44 thoughts on “Autism and Challenging Behaviour 4 – Eating and getting the right foods”

1. I wish my 21 yr old son with aspergers ate half of what your child does any tips would be appreciated. As his diet is 3-4 items the only veg is in form of a chip

2. Hi! 26 yo autistic. I don’t see any problem with how your child eats. I’m still like that and I’m perfectly healthy. The only thing that may have to be changed is the hands instead of fork and knife thing.
   1) How did you get your child to eat different foodstuff? What techniques did you use? What worked and what didn’t?
   My parents have told me that, when I was 3, I would eat lentils only. They gave me some supplement to increase my appetite and that started to change.
   2) How did you teach your child table manners?
   I don’t remember how they taught me, but I do remember asking them to give me the food when I was 4, because I got bored of eating by myself.
   3) Are you concerned about the nutrient value or your child’s diet? Have you been to a dietician?
   My mother gives me a variety of food so that I eat a little bit of everything.
   4) Can you go to restaurants with your child? Do you need an iPad? We do.
   I used to cry a lot at restaurants and there weren’t iPads or tablets at the time. They didn’t refuse to bring me there, anyway.
   5) What about food at school?
   I couldn’t eat at school until I was 7 as, before that, I hated the food and used to cry a lot. Then, I started to tolerate the school food, and I liked some things even better than home-made food.
   Don’t worry. Your kid will be fine!!

3. Your sons diet is WAY better than our kids, we are in fact working towards a diet like his. I’ve come to understand that this is because our wee man has fairly profound sensory integration issues & new tastes are akin to something like an electric shock of revulsion – making widening his pallet very challenging indeed. Thus I have no advice, the only thing we’ve found that helps is allowing him to ‘experiment’ with food. ‘Experimenting’ in this context is touching, smelling, discussing items on a plate with no expectation that he actually eat them. He usually does this with an occupational therapist and we follow up with repeated exposure. This is an extremely SLOW process. We tried every other conceivable thing we (+ a team of specialists could think of) so naturally we will be following your blog with interest !

4. You have got to find his carrot so to speak. My son has a severely limited pallet eating a toaster streudel and pediasure for breakfast chicken nuggets for lunch and almost always cereal unless we have cheese pizza. He eats no meats with the exception of chicken nuggets and they cannot be homemade or chicken strips! The thing about it is… We set a goal of 5 new foods to try each week. Generally this is a meat or fruit or vegetable since I feel these are most important. I give him something to work towards such as 1new pokemon card or a trip to the pool. However we have been doing this for months and is somewhat time consuming to really push him to take the 1 bite he has discovered he likes watermelon… But all seeds have to be cut out. This is a win in my book since he wasn’t eating any fruits or vegetables and no real meat… Just processed chicken nuggets. He gags on almost everything and literally cries but i feel it is worth it. Good luck

5. I hear ya on everything! My son peels fish fingers because he doesn’t like the texture of crumb, but he’ll eat the crumb off schnitzel, as long as he eats the meat of the schnitzel separately. He’ll eat chicken nuggets, but only 1 brand. He’ll eat hot chips, but only straight cut, and they have to be crunchy on the outside and mushy inside like mashed potato, but he won’t eat mashed potato. I too am tired and I 100% agree that life is too short to argue over food. We keep putting new and old foods previously refused on his plate and he is slowly widening his food choices. He’ll eat bananas for fruit, and quite a few meats now and the struggle continues. He’s growing well so I’m ok with it.

