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Why I Created This Certification
The story behind the Regulation-First™ framework
✦ Regulation-First™ Certification · Helping Hands Therapy Resources™
Stop Treating Feeding Problems.
Start Understanding the Child Who Is Struggling to Eat.
Every child who struggles to eat has a story. This certification teaches a Regulation-First™ clinical reasoning framework that helps therapists identify the nervous system, sensory, oral motor, medical, gastrointestinal, nutritional, developmental, and environmental contributors influencing feeding — so they can treat the child, not just the feeding challenge.
✓ AOTA Approved Provider #0000001046 · ✓ IAOTH Accredited · ✓ Regulation-First™ Methodology
13Modules + Wrap-Up
1.2AOTA CEUs Included
12+Contact Hours
∞Lifetime Access
Choose the Path That Fits Your Practice
Learn the Regulation-First™ approach through the professional certification — or take the next step as a Licensed Provider and receive the implementation system, client-facing resources, and 12 weeks of live clinical mentorship with Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L.
Professional Certification
Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification
Build your clinical reasoning. Learn the framework. Earn your certification.
Founding Cohort · 12-Week Clinical Mentorship Included
Licensed Provider + Founding Mentorship Cohort
Learn it. Implement it. Get support applying it to real feeding cases.
Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L
Helping Hands Therapy Resources™
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Why This Certification Is Different
Most feeding education teaches techniques. This certification teaches you how to think.
The framework is the product.
Pediatric feeding is influenced by interconnected systems — nervous system regulation, sensory processing, interoception, oral motor development, posture and motor function, medical conditions, gastrointestinal health, nutrition, developmental factors, and family mealtime dynamics.
Regulation-First™ means establishing safety and understanding the child's state before selecting and applying feeding interventions — not replacing oral motor, medical, nutritional, or interdisciplinary care, but organizing your clinical reasoning around what to address first.
Technique-First Education
→Begins with the intervention
→Focuses on isolated feeding symptoms
→May organize the child into one category
→Asks, "What strategy should I try?"
These strategies have value — but only once you know what's actually driving the difficulty.
Regulation-First™ Clinical Reasoning
✓Begins with the child's state and story
✓Evaluates interconnected contributors
✓Prioritizes what needs to be addressed first
✓Asks, "Why is this child struggling, and what is the nervous system responding to?"
A complete clinical reasoning process — not a collection of tips.
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Sound Familiar?
If you treat children with feeding challenges, you've likely seen at least one of these
The child has the skills but still can't participate
Oral motor function looks adequate. Positioning is correct. But the child still refuses, gags, or shuts down at the table. Something else is driving it.
Sensory strategies work one day and fail the next
What calmed the child in yesterday's session doesn't touch today's distress. Without a framework for the underlying state, progress feels random.
You keep adding techniques without knowing which one to address first
Mealtime distress begins before food even reaches the table. Oral motor exercises alone don't touch it. You need a framework that goes as deep as your caseload does.
The missing clinical lens
Feeding cannot be understood through one system alone. This certification gives you a framework for understanding the child's nervous system state alongside the sensory, oral motor, medical, nutritional, gastrointestinal, developmental, and environmental contributors influencing participation — so resistance becomes information instead of a mystery.
I began my career as a pediatric occupational therapist in the NICU, supporting medically fragile infants and children with complex feeding challenges. Like most feeding therapists, I focused on oral motor skills, positioning, sensory strategies, and the evidence-based interventions I had been taught.
When I became a parent and transitioned into home-based care, I began to see feeding through a different lens.
"What stood out wasn't just the child's feeding skills — it was their nervous system."I saw babies and children who were living in a constant state of fight, flight, or shutdown. I saw parents carrying the overwhelming stress and anxiety that comes from desperately wanting their child to eat. In many homes, mealtime had become a battle long before anyone sat down at the table.
Some children became distressed simply by hearing food being prepared or smelling dinner cooking. Others refused to enter the kitchen. It became clear that feeding wasn't just about the mechanics of eating. Their bodies no longer felt safe.
