More on New Foods!

FROM BECKY: Here is my second post on encouraging your child with autism to try new foods. Below are some more ideas that you can use in your Son-Rise Program playrooms and around the house when helping your child with this.

4) Third time lucky!
Our children sometimes need a littletime to get used to new things. To process and for ideas and new concepts to grow on them. It has often been the case that the children I work with touch new foods, smell them, put their tongue on them, and then maybe a couple of days into having the new food around them will finally eat it. Have you ever had the experience of hearing a song several times and then really loving it when you didn't much care for it at first? Or perhaps going back and forth with a living room couch you have had your eye on and then finally falling for it and buying it. Well it's the same for our children, keep new foods, ready and available around them throughout the day. They may need to get familiar with the look and smell first before they are willing to even touch it, let alone eat it.

5) Use this effective combination - Give plenty of CONTROL to your child but be PERSISTENT too!
If your child runs away from the food, pushes your hand away when you offer it or tells you "No", celebrate them for showing and telling you and have easily back off and fun eating some food yourself.......try again in 10 minutes, but do keep trying.

6) Incorporate food into your childs activities and interests.
If your child likes slapstick humor, make the food have you do funny things when you eat it. Sneezing broccoli, giggling carrots or jumping green beans. If singing is one of your child's motivations, sing about the food, dance with it, and make each food sing in a funny voice with you. If your child loves tea parties, get a blanket and some stuffed animals and place the food on colored plastic plates. Sit around for a picnic in the playroom. Maybe your child wants you to give them piggy back rides, have them feed you food for energy for more rides, as you have fun enjoying the foods, offer it to your child too!

More coming next week!