6. Eating at home was always at the family table, not on the sofa or in front of a computer.  We treated it as a social event too, so no TV or radio on in the kitchen whilst eating.  The table would be set out with the tablecloth, dinner mats, teacups, knife, fork and spoons, bread and butter in the middle, and the tea tray at the side with a teapot, little jug of milk, a sugar bowl, salt, pepper, vinegar, and sauces.  It would be a ritual with warmed plates brought to us with the meat already on it and the veggies then served hot from the pans.  My mother would then serve the veggies as we were all sat down and we waited until everyone’s plates were ready before digging in.  If I refused to eat any of the veggies she wouldn’t serve them me anymore nor would she ask if I wanted them.  She left me to ask why I didn’t get any and told me that it was because I didn’t like it, to which my response usually would be “yes I do” and then she’d offer me some of hers and watch me eat it before taking some more off the pan for herself and then asked if I wanted more.  The rest of the ritual before eating involved passing of items from the tea tray around the table rather than grabbing it ourselves by asking “could you pass the salt please?” so we were socially interactive (I had to ask with the word “please” at the end or I’d get eyeballed and asked what else I was to say.)  We were expected also to have manners around the table which involved elbows off the table, no chewing with your mouth open, no talking with your mouth full, and to use the knife to cut food rather than waving a big piece on a fork.  If you had to spit something out for some reason (bones, fat) then my mother would fetch a roll of kitchen towels.  This eating ritual was also practiced at my great aunt and uncle’s house and at my aunt’s house so it became the norm for me.  Only thing I didn’t like was being told I’d get no pudding if I didn’t eat all my dinner, but when you’re full you’re full so it wouldn’t have made any difference if I ate all my dinner or not I’d still get no pudding.

7. Check out the awesome products from “Make Eating Fun!” Their unique and fun interactive nutritional games/stories can help! The product line offers exciting food adventures for children and their families to enjoy and have fun with together!  http://www.makeeatingfun.com/ Here’s also short video which explains a bit about the system.. https://youtu.be/2uQ5rVLS1nU

8. My stepson is 6 and when he and his father moved into my house he was eating a waffle with strawberry jelly for breakfast and dinner and pb&j for lunch every day. He would eat apple banana or orange and loved strawberry yogurt (no lumps). After two years with him he is now completely off jelly waffles at our house. He has cereal in the mornings, still his pb&j for lunch and for supper, high protein mac & cheese with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and green beans. He’ll also eat raw celery and cucumber. Last weekend he ate haddock! I put cheese and Ritz crackers on it and called it cheesy Ritz (the word fish would have sent him gagging). The trick for me was a special cafeteria plate with compartments, and sooooo much patience. Each of these new foods took at least two hours of sitting with him and playing games, for him to even nibble them. We’d touch them, smell them, kiss them. Pretend to brush our teeth with them, put them on our heads, he would feed them to me, anything silly thing I could think of. Each step received praise, clapping, dancing, anything that kept him smiling. I also tried a rewards system with small dollar toys wrapped like birthday presents. After eating a new food he was allowed to choose from the birthday basket that was kept on the table during the meal. He’s doing so great now, we’re so proud. Unfortunately he won’t do the same for his mother at her house and all of us together in one house greatly upsets him. So, we’re all still working on that. Go team!

9. My son is 11 and is in the 1/10th percentile for his height/ weight ratio. His diet is appauling!! He’s getting more fussy as he gets older, not better. It really concerns me. He is extremely intelligent, hates sport and never gets sick. He eats NO fruit or veges. The only meat he eats is bbq’d chicken. His diet consists of noodles and nuggets. He hates sweet things, and only eats savoury snacks, like chips. I have had him to a paediatrician who has now put him a multi vitamin and an iron tablet, as well as a daily drink of sustagen. He refuses any new food, and gags on anything that has texture. He also claims he can smell ants.

10. millndollrbaby  My son is the same way and he is 6 now. He won’t eat fruits or veggies either and he loves cheese! He as well only eats Pizza, chicken nuggets, cheesburgers, corn dogs, hot dogs, mac n cheese and really nothing else. Also, no pepper or anything green.

11. My son has a very limited diet. He won’t eat any vegetables, and only a banana for fruit. He doesn’t like rice, grits, beans or nuts. I have no idea why he won’t even try these foods, once their in his mouth he acts like he is going to throw up and refuses to eat them. Also change is a BIG problem for my son he hates change in anything.

12. We introduce one new food a week if his choice.. we haven’t widened it to where I’d like BUT we have discovered a love for CRAFT Mac n cheese no shells or we have melt downs but it’s a start we have discovered a sever gagging over noodles with sauce..but noodles with a little butter and only thin spaghetti… and to think he only suffers sever adhd/borderline ASD I learned if I force it he will automatically hate it, as well as pizza with no topping and only thin crust, he won’t hardly easy at school we get the menu and circle ask the days we need to pack lunches:( but he will occasionally try new foods at school but not often, he loves to cook but won’t eat any of it… I even tried switching his choice brand of corn dogs while he was at school..one bite he gagged.. I ended up telling him bc it almost eliminated his love for corn dogs in the spot.. we still 2 years in try a new food a week even if he tried it mo ago… sometimes it changes depending on his mood as Well