As I deepened my understanding of Polyvagal Theory, nervous system regulation, and regulation-first care, my clinical reasoning began to change. Instead of asking, "What feeding technique should I try next?" I began asking, "What is this child's nervous system responding to?"
That question changed everything.
When I began helping children regulate before asking them to eat, I saw meaningful changes. Children who had been stuck began making progress. Parents became calmer and more confident. Mealtimes became less stressful, and therapy became more individualized as we began addressing potential underlying contributors rather than focusing only on the presenting symptoms.
As I trained the therapists on my team, I watched them experience the same transformation in their clinical practice.
That is why I created the Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification: to help therapists develop a more complete way of thinking about pediatric feeding, and understand how the nervous system, sensory processing, oral motor skills, medical conditions, nutrition, gastrointestinal health, development, and family dynamics work together to influence a child's ability to eat.
Because supporting safety and regulation can create the foundation a child needs to participate in feeding.
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The Regulation-First™ Feeding Framework
A repeatable clinical reasoning process — not a collection of tips
Phase 1
Regulate
Establish nervous system safety and readiness for participation
→
Phase 2
Recognize
Identify the sensory, oral motor, medical, nutritional, GI, developmental, environmental, and family contributors
→
Phase 3
Respond
Choose individualized interventions based on what is actually driving the difficulty
→
Phase 4
Generalize
Carry progress into everyday home, school, and community mealtimes
What Makes the Regulation-First™ Framework Different
Most programs go straight to intervention. The Regulation-First™ framework starts with Phase 1 — because a child's physiological and emotional state can significantly influence attention, engagement, motor performance, learning, and participation during feeding. Within the Regulation-First™ Framework, supporting safety and regulation is the starting point for clinical reasoning. Then we Recognize the contributors specific to that child — sensory, oral motor, medical, nutritional, gastrointestinal, developmental, environmental, and family. Then we Respond with an individualized plan built on assessment findings, not assumption. Then we Generalize across environments toward lasting change. This provides clinicians with a structured process for selecting interventions based on the child's individual presentation rather than applying techniques in isolation.
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Who This Certification Is For
Open to pediatric professionals working with feeding across settings
Occupational Therapists
OT, OTR/L, COTA/L — clinic, school, home health, telehealth
Speech-Language Pathologists
SLP, CCC-SLP, SLPA — especially those managing complex oral motor and swallowing presentations
Physical Therapists
PT, DPT, PTA — postural and motor contributors to feeding readiness
Early Intervention Providers
EI specialists supporting infants and toddlers with feeding difficulty
Qualified Pediatric Feeding Professionals
Any licensed pediatric provider whose scope of practice includes feeding
Interdisciplinary Teams
Providers coordinating feeding care across medical, nutrition, and therapy disciplines
This certification builds clinical reasoning within your existing scope of practice. It does not expand or authorize services outside your license or professional scope.
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Curriculum
13 comprehensive modules plus a course wrap-up — from foundational science to complex clinical reasoning
PART 1 — FOUNDATIONS
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Foundations of Pediatric Feeding Therapy
Establish the foundations of pediatric feeding practice, feeding development, scope of practice, interdisciplinary care, and the Regulation-First™ whole-child lens.
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Regulation-First™ Foundations
Understand the role of regulation, autonomic function, Polyvagal Theory as an evidence-informed framework, co-regulation, stress, trauma, and previous feeding experiences in a child's ability to participate in feeding.
PART 2 — CLINICAL SCIENCE
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Anatomy & Physiology of Feeding
Explore how feeding actually works—from oral and pharyngeal anatomy to neural control, autonomic function, respiration and airway protection, swallowing physiology, digestion, the enteric nervous system, and gut-brain communication.
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Understanding Pediatric Feeding Disorders
Differentiate typical developmental variation from clinically concerning feeding patterns, including food neophobia, picky/selective eating, food jags, oral aversion, Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD), ARFID, dysphagia, autism-related feeding differences, medical contributors, and growth concerns. Learn to look beyond food count and identify patterns that warrant deeper assessment.
