ANNA's Table: Pediatric Feeding Care in Autism
Feeding challenges are among the hardest parts of autism care. A new program shows how SLPs and behavior analysts can work as one team.
Market intelligence · Last reviewed October 2026 · Take a Seat People editorial team
How does integrated care help children with autism and feeding challenges?
What ANNA launched
Aimun Malik announced ANNA's Table inside ANNA, the Allied Network for Neurodevelopmental Advancement. It provides individualized feeding and swallowing therapy by telehealth for Massachusetts families with children through age 6, and an autism diagnosis is not needed to be seen.
Jennifer Llado, MS, CCC-SLP, CPXP, ANNA's Director of Operations, describes the goal as helping families get back to the table together, with less stress.
Why feeding needs more than one specialist
What looks like picky eating can have very different causes. ANNA groups them into areas such as:
- Sensory: strong reactions to textures, tastes or smells, or a very small list of safe foods
- Structural or physiological: trouble chewing or swallowing, coughing during meals, reflux
- Behavioral: worry or refusal after a scary moment such as choking
Joined-up care in practice
When one team supports a child's communication, development and feeding, the dots connect. A sudden drop in what a child will eat might be medical; a narrow food list might be sensory. SLPs and behavior analysts sharing a plan can find the cause faster than separate providers working in silos.
ANNA's SLPs meet families virtually in their own kitchens, at real mealtimes, using a child-led, low-pressure approach.
What it means for the workforce
Multidisciplinary delivery changes who providers need: SLPs with feeding experience, behavioral clinicians comfortable working with them, and medical input. Finding clinicians who thrive in cross-discipline teams is becoming a core priority for growing providers.
For SLPs, feeding and telehealth skills are worth highlighting. For BCBAs, collaboration with speech and medical colleagues is increasingly part of the role.
Questions people ask
- What is ANNA's Table?
- A telehealth feeding and swallowing therapy program inside ANNA, the Allied Network for Neurodevelopmental Advancement.
- Who can be seen?
- Children from birth through age 6 in Massachusetts; an autism diagnosis is not required.
- Who delivers the therapy?
- Speech-language pathologists, working with behavioral clinicians and medical specialists.
- Why is feeding therapy done at home?
- Virtual sessions let SLPs work with families at their real mealtimes in their own kitchens.
Sources and method
- Feeding and swallowing therapy at ANNA's TableANNA
- Aimun Malik on launching ANNA's TableLinkedIn
- ANNAANNA
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Pay figures last reviewed August 2026