13. Ok…..my son wont eat anything wet, flat, square or sticky….I havent still after 8 years quite mastered what is wet…..apparently all fruit and veg is wet, meat fish and chicken is wet unless coated in panko crumb, and deep fried. No foods may be mixed together or joined, except recently with hotdogs…..which he refused to call hotdogs…..they are red sauages in soft rolls(with wet bbq sauce, which I would think is wet but isnt to him). Regular bread is out as ots flat and square but if its cut in a shape and toasted its ok. Soup, pasta, any one pot meal really is out as the foods are mixed. I have tried to use mashed veg as the glue to stick the bread crumbs on chicken and meat and was just given a sigh…..and a look like “really mum? You thought you could get that by me?” ……no mince as its wet, even when in meatball form….but he will eat a meat pie too….which I have also tried to add pureed veg to, much to his chagrin. I give up….! He just takes a multivitamin in his hot cocoa now…..im tired and life is too short to argue over food. 🙂 good luck.

14. It’s really good that she doesn’t eat the ranch dressing, it’s processed, so lots of chemicals and preservatives in it. Whole foods are best, if she will eat them. 🙂

15. Your son eats more types of food than mine on a good day. Phil doesn’t care for the texture of meat so we bribe him a lot to get him to eat a small amount. He loves cheese though so we keep several types of it in the house. He loves a wide variety of fruit and veggies. New foods are a challenge, he usually refuses to try them. Up till last year table manners where really bad but at least now he eats with silver wear not his fingers. Although, finger foods are his favorite things to eat still. School food is hit and miss most of it stays on his tray, but a relative of ours works at school and she has been working with him to get him to eat. Restaurant eating can be very interesting it matters who is eating with us on if he behaves. IPad or my droid phone helps when he done eating but I’m not. I do have a rule that I make him follow with food he has to try a bite if it’s a new food or something he hasn’t eaten in awhile, you never know you might like it.

16. Hi JeffreyMensch, we eat at the dinner table as a family. Perhaps you could just let everyone know what your wishes are. Tell them that you’d like to have everyone eat at the table. If they complain about not being able to eat at the computers, tell them they can go on them after tea if they come to the table to eat. I’d also try to get them to go with no computers after tea eventually. Let them on the computers til tea time, but not after tea…this is what we do. Good luck and thanks
    Sue

17. 4Cards  The Ipad is a great tool…just costly…but i have had great success with the leapster and hope to be introducing the pads in the near future…they really do help control behavior…

18. CindyWismer  I think this one is key…they really can move under their own power…

19. Sue1968  This has been one our primary fights here at our house….how do I get the whole family around the table for dinner?…Mother and I seperate ourselves as much as possible but we simply cannot be everywhere at once…when its just the two of us and the kids we tend to eat at our own “stations”…each person in this house has their own computer…their own spot…It hurts me though that it has come to that…My kids do adapt fast though…we recently started to re-introduce the family table into the family equation…somewhere along the line we lost that…I would like to cook more as i do have ideas…I just keep trying to roll with it all myself…I hope we both find success in the future…:-)

20. I wish my child wound eat the variety of foods you mention. Her diet consists of sausage and a tiny amount of potato and she still doesn’t eat it all, that’s her dinner. She has a sandwich and choc chip cookies for lunch at school. Fruit is an apple. The only fruit she’ll eat. Breakfast is Nutella on toast or bread, if we have none of that, she’ll eat Vegemite. She drinks nesquik or water. I hope I haven’t offended you. My daughters palette is very limited and I’d like to know how to expand it too
    Sue

21. The
    school thing is interesting, your comment about environment. What dish
    soap are you using, how well do you rinse? What does the school use? I
    can’t easily eat at certain restaurants because I can taste the
    cleaning chemicals in the food very intensely
    (I’ve had other people try the exact same foods, and they can’t taste
    it, whereas I feel like there should be bubbles coming from my mouth,
    the bleach taste/smell is so strong). People’s homes, not so bad,
    however the soapy taste is more noticeable when they use a dishwasher
    rather than hand wash their dishes.
    Also,
    certain foods just flat out make me feel full after a few bites. This
    is particularly true of refried beans dishes and in fact most Mexican
    carb and protein dishes. The rice is almost as filling as the beans.
    It tastes wonderful at first, and then the switch is flipped and I feel
    nauseatingly full. Makes me wonder if that’s where the pizza response
    is coming from. I love the taste and first few bites of most Mexican
    food, but the more traditional (well, Americanized restaurant
    “traditional”) it is, the worse the “filling” effect is, and the sooner I
    get nauseous. Note that rice cooked for East Asian recipes doesn’t have
    this effect at all, and it usually doesn’t for Italian recipes.