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Additional Systems & Functions That Influence Feeding
Widen the clinical lens beyond the mouth to understand how sensory processing, interoception, posture and musculoskeletal function, oral-motor skills, nutrition, learning, emotional/social factors, relationships, and the feeding environment interact to influence eating.
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Oral-Motor Development & Dysfunction
Develop a comprehensive understanding of pediatric oral-motor skill development and dysfunction, including jaw, lip, cheek and tongue function; tongue lateralization; biting and chewing; bolus formation and oral transport; anterior spillage; pocketing; tongue pumping; texture-related motor demands; drinking skills; compensatory patterns; efficiency and endurance; and the distinction between oral-motor dysfunction and potential dysphagia. Includes clinical video observation of feeding and swallowing dysfunction.
PART 3 — ASSESSMENT & INTERVENTION
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Comprehensive Feeding Assessment
Learn a systematic whole-child approach to feeding evaluation—including feeding and medical history, food repertoire analysis, sensory processing, oral-motor skills, swallowing and safety, posture, mealtime observation, nutrition, GI/medical considerations, caregiver-child interaction, standardized/structured assessment tools, clinical reasoning, referrals, and treatment prioritization.
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Preparing the Body to Eat
Learn how regulation, co-regulation, sensory preparation, positioning, postural stability, environmental modification, routines, pacing, and individualized pre-feeding supports can improve readiness and participation before intervention begins.
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Evidence-Based Feeding Interventions: A Regulation-First™ Approach
Move from assessment to treatment with individualized intervention strategies addressing sensory-based feeding challenges, food exploration and expansion, oral-motor and feeding-skill development, texture progression, learned avoidance and fear, mealtime structure, environmental adaptations, responsive feeding, parent coaching, and functional participation.
PART 4 — MEDICAL & FAMILY CONTEXT
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Nutrition, Gut Health & Medical Contributors
Understand how nutritional adequacy, hydration, growth, constipation, reflux, GI discomfort, food allergy/intolerance, eosinophilic esophagitis, appetite, medications, and other medical contributors can influence feeding—and when collaboration or referral is needed.
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Parent Coaching & Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Learn how to coach caregivers without blame, reduce feeding pressure, build sustainable home strategies, communicate recommendations clearly, and collaborate effectively with physicians, dietitians, SLPs, OTs, psychologists, schools, and other members of the feeding team.
PART 5 — CLINICAL APPLICATION
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Documentation & Clinical Application
Translate clinical reasoning into defensible documentation, functional goals, plans of care, progress monitoring, caregiver education, referral recommendations, and clinically meaningful outcomes.
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Complex Case Studies & Clinical Reasoning
Bring the entire Regulation-First™ framework together through complex pediatric feeding cases. Identify interacting contributors, determine priorities, distinguish what can be treated within your scope from what requires referral, and build individualized assessment and intervention plans.
COURSE WRAP-UP
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Course Wrap-Up & Certification
Integration of the complete Regulation-First™ Feeding framework and next steps toward certification.
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Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- 1.Explain the role of nervous system regulation and autonomic state in feeding participation.
- 2.Describe how Polyvagal Theory and the vagus nerve may inform clinical reasoning related to regulation, digestion, social engagement, and feeding participation.
- 3.Identify sensory, interoceptive, oral motor, postural, developmental, environmental, medical, gastrointestinal, and nutritional contributors that may influence pediatric feeding.
- 4.Differentiate common presentations of pediatric feeding difficulties and recognize when additional medical or interdisciplinary evaluation may be indicated.
- 5.Conduct a comprehensive, whole-child feeding assessment that considers the multiple systems influencing feeding participation.
- 6.Analyze assessment findings to identify potential underlying contributors and establish individualized clinical priorities.
- 7.Develop evidence-informed, whole-child intervention plans based on assessment findings, clinical reasoning, family priorities, and the clinician's professional scope of practice.
- 8.Select and apply Regulation-First™ strategies to support readiness, participation, and skill development during feeding.
