It's okay to spit at the table.

This post may fall under the category of TMI...too much information!  It might make you a little queasy.  It made me queasy just to join my family for dinner tonight. 

There is an activity in my favorite eating aversion book, Just Take A Bite. The activity is about making a "spit bucket".  What in the world is a "spit bucket"?  But really this is ingenious as are many of the activities in the book.  The idea is that children with severe eating aversions due to autism, developmental disabilities, food allergies, or medical issues related to the mechanics of eating, need to take small steps towards accepting new foods.  The steps to eating a new food go something like the following, but please note that even though some of these behaviors sounds comical, this is very serious.  Children with severe food aversions don't even like to sit at the table with new foods.

1. Screams and refuses to sit at the table when the new food is on his/her dinner plate.
2. Calmly sits close to the new food. 
3. Smells the new food.
4. Touches the new food with a fork or spoon.
5. Touches or "plays" with the new food with fingers.
6. Kisses the new food. (our therapist worked hard on this step)
7. Licks or tastes the new food.
8. Puts the new food in his/her mouth and then spits it out.
9. Swallows the new food.

So in relation to step number 8, there needs to be a way for Jillian to spit her food out without making the rest of us sick.  Thus...the spit bucket.  We took the girls to our favorite place to paint pottery and let Jillian pick out her very own spit bucket to decorate any way she desired.  I really wanted something with a lid and luckily, Jillian loved this ice cream cone with a removable ice cream lid.  Perfect for hiding the partially chewed food.

Painting was fun!

Ella painted a mug and wanted to make clear it was just for hot chocolate and she wasn't going to spit anything it her creation.  Good plan!

Tonight we picked up the finished pieces.

It's really unbelievable, but tonight I ate dinner sitting across from Jillian and her ice cream cone spit container.  She was excited!  Her eyes lit up at the mention of trying the rice that was on her plate with the option of immediately spitting it out.  She didn't use it tonight and did not try the rice, but she understands the concept and is excited about it.  For now, that is good enough for me! 

Food Pyramid

We absolutely love J's Speech and Feeding Therapist, Heather. She has known J since she was a tiny baby. Heather is tremendously kind and talented in her field. Everything you want from a therapist. Regardless of these facts, therapy wasn't working for J. It's just too stressful and stress is counterproductive to eating and trying new foods when you are a child with severe food aversions. This is one of those times when a parent has to make a decision. Do we continue with therapy with a highly trained specialist that we adore?  Or can I get her to eat myself? I usually choose to stick with the specialists. They do have the techniques and knowledge from years of specialized education to treat a child like mine. But this is a unique situation that is going to require a unique plan. So we have officially ended our therapy appointments. And I'm it! Time to get my girl to eat.

Have you ever found something so fabulous that you want to share it with everyone you know? Shout it from the roof tops? Or write about it in a blog? :)

This is one fabulous book....

Just Take A Bite by Lori Ernsperger, PhD and Tania Stegen-Hanson, OTR/L

I'm going to be writing a lot about this book, but right now, I will just share one activity J and I worked on today.

We created a food pyramid. This is to get J to recognize what foods go in different catagories and will also help her to see how different foods are important for a growing body.

We started with a piece of butcher paper. I drew the basic pyramid and added the labels to each section.

As I cut food pictures out of magazines, J glued them into the right section of our pyramid.

She had a good time with the glue! In the end, we had a very nice food pyramid showing all foods that I would love for her to eat along with some familiar favorites.

This led to a short discussion about the cookie on the top. "It's the smallest part of the pyramid for a reason. You should eat just a little." I hope she got the message.

This activity introduced J to food groups. One small part of our "plan" in my new role as therapist is to increase J's knowledge of foods and digestion. I have put the pyramid on our pantry door and we'll continue to discuss food catagories. And I'm sure we'll continue to argue about why cookies aren't located further down the pyramid.

Eat this, please.

I have this cereal in my pantry...

I would like to meet the person who decided it would be a good idea to make cereal out of a candy bar. Serious sicko! And I know you're thinking I'm encouraging the sicko's behavior by buying it. Before you throw more guilt my way, let me tell you this. Reese's Puffs cereal is loaded with vitamins and minerals. Some of which are difficult to get enough of even with a nutritious balanced diet. 

Dr Sears says this about choosing cereals for your child.

Yes, cereal is a favorite family breakfast food, but think about what nutrients cereals are the best source of. The list includes: fiber, protein, folic acid, zinc, iron, and B-vitamins. Most other nutrients can be found just as readily, if not more easily, in other foods. You don't need to get your daily vitamin C or calcium from your cereal bowl. Choose cereals that are highest in the nutrients cereals do best. 

I have a child who is seriously anemic. She needs iron in large quantities and Ferrous Sulfate drops don't work for her in the quantity that she would require to raise her iron levels. Since she won't eat iron-rich foods or take vitamins, I'm stuck sneaking it in tempting sugary cereals and slipping some iron drops in her hot chocolate. (Yes, she gets a hot chocolate a day. Don't get me started on that one. It's the only way I've been able to hide the terrible tasting iron drops.) But it's working! She is eating this cereal every morning. It gives the average adult 25% of the recommended daily allowance of iron. That's huge for my little girl and will, along with the hidden drops, hopefully get her out of the deficiency she is in. It's not as good as a vitamin or ferrous sulfate drops, but it's the best we can do. One thing I've learned about raising a child with special needs...things aren't always what they seem. I wouldn't have touched this cereal with a ten foot pole before J came along. And now it's breakfast!