Description
Presented by: Tovah Feehan, MS CCC-SLP, CLC with special guests from Caffeinated Caregiver: Alyssa Nutile and Erica Stearns
AUDIENCE:
SLPs and Caregivers
Description: This unique course combines the latest research with real-life stories to highlight the importance of recognizing the caregiver’s perspective to optimize patient outcomes. Tovah will be joined by two caregivers, Alyssa Nutile and Erica Stearns to explore the Caregiver Continuum, a framework that outlines how communication and partnership evolve with caregivers of medically complex children. This presentation examines three key stages—Shock/Survival, Adjustment/Collaboration, and Confidence/Leadership—highlighting the challenges and opportunities at each phase. Healthcare providers will gain actionable strategies to build stronger relationships with caregivers and empower families during critical moments, such as transitioning from the hospital to home and making decisions about a gastrostomy tube.
Objectives:
- Identify key characteristics of the “medically complex child”
- Distinguish the Caregiver Continuum stages and the unique challenges and needs caregivers face at each stage.
- Develop strategies for effective communication and partnership with caregivers to build trust and improve care outcomes.
- Understand how to adapt support as caregivers transition from survival mode to confident leadership in their child’s care and community.
This webinar is approximately 60 minutes in length. This is a recording of a live webinar.
This webinar is offered for Professional Development Hours (PDHs), previously Certification Maintenance Hours (CMHs). For more info: https://www.asha.org/certification/factdef/.
Certificate of completion available upon request once completed.
Presenter:
Tovah Feehan is a pediatric speech-language pathologist well recognized in her profession for her commitment to collaborative feeding support that honors the whole child and family. She is passionate about empowering caregivers to be the experts on their own children. After working at a pediatric hospital for many years, she founded her practice, Pediatric Feeding Partners, where she offers clinical assessment, instrumental evaluation, and dynamic feeding and swallowing intervention for infants and children. In 2024, Tovah joined Alyssa Nutile and Erica Stearns as a founding board member for Caffeinated Caregivers Advocacy Network, a nonprofit dedicated to elevating the caregiver voice through research, resources, education, and peer support. She can be found on instagram @pediatricfeedingpartners, as co-host of the podcast, The Feeding Pod, or through her practice website www.pediatricfeedingpartners.com.