- 9.Integrate oral motor, sensory, environmental, behavioral, and regulation-based interventions according to the child's individual needs.
- 10.Identify medical and gastrointestinal factors — including airway concerns, reflux, constipation, allergies, and other medical red flags — that may affect feeding and require referral or interdisciplinary collaboration.
- 11.Apply clinical reasoning when supporting medically complex children, including children transitioning toward oral feeding when medically cleared and within the clinician's professional scope of practice.
- 12.Incorporate parent coaching, family-centered care, and interdisciplinary collaboration into pediatric feeding intervention.
- 13.Document assessment findings, clinical reasoning, intervention planning, progress, and medical necessity appropriately.
- 14.Apply the Regulation-First™ clinical reasoning process to complex pediatric feeding case studies.
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What's Included
Everything you need to complete the certification and apply it immediately
Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification
$497
Lifetime access · one-time enrollment
Course Content
- 13 Comprehensive Modules + Course Wrap-Up
- Downloadable clinical workbook
- Clinical resources and reference guides
- Assessment and intervention resources
- Case-based learning throughout
- Complex case studies & clinical reasoning module
Certification & Access
- 12+ AOTA contact hours · 1.2 AOTA CEUs
- Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification — IAOTH Approved
- Digital certification credential upon successful completion
- Final assessment
- Lifetime access to all course content
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Continuing Education & Compliance
AOTA and IAOTH approval details
AOTA Approval
Helping Hands Therapy Resources, PLLC
AOTA-Approved Course Title:
A Whole-Body Approach to Pediatric Feeding Therapy
A Whole-Body Approach to Pediatric Feeding Therapy
- ✓AOTA Approved Provider #0000001046
- ✓Course Approval ID #7864
- ✓1.2 AOTA CEUs · 12+ contact hours
- ✓Intermediate educational level
- ✓Distance Learning — Independent
AOTA provides continuing education credit only. AOTA does not endorse specific course content, products, or clinical procedures, and does not endorse or approve the Regulation-First™ Framework, certification credential, clinical methodology, or any specific intervention.
IAOTH Approved Certification
Helping Hands Therapy Resources is an approved IAOTH training provider
- ✓Helping Hands Therapy Resources is an IAOTH Approved/Accredited Training Provider
- ✓This certification has been approved through IAOTH
- ✓Helping Hands Therapy Resources is authorized to issue the Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification to participants who complete all requirements
- ✓Digital certification credential issued upon successful completion
Outcome: Upon successful completion of the course requirements, participants earn the Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification, an IAOTH-approved professional certification issued by Helping Hands Therapy Resources.
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Professional Disclosures
Presenter
Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L
Financial Disclosure
Kathleen Yopp, OTR/L receives royalties for this professional development activity.
Non-Financial Disclosure
Kathleen Yopp, OTR/L has no relevant non-financial relationships to disclose.
Content Disclosure
This course includes instruction on the Regulation-First™ Feeding Framework, a proprietary clinical reasoning framework developed by Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L. The framework is presented alongside evidence-informed concepts and established approaches relevant to pediatric feeding, including nervous system regulation, sensory processing, oral motor development, medical and gastrointestinal contributors, nutrition, and family-centered care. The Regulation-First™ Feeding Framework itself has not been independently validated as a standalone intervention or treatment protocol. References supporting the evidence-informed concepts presented throughout the course are provided within the course materials.
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Meet Kathleen Yopp
Creator of the Regulation-First™ Framework
Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L
Pediatric Occupational Therapist · Creator of the Regulation-First™ Framework · Founder, Helping Hands Therapy Resources
- 28+ years of pediatric occupational therapy experience
- Former NICU feeding therapist
- Certified BioIndividual Nutrition Practitioner
- Creator of the Regulation-First™ Framework
- AOTA Approved Provider
- Founder of Helping Hands Therapy Resources
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From Learning to Practice
Where clinical reasoning becomes real
Learning the Framework Is One Thing.
Applying It to a Complex Feeding Case Is Another.
You can finish a feeding course with pages of notes — and still sit across from a child wondering:
Where do I start?
