One to one · Nurtured Feeding Approach™

Mentoring For Clinicians Treating Pediatric Feeding Disorders

Bring the case you have been turning over all week. Leave with a plan you can use at your next session.

Work one to one with a pediatric feeding specialist with more than 27 years of clinical experience. Evidence based, responsive to what you bring, and built around your caseload rather than a curriculum.

Choose Your Package How it works

You Know The Feeling

A child who is not progressing, and you have run out of the things that usually work.

A parent asking what comes next, and you want to be certain before you answer.

A course that made sense at the time, but has not made it into Monday’s session yet.

An assessment where you know what you are seeing, but cannot quite defend the plan in the report.

A team looking to you as the feeding person, when you would like someone to look to yourself.

“The return on investment is incredible. This mentoring changed my practice.”

Alisa, SLP · New York

How It Works

1

Choose Your Package

One hour for a focused case or NFA™ concept. Two hours for a deeper case review or deeper dive into a specific NFA™ module or concept. Four hours for more advanced mentoring using the proprietary FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ and FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™ to strengthen clinical analysis and application across cases.

2

Register And Sign The Agreement

Payment and a short confidentiality agreement come first. It exists so you can bring real, identifiable clinical detail with transparency.

3

Submit Your Case In Advance

For case focused mentoring, complete the NFA™ Case Review Intake Google Form, then transfer the information into your Google Doc and share it with Ann Marie before your session. Add any other pertinent case information, including notes, reports, or videos when appropriate and when permission has been granted for review, so mentoring time can focus on deeper clinical analysis.

4

Meet, Work, And Keep The Tools

Your mentoring time is yours to direct. Bring a case, explore an NFA™ concept more deeply, or work through how to apply the framework to your assessment and plan of care.

Depending on your package, you will also receive FirstSTAGES proprietary clinical tools and selected NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit to support continued application after your session.

The intake form keeps working after the session. The same structured form tracks recommendations, progress and feedback over time, so it becomes a record of the case rather than notes from one conversation.

Ann Marie Presberg, MS CCC-SLP

Speech & Language Pathologist · Pediatric Feeding Specialist · Mom of Five Boys

27+ years of pediatric feeding experience

NICU & hospital · Early Intervention · Private practice

Ann Marie is a Chicago native who moved to Washington, DC to attend graduate school at Gallaudet University. She met her husband while volunteering with a tutoring and mentoring program serving inner-city, at-risk youth in DC, and she is the proud mother of five boys.

She empowers clinicians with evidence based training and mentoring that builds confidence, sharpens skills and elevates practice. Her work with clinicians rests on the same thing her work with families does: evidence, and the confidence that comes from knowing why you are doing what you are doing.

Founder

FirstSTAGES Feeding Specialists, LLC

Creator

Nurtured Feeding Approach™
Infant Feeding Success™
Toddler Feeding Success™

Developer

FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™
FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™

Choose Your Package

Every tier is one to one with Ann Marie, evidence based, and directed by you. Choose to work through a case, deepen your understanding of an NFA™ module or concept, or strengthen how you move from assessment to clinical reasoning and plan of care.

One hour

Expert Insight, Lasting Impact

$150

USD, one time

Best for one focused case, clinical question, or deeper dive into an NFA™ module or concept.

Included. One hour, one to one with Ann Marie
Included. FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ included
Included. Choose one accompanying NFA™ Tool for Your Toolkit, to support the concept you explored and carry it into clinical practice and family education
Not included. FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™ not included. Ongoing access comes with a Comprehensive NFA™ course or the four hour package

Begin with one hour

Best for a full case

Two hours

Two Tools For Your Toolkit

$250

USD, one time

Best for a more complex case, deeper clinical reasoning, or a deeper dive into a specific NFA™ module or concept.

Included. Two hours, one to one with Ann Marie
Included. FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ included
Included. Choose two NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit that support the modules or concepts most relevant to your work
Partly included. FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™ demonstrated and applied during your session. Ongoing access comes with an Introductory NFA™ course or the four hour package

Begin with two hours

Four hours

Four Hours, One Transformation

$500

USD, one time

Best for providers who want to go beyond a single case and develop deeper NFA™ clinical reasoning using the core proprietary tools of the framework.

Included. Four hours, one to one with Ann Marie
Included. FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ included
Included. FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™ access included
Included. Choose four NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit connected to the modules or concepts most relevant to your caseload

Begin with four hours

For case review, complete the NFA™ Case Review Intake Google Form and share it with Ann Marie before your session, whichever package you choose.