22. John
    actually appears to like the same number of foods as most kids. Just
    not the usual, or most convenient ones. Age isn’t given here, or I
    missed it, but if he’s young, yeah, most young kids separate their food
    out, too.
    Is his preference for raw or cooked? Texture issues?
    For
    me, if I ate a food one time, and then tried it at a later time and it
    tasted different, I couldn’t stand it. At times, I took for granted
    that a different taste for the same food meant that it had gone bad, and
    I would occasionally cry and panic, assuming that everyone was
    poisoning themselves (sidenote, as an adult, since they moved away from
    transfats and started cooking potato chips in sunflower oil, I cannot
    eat them anymore in any quantity, it smells like they’ve gone bad and
    tastes worse. Those still fixed in peanut oil are fine, sensory if not
    healthwise).
    As
    an adult, I can taste the difference between different types of apples,
    different types of oranges, and different batches of the same variety.
    I hate wax on apples–the eating isn’t an issue, but no amount of soap
    gets the residue off my fingers.
    Large
    bites were overwhelming. Small, tolerable (I still can’t eat whole
    Brussels sprouts without triggering my gag reflex no matter how they’re
    prepared. But diced finely and lightly fried in butter, they’re a
    favorite food).
    Smell.
    Don’t get me started on onions that are slightly too old, or grease
    that’s the tiniest bit off. They don’t burn, they feel like someone
    punched the inside of my nose, and the physical sensation is what leads
    to a gag reflex. Fresh onions are fine.
    As
    for issues with wheat or dairy….I’d actually get that checked out by a
    doctor…it could well be good instinct on the part of your son. I’m
    not on the bandwagon that says that gluten or dairy are THE cause of
    autism, there is no ONE magic bullet cause, but I do think that they can
    negatively affect some kids. As someone with a gluten and dairy
    intolerance, whose behavior is affected, and who suffers physical side
    effects, I think it’s always a worthwhile point of inquiry.
    Sidenote:
    If he gets chronic ear infections, definitely check the dairy. I did
    as a kid, but they went away when we figured out the dairy issue. That
    was process of elimination, it was sensitivity rather than allergy, but
    made a huge difference. Chronic bronchitis every winter, and half the
    time during the summer, ear infections, ruptured eardrum at one
    point….then cut out the milk, it all went away. I don’t avoid milk
    and dairy altogether, but if I have too much, I can tell, the inside of
    my ears (as in, inner ear, inside the ear canal itself, close to the
    throat) start itching and burning, and triggering my gag reflex a
    little.

23. My son has ASD.  After him having so many sleeping problems every night, we switched his milk to lactose free and he slept a lot better and no more waking up.  He loves chicken and pizza and really any meat!!  Veggies are difficult to get him to eat except for broccoli and corn.  He doesn’t like side dishes(potatoes, stuffing, mac & Cheese)

24. Hi,
    My three older sons (ages 6-4-2) have ASD
    1. Really tuff to introduce new food. We didn’t succeed yet, but I’m starting to think about recipes for hidding good food. If it passes the test on my three little lab rats, I share my findings with you 🙂
    2. Using ustensils is the only good manner we insist on and even if we try to make them use them, eventually, they took them when they were ready.
    3. if you are concerned, you can always complement him diet with Pediacare beverage. Insure peace of mind for us parents and it’s easy to make them take it ’cause it taste like cake 🙂
    4.No, we don’t, but we do a lot of take out.
    But the Ipad is awfully useful for visits to the doctors office.
    5.for what they refuse to eat at lunchtime, they make out at snacktime.
    ps: Antoine loves mc donald’s but only eats fries.
    pps: I suggest you let your oranges on your kitchen counter for a while…. you never know, maybe it will encourage him to eat some more!
    ppps: maybe he does love pizza. but if he have a hard time with food touching on his plate, imagine stacked food!…if you give him a plate with cheese, sauce and cooked dough, all apart, maybe he would eat pizza that way.