Is this primarily sensory? Oral motor? Regulation? GI discomfort? Fear? Learned avoidance? A feeding-skill issue? Or several things happening at once?
That's where clinical reasoning becomes real.
For the first time, I'm offering a small group of Regulation-First™ Feeding professionals the opportunity to go beyond the certification and work with me for 12 weeks of live clinical mentorship.
You'll learn the framework inside the certification. Then we'll work together to help you apply it.
Bring the Cases That Make You Stop and Think.
Mentorship is built around the questions that come up in real practice, such as:
Where should I start with this child?
What might I be missing?
Which contributor should I prioritize first?
Is this regulation, sensory, oral motor, medical — or a combination?
What should I address in therapy versus refer out?
How do I explain this to the parent?
What should the treatment plan look like?
What do I do when progress stalls?
This isn't another course.
It's the bridge between learning the Regulation-First™ framework and confidently using it in practice.
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Certification Gives You the Clinical Knowledge.
Licensed Provider Gives You the Implementation System.
Certification
Learn how to understand the whole child.
Designed for clinicians who want to learn the Regulation-First™ Feeding framework, improve their clinical reasoning, and incorporate the approach into their professional practice.
You'll leave with the framework, the whole-child assessment lens, the intervention reasoning, and your certification.
Licensed Provider + Clinical Mentorship
Learn how to implement the framework.
Designed for clinicians who want to build and implement a more complete Regulation-First™ Feeding service using additional client-facing resources, done-for-you materials, implementation tools, and designated Licensed Provider usage rights.
And for the founding cohort, you won't figure out the implementation alone: you'll have 12 weeks of live clinical mentorship with Kathleen while you put it into practice.
"I don't just want to learn this. I want help putting it into practice."
If that sounds like you, the Licensed Provider pathway was built for you.
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12 Weeks of Live Clinical Mentorship
with Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L
Implementation-focused mentorship — not another prerecorded course
Each week, we meet live as a small group to work through real clinical questions and apply the Regulation-First™ framework to the children on your caseload — from first assessment through treatment planning, parent partnership, and the moments when progress stalls.
Bring your questions. Bring your challenging cases. Bring the situations where you're not quite sure what to do next.
Mentorship is educational and consultative. It does not replace individualized medical advice, supervision required by your employer or licensing board, your independent clinical judgment, or your professional scope-of-practice requirements. Case details should be shared in a de-identified manner consistent with applicable privacy regulations.
Mentorship Structure
- 12 weeks of live clinical mentorship
- Weekly 60-minute live group mentorship sessions
- Clinical case consultation
- Clinical reasoning
- Treatment prioritization
- Assessment and intervention troubleshooting
- Parent coaching support
- Regulation-First™ implementation
- Licensed Provider implementation support
- Live Q&A
- Recordings available to cohort members
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Choose Your Pathway
Both pathways include the complete Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification with 1.2 AOTA CEUs
12-Week Clinical Mentorship Included for the Founding Cohort
Founding cohort enrollment will be limited so mentorship can remain interactive and case-focused.
Future mentorship cohorts may be offered separately and/or at a higher enrollment rate.
Professional Certification
Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification
Learn the framework and clinical reasoning. Earn your certification.
$497
One-time enrollment · Lifetime access
- Full Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification
- 13 modules + wrap-up
- 12+ contact hours / 1.2 AOTA CEUs
- IAOTH-approved certification
- Lifetime course access
- Clinical workbook and resources
- Assessment and intervention resources
- Complex case studies
- Certification upon successful completion
Best Value · Founding Cohort
12-Week Clinical Mentorship Included
Regulation-First™ Feeding Licensed Provider
+ 12-Week Clinical Mentorship
+ 12-Week Clinical Mentorship
Learn it, implement it, and get live support applying it to real feeding cases.
