|
Restrictive eating, often referred to as picky eating is commonly observed in autism and related disorders, and mealtimes are often fraught with anxiety. Current best practices for helping picky eaters explore foods can include frequent and repeated exposure to specific novel food items, long duration feeding sessions, child-led exploration and play, behavioral interventions, and sensory integration therapy. While all these intervention strategies have merit, they can sometimes be inaccessible or challenging to carry out for a variety of reasons. This session will discuss a program that utilizes district-provided school lunches in a short, predictable protocol. When integrated into regular mealtime routines, this program aims to improve exploration and decrease negative behaviors associated with picky eating. This program consolidates multiple effective picky eating strategies into a simple structure that can be carried out with limited resources, time, and training. |