25. It sounds like he is doing OK with his limited diet.  Maybe you could get him to chew a gummy vitamin.  It will have to be his decision, but he will try more foods as he gets older.  My nephew went to camp and was so hungry he finally decided to taste something else- his decision.  Good luck

26. It sounds like he is doing OK with his limited diet.  Maybe he could chew a gummy vitamin.  Maybe a bribe like $1 a bite (or teeny tiny taste) will work. He will try new things as he gets older.  My nephew was very picky, as I was, until he went to camp and was so hungry he finally tasted other foods.  It was his choice, and he discovered it wasn’t so bad.

27. My son has never eaten a fruit or vegetable. He loves dairy of all kinds.Specially cheese, He could eat a whole block if your not watching him. I am so sick of eating pizza, tacos, chicken nuggetts and cheeseburgers. That is it. God forbid if there is a spice like a speck of pepper..Or worse a grill mark on it.. He is 14 now. I do hope  his tastes will expand… But he is healthy and almost 5’10”. That is one big block of cheese!

28. Oh we love restaurants. The power of being in charge!!!!! But we need steak, spag bol or chicken/ rice his way or FORGET IT!!!!

29. Are you spying into my home lol. This is my house to a T!! I am convincing myself the modelling of good food habits will end up having an impact. In the meantime the same foods get a regular roll out.

30. We call EVERYTHING new Dinosaur ———! As in Oh Hannah would you like Dinosaur Nuggets or Dinosaur Fingers? (Chicken Nuggets or Fish Fingers) Works best if you do a dinosaur roar after the quesstion LOL!

31. My son is 2 y old and he likes soup, so I blend meat, vegetables and cereals together and freeze a bowl of soup for each day of the week. I send it to the daycare so he can have a happy lunch. That way I make sure he eats healthy at least one time a day. He likes grapes, bananas, bread and water. These are his choices for breakfast, snacks and dinner. Usually we don’t go to restaurants, he is not happy with closed spaces.

32. I am a retired special educator.  I have written two books about my experiences.  One is a short story- a fun read about a special ed class and the other a Guide for parents.

33. Great progress!  This shows that your daughter is interacting and trying to please others as well as having fun. If she is picky about veggies, you might try “hiding” them in other foods.  I used to put green beans in my son’s tuna sandwich.  
    Technology is such a good tool for children with ASD.

34. My son is 7 now, and has only recently been diagnosed ASD… to answer the questions:

    1. The Boy has never been a fan of anything with a strong flavour or smell. I will ask him to try something, and if he says no, I leave it and try again another time. If he says ok (usually reluctantly) I will give him just enough to be able to taste it and feel the texture in his mouth, then its up to him. If he like it and wants more, I’ll give him more. If he doesn’t want more, I don’t push it. Also, if he ever asks about anything on mine or Dad’s plate, we always let him try it.

    2. The Boy has table manners when he focuses on what he is doing, but he struggles with his co-ordination, so finds it hard to use the knife and fork together to cut, or push things onto he fork. If he’s sat at the table on his own, he will often use his fingers to push thing on the plate onto his fork, or into his mouth. He also often puts too much food in his mouth at once, and usually ends up with some food/sauce/gravy on his face.

    3. I don’t have too many concerns about his diet, he knows when he has eaten enough and will turn down treats of he’s not hungry. He won’t drink fizzy drinks because he doesn’t like the feeling in his mouth, so really only drinks water or juice (doesn’t like squash too much as its too sweet)

    4. We can take The Boy to a restaurant, although he struggles to understand why the food doesn’t come as soon as you order it, and I am always concious of people watching his table manners.

    5. School (as you appeared to imply) is a different matter. When he was at nursery as a 2/3 yr old, he would eat anything he was given (including things that he ‘didnt like’ at home) and on the occasions that he does have school dinners, he will eat whatever is on the menu. He does prefer to take packed lunches though, because he eats cooked meals quite slowly, and says that he has more time to play when he eats his packed lunch – he always eats everything though!