$1,297
Founding cohort · Limited enrollment
Founding Cohort Bonus
12-Week Clinical Mentorship Included
Everything in the Certification, plus:
Licensed Provider Implementation System
- Regulation-First™ Feeding Licensed Provider status
- Additional client- and parent-facing resources
- Done-for-you feeding resources and programs
- Picky to Peaceful™ parent coaching curriculum
- From Food Battles to Food Confidence done-for-you parent workshop
- Licensed Provider implementation tools
- Practice-building and implementation resources
- Designated Licensed Provider usage rights
12 Weeks of Live Clinical Mentorship with Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L
- Weekly live group mentorship sessions
- Real-world case consultation
- Clinical reasoning and treatment prioritization
- Assessment and intervention troubleshooting
- Parent coaching support
- Regulation-First™ implementation support
- Live Q&A
- Access to mentorship recordings for cohort members
Founding Mentorship Cohort · Limited Enrollment
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Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between Certification and Licensed Provider?
Certification teaches you the Regulation-First™ Feeding framework and clinical reasoning process.
Licensed Provider is for professionals who want to go beyond learning the framework and implement a more complete Regulation-First™ feeding service. Licensed Providers receive additional client-facing and implementation resources, designated usage rights under the Licensed Provider agreement, and additional practice-building resources.
For this founding cohort, Licensed Provider enrollment also includes 12 weeks of live clinical mentorship with Kathleen Yopp, MOT, OTR/L, including case consultation, implementation support, and clinical Q&A.
Do I need to be a Licensed Provider to join the mentorship?
For this founding cohort, the 12-week mentorship is included specifically with the Licensed Provider pathway.
What happens during the live mentorship?
Each weekly 60-minute session combines clinical Q&A, case discussion, clinical reasoning, treatment prioritization, assessment and intervention troubleshooting, parent coaching support, and implementation of the Regulation-First™ framework. Participants are encouraged to bring de-identified cases and the real questions coming up in their practice.
What if I can't attend a live session?
Cohort members will have access to session recordings. Live attendance is encouraged for maximum benefit, since that's where you can bring your own cases and questions.
Is this individual clinical supervision?
No. The mentorship is educational and consultative and does not replace required professional supervision, employer policies, independent clinical judgment, scope-of-practice requirements, or applicable licensing regulations.
How do the AOTA CEUs work?
Helping Hands Therapy Resources, PLLC is an AOTA Approved Provider #0000001046. This course has a Course Approval ID of #7864 and provides 1.2 AOTA CEUs (12+ contact hours), Distance Learning — Independent, at an intermediate educational level. A CEU certificate is issued upon completion. AOTA does not endorse specific course content, products, or clinical procedures.
What certification will I receive?
Upon successful completion of all required modules and the final assessment, you will earn the Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification, an IAOTH-approved professional certification issued by Helping Hands Therapy Resources.
How long do I have access to the course?
You receive lifetime access to all course content, including the workbook and clinical resources, so you can revisit the material as your caseload evolves.
Are there any prerequisites?
No specific prerequisite course is required. This certification is designed for pediatric professionals whose professional role and scope of practice include feeding.
Who is this certification for?
Occupational therapists and OTAs, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists and PTAs, early intervention providers, and other qualified pediatric feeding professionals.
What do I need to complete to earn certification?
Completion of all 13 modules plus the course wrap-up, the downloadable workbook exercises, and a passing score on the final assessment.
Does this certification expand my scope of practice?
No. This certification builds clinical reasoning and a structured framework within your existing scope of practice. It does not authorize services outside your professional scope.
What is your refund policy?
Please refer to the enrollment terms presented at checkout for full details on refunds and cancellations.
Ready to Change the Way
You Approach Feeding?
Start with the Regulation-First™ Feeding Certification and learn to see the whole child — not just the feeding behavior.
Or take the next step as a Regulation-First™ Feeding Licensed Provider and spend the next 12 weeks learning how to put the framework into practice with live mentorship and case support.
I Want Licensed Provider + 12-Week Mentorship — $1,297
Founding Mentorship Cohort · Limited Enrollment
✓ AOTA Approved Provider #0000001046 · ✓ IAOTH Accredited · ✓ Lifetime Content Access
