Psychology Month feature on Dr. Kylee Clayton
Some of the kids Dr. Kylee Clayton works with are more than just picky eaters.
Clayton, an assistant professor of clinical health psychology at the Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, treats children with feeding disorders.
This serious condition can include the refusal to eat certain foods because of anxiety or fear of eating, sensory processing differences, lack of appetite or interest in eating. It’s not due to concerns about weight or appearance.
Clayton said the disorder can cause problems with growth or severe malnutrition because the child isn’t eating a healthy diet.
Clayton, a child psychologist and researcher, is studying the growing field of feeding disorders to better serve children and families across Canada.
“The bulk of the treatment research in this area is taking place in the United States right now,” Clayton said. “The realities of our public health-care system are different than in the U.S., so I’m studying feeding disorders in a Canadian context.”
In a recent study, Clayton looked at eight years of data to understand who was presenting with feeding disorder symptoms at Shared Health’s Clinical Health Psychology Child and Adolescent Consultation Service.
The patients ranged in age from two years old to 18 years old. Clayton found that it is a complex problem.
“It wasn’t only anxiety, sensory based challenges or lack of appetite, but often some combination of the three. This contributed to the feeding difficulties and frequently was coupled with comorbid medical diagnoses, anxiety or neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD or autism,” Clayton said.
While some patients are seen quickly for severe feeding concerns, many kids struggle with feeding difficulties for a long time, she said.
“This is especially true for children with sensory processing differences, which is when they interpret sensory information – like touch, taste or sound – differently from neurotypical responses. Parents are often reporting early signs of feeding challenges emerging in infancy and toddlerhood,” she said.
Clayton presented her research at last year’s International Conference on Eating Disorders in San Antonio, Texas. She is now preparing the study for publication in an academic journal.
Now that Clayton has a picture of who they are treating with feeding disorders, her next step is to study whether the services the clinic offers meets the needs of families and what can be done to improve the care received by children and their families.
“Next, I’d also like to look at the broader scale of why feeding difficulties in children feel so difficult, stressful and anxiety-provoking for parents,” Clayton said.
However, one of the challenges Clayton faces is time. Only 20 per cent of her time is able to be devoted to research and teaching, while 80 per cent is dedicated to seeing patients.
Dr. Lesley Graff, professor and head, department of clinical health psychology at the Max Rady College of Medicine, said research is essential to good clinical care, as it drives improvements and innovations.
The department is currently working to establish an endowed professorship in child psychology, which will protect up to 50 per cent of a faculty member’s time for research and support a more accelerated pace for research discovery.
“Clinical faculty are in the unique position of seeing the gaps in a clinical area through their work in the clinic and generating knowledge and solutions through their research. The professorship in child psychology will help attract and support clinician researchers like Dr. Clayton to advance innovations in clinical care,” Graff said.
Clayton said her research is inspired by the children and families with whom she works.
“I love my job,” she said. “I love getting to be part of people’s journey and help them live a life that is more healthy and more consistent with the way they want to live.”
To contribute to the campaign for a new professorship in child psychology, please contact Priyanka Singh, senior director, donor relations, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, at priyanka.singh@umanitoba.ca or 431-323-8247.
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