Advancing to chewable food and cup drinking represents two of the most challenging transitions for children. These transitions are very sensitive to any number of influences including the child's respiratory status, gastrointestinal problems, overall posture and muscle strength, oral motor skill level and learned patterns. Because these two common feeding problems are frequently encountered at our center, we have utilized several therapeutic techniques to facilitate improvement. This session will briefly discuss these influences as they relate to advancing food texture and drinking from an open cup. Several oral motor and behavioral techniques will then be discussed to improve children's oral motor skills to advance texture and assist in cup drinking. Case examples will be used to demonstrate these techniques.