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Each week I provide you with some of my ideas about turning autism around. So, if you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel, you can do that now. Before I was a Behavior Analyst, I got some training on feeding from top experts at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia when my son Lucas attended a 10-day outpatient feeding program there for his extreme picky eating that ended up being a feeding disorder. In the past two decades, and after becoming a Behavior Analyst in 2003, I’ve had many clients with picky eating, and some with eating disorders. This enabled me to get a lot more training in this important area.
Strategy #1: The first step in changing any behavior is to do a baseline assessment. That might sound scary if you’re a parent, but all it means is for three days, write down everything your child eats. If it’s 10 chips, if it’s four ounces of 2% milk, write it down and be as specific as possible. This assessment may also help you determine if you have a more serious feeding issue on your hands that will require more professional assistance.
Strategy #2: During your assessment period, also make 3 lists of foods your child will eat consistently. If your child eats only certain brands but eats them consistently, write that down in the left-hand column and we will call those easy foods. In the middle column, write down foods your child has eaten in the past month or two but doesn’t eat consistently. We’ll call these medium foods. They may be different brands of the same easy foods on the left. And in the right-hand column, write down the foods you would like your child to eat, but they have no ability to eat at this time without fighting. Those are hard foods. For now, I would feed your child only things from the easy list.
Strategy #3: Your child should eat all the snacks and meals at the table. No sitting on the sofa eating cereal or grazing on food while walking around.
Strategy #4: Switch snacks or meals to increase nutrients as much as possible. Obviously, one cup of vegetables would have more vitamins and nutrients than two cookies, but if your child has any vegetables on the easy list, we would want to be offering these very frequently within meals and snacks throughout the day.
Strategy #5: Limit snacks between meals, especially one hour before and one hour after meals. Remember, those snacks need to be at the table too.
Strategy #6: In addition to serving food at the table only, don’t allow your child to walk around having access to juice or milk in a bottle or sippy cup, and allow only water throughout the day. Drinks with calories will fill children up, and they won’t be interested in food, especially food that isn’t highly preferred. You want to limit juice or milk and serve only at the table in a regular cup or a cup with a straw. Eliminating sippy cups, bottles, and pacifiers may be a necessary step to use this strategy. I did a blog about getting rid of bottles and pacifiers a few months ago, so you may want to check that out now.
Strategy #7: Gradually start presenting medium foods in between the easy foods and then eventually weave in some harder foods as well.
In summary, to overcome picky eating in children with autism, I would recommend doing a 3 day assessment, making easy, medium, and hard lists on one sheet, having all meals and snacks and drinks with calories, except for water, at a table. Making snacks and meals as nutritious as possible, and working with your child to ease in harder foods along the way. Also remember that if your child is having feeding problems, he’s probably also having issues with other oral motor skills such as talking, following directions, imitation, play, and maybe having a lot of problem behaviors too. All of this needs to be addressed, and the best way to start is by downloading my free three-step guide now. If you’re watching this video blog anywhere other than MaryBarbera.com, hop on over there, leave me a comment, give me a thumbs up, and share this video with others who might benefit. To download that free guide go to MaryBarbera.com/join, and I’ll see you right here next week.
