Autism and Food!



On a recent trip to Hong Kong and Vietnam, I was offered a taste of snake soup. My imagination went wild and it made me feel a little nauseated. I also had a bag of cooked Quail eggs thrust towards me.... I am not good with eggs at the best of times and there was no way I could bring myself to sample one, although I did have fun snapping a few photographs!




Unlike me, Nick doesn't have any preconceived ideas about what he could be eating! However, he is an extremely picky eater; although to be fair, sensory issues most definitely play a role in his unwillingness to try anything new. When I think about experimenting with Nick's limited range of food, I try to take into account my own feelings when confronted with a food that I find scary unappealing. This has helped me to be more mindful of how I introduce new tastes and textures to Nick.

If you have been following this blog for a few years, you will know that Nick's food issues got so bad that he was refusing everything except cereal. I had to take a stand and do something about it. Over time, Nick has come to understand that I have one rule and that is he must try one piece/a small morsel/sample of what I offer him. I don't make a big deal of it and Nick knows that I won't make him eat anymore than that one taste. Having this rule has helped tremendously and his food intake is so much better than what it was two years ago.

I also use the concepts, 'same but different' and 'edge plus 1'. For example; Nick loves Macaroni Cheese. One day I added a couple of cooked peas. I told Nick that he was having the same Macaroni Cheese, however, it was a little bit different because of the peas! Over time, I kept adding more peas and he now gobbles them up with ease. Recently I started adding a tiny bit of finely chopped chicken breast.... and again, I will gradually increase the amount and size of the chicken pieces.

Our food journey is a long story and one that doesn't have an end in sight. My aim is to make it an enjoyable and encouraging adventure.






4 comments:

  1. I love the Edge + 1 ideas and while I can't have a rule about trying food here, I always offer a taste when I've made something new (usually for myself) and it's often taken up :)

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    1. I am so sorry that I missed your comment! So good to hear that your offers are generally successful. xx

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  2. I love how you compare strange tastes with what sensory issues bring to eating. With L we realised that we had to do that one taste thing and I dare say we have won big time He eats almost anything (but oats and sago) which I am totally prepared to just let be. I myself have issues with oats. For us the last frontier was brocolli but we did win it

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    1. How wonderful that L eats most things. Wish it was like that here.... but we plod on regardless. Thanks for stopping by. x

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