarita Kuzmin.
She is a bilingual pediatric speech language pathologist and child educator specializing in feeding and swallowing disorders as well as AAC, and she has over 15 years of experience.
I had the chance to meet her at the ASHA Conference in Washington, DC and we had such a lovely conversation, and I'm so excited about the work that she's doing in the field.
In this episode today, we're gonna talk about picky eating, when is that developmentally common, and then also talk about what is considered a pediatric feeding disorder.
How do we look for certain characteristics in students' feeding that might be a barrier to them and potentially showing us that they may need a referral potentially to be diagnosed as having a pediatric feeding disorder? Also, what does the team look like for a feeding team? I worked at the Cleveland Clinic a really long time ago and I did not work on a feeding team, but within the, the hospital setting that I was at as part of the Cleveland Clinic, we had a feeding team and it was so interesting when they did CEUs or to learn from them.
I think this is something that comes up a lot for us as speech therapists and BCBAs.
And another thing we talk about is how do we bring it up with parents when parents normalize some feeding behaviors that maybe are not typically developing and actually maybe do warrant a further investigation, because we know for a whole child when they're eating correctly, when they're drinking correctly, their bodies are gonna be more regulated to learn and so we really get into that today.
This is a wonderful conversation, the first of many I hope, and I know that you're gonna enjoy this.
[upbeat music] I'm Rose Griffin, a speech therapist, board-certified behavior analyst and founder of ABA Speech.
It wasn't all that long ago that I felt overwhelmed by providing therapy for my autistic students and any students who were not yet speaking.
Fast-forward through many doubts, tears, research and courses and you will see the framework that I use today and share with over 60,000 readers weekly, one that will help you support your students and feel more confident in the process.
I created the ABA Speech Podcast to give you simple, step-by-step strategies to help you reach all of your students wherever they are on their communication journeys.
If you're a speech therapist, BCBA, RBT student or parent who's looking to help all students develop a way to communicate with the world, you are in the right place, friend.
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