    As an aside, he will only eat McDonalds, and will only have a cheese burger happy meal (without the gherkin, they are ‘dirty’)

35. I started sensory therapy with my daughter and they said to have play time with food not during a meal time more as an activity and try and find foods they would not normally eat and play and see if they will try it. 1st we did celery and ranch, she tried the celery but not the ranch, second carrots with ranch again tried the carrots but not the ranch. The therapist showed her how the food crunched and she mimicked her both times. And last week we did chips with guacamole I knew shed eat the chips but she even tried the guacamole. So it had been a huge success for us:) I think it also helps it is someone other than me or my husband doing it and it is not at home!

    We use a Ipad or Iphone at eat out meals for both our young kids its so hard for them to sit still for so long without some help:)

36. My son literally only eats two foods that are cooked and that’s grilled cheese and honey butter rolls. He doesn’t eat any fruits, vegetables or meats! NONE!
    His pediatrician had to fill out a special dietary form for school where they make him a grilled cheese daily, however, he doesn’t like the texture of wheat bread so he picks the cheese off of it and eats it that way. Yes, he’s even picky about the type of bread.
    His sensory issues cause him to vomit if he can’t stand the smell or texture so i would be thrilled beyond belief if his diet was as large as your sons! I definitely understand your concern and plan on checking back to see if anyone has ideas!

37. Hi there!!
    Thought I’d throw my tuppence in, from my experiences of what my son eats when he’s with me, and what I hear from his mother.

    1)    How did you get your child to eat different foodstuff?  What techniques did you use?  What worked and what didn’t?
    With Dylan, it’s a very slow process. There was a time when he wouldn’t eat anything but Marks and Spencer ready meals. Not exactly bad for him, but his mother and I used to long for the day he would sit and eat the same as us.
    He’s a lot better now, eating a wider variety of foods. We found it was textures that would dictate whether he ate them or not. He enjoys my sausage and mash, and even eats a few peas now. He’s also a massive fan of chicken nuggets and chips, and pizza (depending on which brand it is! ) I can sometimes get him to eat my bolognese bake, but he prefers his mother’s as she puts a hint of mild chilli powder in it to give it some pep.
    He loves cheese, crisps (ready salted only) and I was told over christmas he enjoyed hog roast and venison- when I was still with his mother we could never have hoped he would eat a roast dinner!

    2)   How did you teach your child table manners?
    He sort of picked this up by himself. He does still enjoy finger food more – it’s textures yet again- but ever since we got him on the ready meals, we have always encouraged the knife and fork.

    3)   Are you concerned about the nutrient value or your child’s diet?  Have you been to a dietician?
    Provided he’s not eating junk, and has a good healthy mix, neither of us really mind him eating repetitively, if you know what I mean. By the sound of it, your son has a good mix of the basic food groups, so is doing ok.

    4)   Can you go you restaurants with your child?  Do you need an iPad?  We do.
    One year on holiday at Trecco Bay in Porthcawl ( a great holiday/caravan park if you have autistic kids) we ate in the restaurant several nights in a row, and we were worried he wouldn’t sit still and would keep getting up and wandering around the restaurant. He did us very proud, eating most of what we got for him (sticking to what we knew he ate in ready meal form).

    5)   What about food at school?
    I get fairly regular reports from his mother about his eating habits at school, and there are actually things he will eat at school that he doesn’t touch at home! I think you’re possibly right about it being a case of a different setting. What he eats at home he may well not eat at school, and vice versa- so be patient with him, know he’s eating something, and make sure he eats balanced at home, and you can’t go wrong 😉

    PS  John does go to fast food joints but won’t eat the burgers.  And he hates ketchup.
    Dylan’s the same. I occasionally take him to McDonalds, and he’ll only ever eat the McNuggets. I’d dearly love for him to have a burger- and he did have half of one at his uncle’s 21st birthday BBQ last year at my mother’s house- his mother tells me he is starting to have burgers at home, which is a good sign!
    Be prepared, though, for your son to eat certain things in one place, and not in the other. Last year (2012) for my birthday, I took Dylan to a gastro pub restaurant- I thought it would make a posh change to McDonalds- and he ordered the nuggets and chips- neither of which are like McDonalds ones. Now, he ate the chips no trouble, but tried one nugget (which was really more of a piece of diced chicken breast than the manufactured nuggets you usually get, and he wouldn’t eat any more- all because they weren’t McDonalds’ or Iceland’s ones.
    The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to have patience. Dylan’s 8 now (will be 9 this summer) and he’s only just now starting to come around to different tastes. It helps that both his elder twin brothers are in college training to be chefs, and regularly bring home what they’ve cooked that day.
    It might seem your son isn’t getting a balanced diet, but by the sound of it he’s doing fine, and with gentle, patient encouragement, he’ll slowly start accepting other foods and tastes/textures.
    I hope that helps?
    Pete in Cardiff (and Dylan in Shrewsbury)

