Food Smart Kids- Nina Ayd Johanson

The owner of Food Smart Kids, LLC, Nina Ayd Johanson, MA, MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, is a highly regarded clinician and renowned instructor with more than 27 years of experience. She has trained thousands of therapists both in the United States and internationally in "AEIOU: An Integrated Approach to Pediatric Feeding", a comprehensive professional training program that she developed and continues to teach. Nina provides education and support to parents of newborns and young children through her online learning platform to help children and their families learn to love food, enjoy family mealtimes, and thrive. She developed the "Baby-Cued Method™", a responsive feeding approach, to answer the many questions parents have about feeding their babies and transitioning to solid foods. Many parents feel worried about the next steps with feeding after breast or bottle, and the internet and social media have added to the confusion. She helps parents embrace the process simply and intuitively, without gimmicks or trends that could hinder the process. Nina also works in private practice in Baltimore, and with the Maryland Pediatric Group. A Certified Lactation Counselor and Certified Educator of Infant Massage, she specializes in infants with sucking dysfunction, tongue tie, and breast and/or bottle-feeding aversion. She has extensive expertise in diagnosis and treatment of infants and children with oral motor/feeding disorders, feeding tube dependency, autism, complex medical issues, and other developmental disabilities. Nina recently retired from her position as a Speech-Language Pathologist and pediatric feeding specialist for an acclaimed children's hospital after 25 years, where she founded the TOTs Program (for infants with feeding problems due to tethered oral tissue/tongue tie). She holds a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Loyola College of Maryland and a Master of Arts in Applied Healing Arts from the Tai Sophia Institute (now the Maryland University of Integrative Health). She is a board certified Holistic Health Practitioner and was trained in integrative nutrition through the Center for Mind Body Medicine’s Food As Medicine program.