Groups of four or more save 50% per person, on any tier. See group mentoring

The Tools You Keep

Mentoring is not only about the hours. It is also an opportunity to learn how to use the clinical resources within the Nurtured Feeding Approach™ with greater purpose.

Two resources sit at the center of deeper NFA™ analysis: the proprietary FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ and FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™. These are different from NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit, which support specific modules and clinical concepts.

FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™

A research based reference for assessment and clinical reasoning.

The FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ brings age based feeding patterns, intake, growth, and age based nipple flow rates in ounces per minute into one practical resource, so providers can compare what they are seeing in a child with established pediatric evidence and make more individualized nipple flow choices.

The Guide is built from published pediatric research, established equations and guidance, including sources from the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization, and peer reviewed nutrition and pediatric literature.

Read the full descriptionShow less

Rather than relying on a percentile, prescribed volume, or symptom in isolation, providers can look at the larger clinical picture: age based nipple flow rates, feeding spacing, frequency and duration, and realistic gain and intake patterns based on both age and size.

This supports more individualized nipple flow and feeding recommendations, while helping providers move from symptom based, percentile driven, or volume driven care toward thoughtful root cause analysis and plan of care intervention.

It provides the evidence based foundation for asking better clinical questions, recognizing when a pattern deserves deeper analysis, and communicating observations thoughtfully with families and the interdisciplinary team.

FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™

Go beyond the number, to understand what the feeding pattern may mean.

The FirstSTAGES Feeding Calculator™ supports deeper NFA™ analysis of intake, growth and feeding patterns. It helps providers organize the numbers within a meaningful clinical context, rather than looking at ounces, calories, weight gain, or prescribed volumes in isolation.

Developed by Ann Marie Presberg, MS, CCC-SLP, the Calculator evolved from more than 20 years of analyzing feeding, intake, and growth patterns in clinical practice.

The Calculator does not replace the physician or dietitian, and is not a tool for feeding therapists to independently prescribe nutrition. It gives feeding providers a structured way to analyze the feeding picture within their scope, identify clinically meaningful patterns, and bring more informed observations and questions to interdisciplinary collaboration.

Read the full descriptionShow less

Ann Marie found that the math often revealed a clearer story to bring to the medical team: not only the resulting feeding tension, refusal, or aversion, but the volume, calorie, and gain patterns that may be contributing to it.

The Calculator evolved so other feeding providers could apply that same analysis quickly and consistently, calculate gain per day and intake patterns, and communicate the numbers behind the feeding picture more clearly to the interdisciplinary team.

Use the Calculator alongside the FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ to explore questions such as:

Is the current or proposed volume target realistic for this child?
How does intake compare with the child’s size, age and feeding pattern?
What does the child’s gain pattern add to the clinical picture?
Could liquid volume, caloric concentration, feeding frequency or schedule be affecting hunger and opportunities for solids?
Could the current pattern be contributing to feeding resistance, refusal, aversion, or difficulty progressing oral intake?
What information would be meaningful to bring back to the child’s medical or nutrition team?

The numbers often make patterns visible that are difficult to communicate through symptoms alone.

For children who are tube fed, this deeper analysis can also help providers examine how tube volume, schedule, delivery pattern, caloric concentration, growth, hunger, oral opportunities, and tube to oral patterns may be interacting with feeding development.

Calculator access by package

One hourNot included. Ongoing access comes with a Comprehensive NFA™ course or the four hour package

Two hoursPartly included. Demonstrated and applied during your session. Ongoing access comes with an Introductory NFA™ course or the four hour package

Four hoursIncluded. Calculator access included

The Guide and Calculator are proprietary, IP protected FirstSTAGES tools, currently under formal research and development as part of our ongoing work to advance how feeding patterns, growth, intake, feeding behavior, and Pediatric Feeding Disorder are assessed and understood.

NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit

Practical resources that help move an NFA™ concept from mentoring into everyday practice.

Module handoutsFocused resources connected to individual NFA™ modules and concepts. Use them as a quick clinical reference for yourself, or share the family facing ones to reinforce what you have taught during therapy and help caregivers carry the concept into everyday feeding at home.

Infant and Toddler Assessment ChecklistsOrganize the clinical information you need, from history through feeding observation.

Plan of Care Goal BankMove from assessment findings into meaningful, measurable goals.

Deeper analysis worksheetsBring clinical data, interpretation, and questions for the interdisciplinary team together in one place, so the reasoning can be built into your feeding report or attached to it.

How many you choose

One hourChoose 1 NFA™ Tool for Your Toolkit

Two hoursChoose 2 NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit

Four hoursChoose 4 NFA™ Tools for Your Toolkit

Use The Time The Way You Need It

There is no fixed agenda. You decide what the hours are spent on.