38. Vicoria.

    when younger my boy had lots of trouble with food, manners and eating in general. Textures were/are the biggest!!  Made mash potatoes a little more creamy(extra milk or eggs), also would and pumpkin and spinach. over time just kept adding more vegie varieties. his table habits were bad and he would scoff his food and overload his mouth, not sure how he never choked!! he had to be told b4 every bite “just a little, chew, chew, chew” and while doing that place his hands flat on table till he had swallowed. still only likes cheese, yoghurt, bananas, pineapple and hot dogs and hot chips!!  has learnt to eat his mash vegies and fish chicken and red meat. all minimal. but loves sausages, meatballs and rissoles.(not terribly healthy), oh and chicken nuggets! has improved  over the years and have always put out utensils for eating, which he now uses, mostly! still needs to b reminded of small amounts in mouth. he gets to have input for lunch which is generally the same every day. cheese sandwhich, yoghurt museli bar(this is fairly new) or fruit stick, and a banana. As always persistence and patience. hopefully improves over time. And we didn’t go out for tea ever. we have kind of tried but its hard to find things he likes on the menu, lol!  good luck with it all.

39. Omg I wish my asd son would eat like that he barely eats anything he eats fruits and yogurt cereal bars a few snacks like fruit snacks crackers and pringles so I buy the real fruit ones and whole grain or multigrain everything else his doctor says its normal his palette will grow with time and has me giving him pediasure shakes, vitamins, water, milk. I put out ice trays with different fruits vegetables grains a lot of different things all day long I use ice trays bcuz different foods can’t touch and different colors can’t touch. He won’t touch anything with a strong smell or anything wet like noodles or pasta I’m losing my mind. He still gains weight and is growing in fact he’s above average for his height and median in age for weight. It’s frustrating I just want him to eat healthy so I keep trying hoping he’ll try. One trick i learned with him is to take him shopping with me and let him pick his foods out when done that way if he chose it he’ll at least attempt to try unless the smell is too strong for him.

40. wow,,what i would give for my 16 year old asd child to eat that well, Heath, only eats chicken, hamburger meat, carrots and that is all….. he wont eat cheese because someone along time ago told him only rats eat cheese. so now he wont eat it…

41. It sounds like your child eats more than many on the ASD spectrum.  I was a VERY picky child, the fourth of five.  My mother would often “hide” healthy ingredients in other foods.  I did this with my son, too.  He didn’t notice the vegetables mashed up in his tuna sandwich.  Cakes are a great place to add some powdered milk or applesauce.  
    As for manners- practice, practice, practice.  Make a game of role-playing.  Children with ASD often have coordination  problems so  eating neatly is a challenge.
    Know that all improves with time.
    Cindy Stringer Wismer
    author, Never Push and Never Pull

42. I have seen a drastic improvement after starting digestive enzymes with each meal- my son only eats 5 things on this planet. After the first few days not only did his appetite increase to a healthy normal level but his acceptance of new textures (accepting curly fries verses regular fries) also improved. Im hopeful it will eventually bring him to a larger variety of foods eventually. Also his stools are now once a day vs. 3-4, extremely less smelly n firmer which shows the enzymes were much needed.
    And a big Yes on the ipad.
    Ive noticed cutlery n plates make food interesting as do shapes of food. Try new colors of spoons forks and different shapes of food in bite sizes. It could be bowls vs. Plates vs. Materials used in crockery Keep trying! We clap like crazy when he uses a fork so its enforcing positive behaviours. Good luck n keep up the good work! X

43. Your son could be my daughter regarding food.  There are usually three foods that are her staples, meaning we can always count on them no matter what.  As I think about them right now I would say they’re strawberries, pasta, and bread.  We can get some variance with pizza, other fruit, some veggies, cheeses (which sucks because she’s lactose intolerant, nuts, chicken and pork, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, and a few other random things depending on the minute.   

