Introducing Food

1. Introducing Food Good Eater Techniques Meal Time Guideline Website for encouraging food experiences Social Stories / Videos /Checklist Prepared by: Gurmit Kaur

2. Good Eater Techniques • View these short clips: • Supernanny UK • The Bixley Family @ 18;05 mins • How to get your children to Eat • (3;02 mins) Technique Count down Modelling • Step 1: • Always set a goal (eg. 3 bites) • Step 2: • Set meal time discipline • Step 3: • Count bites with child • Step 4: • Give encouragement for each attempts • Step 5: • Praise child for eating Step 1: Determine food portion Step 2: Show child how much food to eat Step 3: Encourage child to eat Step 4: Show by example (Adult model & turn taking) Step 5: Praise child for eating

3. Meal Time Guideline • View these short clips: • Supernanny UK • How to make meal times fun for fussy eaters ( 1;46m) • Defiant kids refuses to eat dinner (4:00m) DO’s • Sit together for meal as a family • Give clear instruction to child • Explain basic mealtime rule • Set small achievable goal • Set clear, realistic expectation of desired behaviour • Serve small portion of meal, gradually increasing • Give immediate praise for each attempts • Keep snacks away from reach • Choose a menu plate from 2 choices offered • Involve child participation for meal preparation • Create record chart of meal consumedin each food category • ( Vegetables, Fruits, Proteins, Carbs ) • Start with a sectioned plate to keep food separate.  • Parent: Keep calm and maintain appropriate voice tone.

4. Meal Time Guideline • Don’ts • No force feed • Avoid offer of snack to child an hour before meal • Punishing child for refusing to eat • Avoid engaging in argument or comprising situation • Entertaining child other’s demands or request • (these maybe distractors or opportunity to escape meal) • Increasing food intake prior to agreed amount of food • Playing with gadgets or TV switched on • Mealtimes tension or stressful environment can add to a child’s defensiveness • Parent: Keep calm and maintain appropriate voice tone.

5. Supernanny UK Videos • Super nanny UK short clips provide : • tips and intervention tactics to encourage to eat veggies and meals. • steps by step progression in introducing meals • maintaining healthy meal discipline • Take time to note down the steps and approaches which can act as learning support. • Watch these short clips: Supernanny UK • The Bixley Family full episode @ 18;05 mins • (guide child to overcome fears from previous experience to re-eat meals) • How to get your children to Eat. (3.02 mins). • (tips on steps, expectation n modelling are shared). • Defiant kids refuses to eat Dinner. (4:00 mins) • (Taking control n sticking to your expectation) • How to make meal times fun for fussy eaters. (1.46mins) • (Giving discipline, praises and encouragements)

6. Exploring Cooking Methods Meals • Texture or smell of foods has been identified as a related aspect of food acceptance, suggesting that sensory sensitivity may be a contributing factor to food selectivity. Parents are encourage to explore different style of meal preparation that might be acceptable to child preferences and reduces meal anxiety. • Create a record sheet of food that has been cooked and accepted in terms of texture and smell tolerances.

7. Sensory Food Tasting Forms Checklist Building Bridges through Sensory Integration Forms Sensory Evaluation Form Example https://sensoryworld.com/bbforms/ https://www.sampleforms.com/sensory-evaluation-form.html

8. Website www.mendability.com Title: Autism and fussy eaters: how to help them overcome their sensory problems • Sensory processing issues that lead to picky eating • A key factor that contributes to food selectivity is referred to as “food sensitivity”. • Food presents several types of sensory information that can be an obstacle for an individual on the autism spectrum: • Texture • Smell • Colour, • and Temperature.

9. https://happyyouhappyfamily.com • Website • Tittle: mistake-at-dinner

10. Here are 8 tips to help a picky eater with autism • Focus on textures your child likes. If your child is a picky eater due to sensory issues, use that to your advantage. If she prefers crunchy foods over soft textures, focus on finding healthy options that appeal to her, like celery, carrot sticks, crisp apples, and granola bars. • Relinquish the control. A great strategy to help a picky eater with autism is to offer more control. Take your child grocery shopping with you, get her involved in the kitchen, and give her choices when dishing up meals. Offer 3 choices within the same food group: carrots, peas, or green beans? • Limit snacks and drinks between meals.  • Always offer something your child likes. Offer 3 foods of likes and 1 or 2 things you’d like to try without any expectations attached. The less threatened, the better. • Never give up!If your little one refuses green beans the first 3 times you offer them, keep trying. And then try again! • Appeal to your child’s senses. Intolerance to food smell can be challenging to consume. Take note of child preference of smell. • Write a social story.  The intention behind Social Stories is to give a child something to rehearse so she’s prepared once the situation described actually takes place. This can be an excellent tool to help encourage a picky eater with autism to try new foods.  • Remain positive. Stay calm and remain positive. While it may seem like your little one is deliberately trying to break your spirit at mealtimes, rest assured that the situation is more stressful for her than it is for you, especially if she has food texture issues and/or sensory eating issues. Take a deep breath, smile and focus on your child’s wins, no matter how small they might be. Pinterest

11. Social Stories Creating Social Stories for better understanding and awareness of upcoming event or experiences. Samples

12. Professional Intervention HELP • Every individual child may experience difficulties in trying or accepting new food due to their sensory processing, oral or tactile defensiveness. • Feeding problems are complex and often multi-factorial. Complex problems are often best addressed using an interdisciplinary approach. In the case of children with ASDs who are displaying highly selective eating patterns, interventions might be devised using the input of a dietitian, an occupational therapist, speech therapist and a behavioral psychologist. • It’s always best to seek professional assistance and intervention to make food experiences less stressful, painful and increase more willingness in accepting food. • Professional may include one of the following: • Occupational Therapist • Speech Therapist • Food Therapy Clinic • Psychologist

13. Quote • Autism doesn’t come with a manual. • It comes with a parent who • never gives up. Kelly Magro