Work A Case

Bring a child who is not progressing. Together, you and Ann Marie work through the NFA™ clinical reasoning, identify the variables that may be affecting feeding, and determine what information is meaningful within your scope to address directly or bring to the child’s medical or nutrition team. Leave with a clearer plan and the clinical rationale behind it.

Apply What You Have Learned

Already taken Infant Feeding Success™ or Toddler Feeding Success™? Use mentoring to take a specific NFA™ module or concept deeper. Apply the framework to the children you are treating now, work through where the case does not seem to follow the expected pattern, and choose accompanying Tools for Your Toolkit to support continued clinical application and family carryover.

Build The Approach Into Your Practice

For clinicians and teams adopting the Nurtured Feeding Approach as their standard. Assessment flow, documentation, how you talk to families, and what to do when a case does not follow the pattern.

Groups of four or more

Learning As A Team Saves 50% Per Person

A hospital, clinic, practice, early intervention program, university, professional group, or other hosting organization may coordinate a group of four or more providers for NFA™ mentoring. Participants do not all need to be employed by the hosting organization.

How it works

Gather a group of four or more providers and identify the hosting organization.

The host completes the Organization Group Mentoring form, naming the package wanted, one hour, two hours or four hours, and the number of participants.

FirstSTAGES sends back a unique 50% discount code carrying the hosting organization’s ID, limited to the approved number of registrations.

Each participant registers individually for that package, using the group code.

The host schedules the group’s live online mentoring directly with FirstSTAGES, in one hour sessions or two to four hour blocks, and the group decides how to spend the time, on shared cases, clinical questions, NFA™ modules or its own learning goals.

Adding people later? The hosting organization lets FirstSTAGES know, and the approved registration limit is adjusted.

You organize your team. You choose how to use the time. FirstSTAGES helps you apply the NFA™ framework to the learning your group needs most.

Request your group code

Questions Clinicians Ask

Do I Need To Have Taken A Course First?

No. You can use mentoring to work through a case or explore a specific NFA™ concept even if you have not taken a course.

Mentoring naturally goes deeper when you already have the NFA™ foundation, because more of your time can be spent on application and clinical reasoning rather than on introducing the framework.

The FirstSTAGES Age & Evidence-Based Guide™ is included with every mentoring package. Calculator access differs by package, and is set out in full in the packages above.

How Do I Schedule My Session?

After purchase, use the Calendly mentoring link to book your session.

If you cannot find a day or time that works well for you soon enough, book the closest available option and contact Ann Marie with the specific day, date and time frame that would suit you better. She will do her best to move things around and accommodate you where she can.

For group and organization mentoring, the hosting organization schedules directly with FirstSTAGES once participants have registered. See group mentoring.

What Should I Prepare?

Your case, submitted through the NFA™ Case Review Intake Google Form before you meet. Assessment findings, feeding history, what you have tried and what happened. The more you put in, the more of your session goes to the answer rather than the question.

Is Mentoring Live Or Recorded?

Mentoring is delivered live online, and is not recorded.

Because mentoring may include discussion of clinical cases, reports, assessment information or feeding videos, sessions are not recorded by FirstSTAGES.

Providers are responsible for obtaining any required permissions before sharing patient information, reports or videos for case review.

How Long Do I Have To Use My Hours?

Use your mentoring hours in the way that works best for you. Two hour and four hour packages may be divided across several sessions, with as much time between them as you need.

For continuity, and to get the most out of applying it to your clinical work, Ann Marie recommends using your hours within approximately 6 to 12 months.

For group mentoring, the hosting organization decides how the team uses its hours, in one hour sessions or two to four hour blocks.

Will I Receive Documentation Of My Mentoring Hours?

Yes. FirstSTAGES provides a Certificate of Completion documenting the mentoring hours you complete.

Certificates may document 1, 2 or 4 hours of NFA™ Clinical Mentoring & Professional Development, based on the hours actually completed. Clinical mentoring may include infant and toddler feeding cases, Nurtured Feeding Approach™ clinical reasoning, assessment and plan of care application, and use of FirstSTAGES clinical tools and resources.

Participants are responsible for checking with their own state licensing board, employer or credentialing organization to determine whether and how these hours may be applied toward professional development requirements.

Why Is There A Confidentiality Agreement?

So you can bring real clinical detail without holding back. It protects patient information, and it protects the proprietary FirstSTAGES material and tools you will be working with. It takes a moment and it is completed before your session is scheduled.

Start With The Case You Are Stuck On

You do not need to have it figured out before you book.

Choose Your Package

Groups of 4+ save 50% per person