    1)    How did you get your child to eat different foodstuff?  What techniques did you use?  What worked and what didn’t?
    I have two other daughters; one older, one younger. The older has ADHD and some Sensory Processing Disorder.  My middle daughter, the one with ASD, has SPD and so there’s the Tactile Defensiveness with food.  My youngest is typical.  My approach with all three has always been the same: follow the 3 bite rule with every meal.  They must “taste test” everything on their plates three times each.  If there’s something they dislike, then after the 3rd taste test they can leave it.  Anything else, gobble it up.  I always make sure that there’s something in the meal that I know for certain they’ve said in the past they like.  I often ask for input prior to a meal.  I include them in meal preparation and ever since toddlerhood I just talk to them as if they understand what I’m doing step by step like I’m in a cooking show and there are cameras.  They like that.  They know what “proofing the yeast” means and “julienne the potatoes” means.  They know how to make roux for mac and cheese.  And when I’m … WE are cooking… even if they’re passing through the kitchen… if they ask to taste test handfuls of fresh veggies I let them.  My sweet autist will often eat a meal’s worth of food by “taste testing” ahead of time of foods that she would never eat in a plate.  I also will buy foods that she asks me to buy so that she can try them, just because she heard someone talk about it at school or she likes the name.  That’s how she learned to love cauliflower! Who the hell knew! She says she hates spinach but she’ll eat it in anything if it’s hidden.  She’ll taste test things if I tell her they’re part of a healthy diet, but it has to be her idea to try something new.  She often will later change her mind.  She used to love olives but then ate a rotten one and now all olives are evil forever and ever amen.  She’ll never eat another one.  

    2)   How did you teach your child table manners?
    By example.  She has an older sister to watch, as well as a younger sister who likes everything to be perfect.  She gets a lot of positive reinforcement for good manners as well as other positive behaviors.  

    3)   Are you concerned about the nutrient value or your child’s diet?  Have you been to a dietician?
    I’m always concerned about her diet.  Her self-restriction concerns me greatly but she doesn’t eat unhealthfully because I provide healthy food for her to try, and I’ve never kept junk food in the house for her to eat.  The junk foods that have HFCS and artificial man-made dyes make her very sick anyway, and make her behaviors worse and she’s aware of that.  When she “cheats” she feels very ill and that it’s because she cheated so she tends to willingly stay away from the junky food.  The dietician has told us what’s ideal for her diet, but her pediatrician and neurologist (a wonderful ASD specialist) are reassuring.  Food can’t be a battle.  

    4)   Can you go you restaurants with your child?  Do you need an iPad?  We do.
    She, as all my girls, LOVES restaurants.  It gives her a chance to show off her manners.  We only had to remove her once and leave completely from a meltdown, and that was years ago.  Turned out there was something about the restaurant that triggered it… some combination of sound, odor, and visual stimuli just whammied her.  She was an angel in the next restaurant the same day (it was vacation).  She enjoys coloring in restaurants to keep busy, although I’ll let her use my android in a pinch.

    5)   What about food at school?
    I let her get lunch daily and have for the past four years.  She does it to be social since “all the other kids do it.”  She knows there are choices, and although she doesn’t always like the choices one choice is always better than the others.  She also knows that even if she dislikes the main serving, she will probably like the sides and the salad.  Her teacher and the lunch lady (a friend) tell me that she’ll eat anywhere between a third to 3/4 of her meal.  Sometimes, rarely, she’ll have three bites (three bite rule in action).  I do send her with a snack to help her out in case there’s something she just can’t stomach.  The lunch ladies are good to her, though, and let her mix and match when they can.

44. When I was a child I was diagnosed as “failure to thrive” and was just bones. I remember not wanting to eat, and the pressure and stress of being forced to eat just made it worse. The doctor my mom my problem was eating socially. I remember the time I really started getting interested in food. I would watch tv and my mom made up a plate of random food items in small portions. Crackers, pasta, carrot sticks, whatever really. Just lots of small portions. It’s really more important for him to be eating new foods than it is for you to be happy with him eating with a fork and spoon at the table.
    You could also give him soft rubber or plastic silverware to use. I had a lot of trouble with glass and metal touching my mouth. It felt sharp.