Feeding Therapy

Our son, who is now 5.5 years old, was diagnosed with high-functioning Autism over a year ago. After applying for DDD services and getting all of that going, we recently started feeding therapy. Our son has extremely limited food choices and is super picky due to textures. Our ST gal has some really creative ideas. They are reading stories about carrots, painting with carrots, looking at carrots of all different sizes, and for now working on making "the crunch" sound and holding food in mouth for a few seconds. We have "I like it" and "I don't like it" colored bowls (red and green). We are working up to chewing and swallowing. We did the same for grapes this past week. We are seeing some progress, but it's slow. We haven't gone G-free because I really want to work in different foods in general before making such a switch. I'm sure there was much discussion in older threads. Anyone else experiencing this?

62 Replies

  • In reply to lvazquez:

    It's been awhile for us, so I thought I'd update here. Let's see, we still have speech-feeding therapy on T's ISP, but we haven't used the service for over a year now. We parted ways with the one SLP. It was great in the beginning, but as the months went on, it also just took a nose dive. Because I make it easy, there was very little effort on the therapist's end. We stopped planning together for whatever reason and it was just expected that I prep something each week. Some weeks, I'd ask her to come up with something or bring something (other than the Granny's Candies game) from the therapy office game closet. She'd show up with just a timesheet for me to sign and a tablet that T wasn't allowed to touch. I could have kept going this way, but why should someone get paid when T and I are doing all of the work? Yes, she was facilitating I guess, but it wasn't truly necessary. Since then, I have not made too many boxes of back up mac n' cheese. T is eating the same meal as everyone else at the dinner table. He likes broccoli plain. He eats cereal with milk in the SAME bowl! He used to insist on dry cereal and separate cup of milk:) He loves a bagel and cream cheese (top half only). Pancakes with syrup are back on the menu again and he's recently asked for scrambled eggs. ANW is back on for another season, so he's there watching his favorite show sipping away on a mini bottle of Pom. I am loving the willingness to try new foods and hearing his preferences. He has discovered Jersey Mike's. While I'm happy to take him there and rack up Shore Points, I am hoping he'll eventually add a new meat, veggie, or condiment to his sandwich soon. It took many years to get here, but we're here, and I'm so proud of him:)
  • In reply to 99days:

    So two of our weekly appts are in-home back-to-back therapies. Got to love "Therapy Thursday." Since August, we've had our gal come at lunch time. So, it's been nice to really cook hearty meals for lunch. T has been cooking hamburger meat, chili, soup, and a variety of rice. He's declared that he's okay with the noodles in chicken noodle soup, but doesn't want the chicken or the veggies. He will eat baked and grilled chicken regularly now. I'm so relieved. At least he's eating the noodles and thank goodness he likes the spaghetti noodles with Omega-3. I keep pushing super thin celery sticks and a variety of dips. Tried veggie fries again and he just stared at them. I'm buying just (2) boxes of back up Mac n' Cheese at the store now! He's eating more of what the rest of us are having and it's really awesome:) I'm excited as T has mentioned that he'd like to try ribs! We've made them in the past, but he's never been interested. I have some stories with pigs already reserved at the library and although it's sort of babyish, he loves the game Pop the Pig. You can play that with all kinds of speech goals and it's fun:) We usually play a game and/or read a story while food is cooking/baking. We watched an episode of Teen Titans Go called Smile Bones. It totally works for feeding and taught my kiddo the word 'savor.' Yep, better to savor than stuff:)
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    I love you that you are telling the Ot what to. I can just see you giving the thumbs up and letting them know how to improve. Do you feel that it is worth it if maybe you could do it at home? I hope they have some good ideas to add to all of your hard work.
    I'm excited to hear how the new foods go. It is always so fun to hear all your ideas for food introductions. Good luck friend!
    Cassie
  • In reply to 99days:

    I am LOVING the feeding therapist! I make it so easy for her too. I have it all ready to go and sometimes even the story and activity too. I basically tell her what we're doing and then let her execute it. Sometimes I stay and interact and other times, I might leave the room to go and do a webinar or something. D sometimes helps out too. He has his own issues with food neophobia. He is very weary of food items touching each other, needing to get a new fork/spoon, textures . . . He also doesn't like grease. He is constantly blotting with a paper towel or napkin if he sees "juices." This week we are going to do tomato soup and bat shaped grilled cheese sandwiches. I did get T to eat a salami sandwich with buttered baguette this past weekend. Now I know that if we ever get to France, there's at least something he'll eat besides Le McDo.
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    I'm so glad he's inspired to try the Pom juice because of American Ninja Warrior! It is so funny what gets into their heads. Bruce was obsessed with pancakes because of Curious George for a while. Maybe he will eat pizza if he watches enough ninja turtles? Sounds like a pretty successful summer of eating. Are you liking the feeding therapist?
    Cassie
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    It was a busy summer with feeding therapy. He made kabobs on the grill, corn on the cob, steak, fajitas,and juicing. He loves POM juice! Thank you ANW:) We have it stocked in the fridge, but just 2-3 bottles because that stuff isn't cheap. I tasted it, but I'm not a fan. He's been juicing. Loves to help juice, but reluctant to drink carrot/apple blends. I know that Oktoberfest is over, but we are going to do hot dogs again this week and try soft pretzels with root beer floats.
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    I forget how nice it is to have an in-home therapy especially feeding. Early on, our person brought us a binder, printed out recipes for kids in COLOR, and even page protectors. Wow, see I call that effort and not all providers take the time like that. I am so pleased that T is liking our latest try - grilled cheese sandwiches. This is another food item commonly served at restaurants, so I am thrilled! It's replaced peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, yep, for breakfast. If we can try some different cheeses and get a slice of ham in there, we'd have a "croque monsieur." That would be on my feeding therapy wishlist of food items to try. If I can get him to that point, then I know he'd eat something if we ever went to France (besides Le McDo).

    Lindsay
  • In reply to 99days:

    I'd love to bake for you! I'm going to have to check airfare vs. mileage. Never been up there before, but sure looks pretty:) Yeah, I'm into baked goods, can you tell? Stressed out? Cake. Upset? Cake. Bored? Cake. I have fun with those cupcake books, you know, to go along with themes. So fun to do with kids or just by yourself. T wants an American Ninja(go) Warrior themed b-day, so I'm looking at all kinds of ideas online. Carrots went well today:) He ate little bites with some ranch dip. I just got to keep on offering them. He ate a taco last night just meat and cheese, but he held the shell together in one hand like a pro. It was exciting to watch him eat. This type of thing wasn't happening 4 years ago. Couldn't get him to even touch hamburger meat. Thank you Dragons Love Tacos:)

    Lindsay
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    Yay Lindsay! This is great news! I'm excited to hear how it all works out for you guys. You can come bake for me anytime. Might be a bit of a drive, but it would be worth it.
    Cassie
  • In reply to Hunter and Randi's Mom:

    We now have the same therapist for both speech and feeding:) So far, so good. Uses an agenda board in sessions and she totally gets how much that helps him to stay focused. I love having at least one in-home therapy again and an actual kitchen to make, bake, and create. We are revisiting carrots this week.
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    Cassie - So great about the Salmon!
    Lindsay - Definitely don't want a feeding therapist with a stomach bug! Hope the next session goes well!
  • In reply to 99days:

    Cassie - I just had to tell you again how wonderful it is that Bruce requested and ate salmon:) That's HUGE! I can relate to the bites of cheeseburger. Last summer, T was willing to try and it's one of his favorites. Hope the daytime appetite increases while down to one formula feed. Keep us posted.

    Cancelled feeding therapy today as therapist reported Tuesday day that she was vomiting. Yeah, let's give it 48 hours before we have her come into the house. That's all I need is some kind of a stomach bug.
  • In reply to lvazquez:

    Lindsay, I am so glad to hear that this feeding appointment went better. It is so hard to find the right match of people. I never thought about them all knowing each other too. It is probably a pretty small world.
    I can't believe the last one you went to. Sometimes I really wonder what these people are thinking in the way they talk with kids. Especially kids who already have stresses or aversions to eating or who don't enjoy meeting new people. They should definitely take hints from parents.

    Rebecca, I was wondering how the g-tube was going too? Does she do well with it and has feeding by mouth gotten a little less stressful for her with that transition? I hope so. Is her weight going up with it?

    Bruce is adding a few more foods to his eating. He asked for salmon the other day so we cooked it up and he actually ate it! Usually there is a request and then he won't even try it beyond smelling it. He ate it and loved it. Success! Another food. He also likes tuna fish sandwiches surprisingly. He will eat nuts now too which always used to make his cough on the pieces. I almost cried the other day just watching him happily eat bites off a cheeseburger. It is so crazy that feeding issues can last so long. Something that comes "naturally" to other babies is just one more struggle for these guys. We are cutting one of his formula feeds so we'll be down to one a day. Hopefully his appetite will increase for daytime eating with this change. No new potty training wins. He is 4 and seemingly no closer to being potty trained. Fingers crossed for summer?!
    Cassie
  • In reply to Hunter and Randi's Mom:

    Speech-feeding went SO great last week! She used an agenda board, had well-paced activities, kept time, used encouraging words and praise, and built some trust with my kiddo:) Now, the speech person . . . hard to say. She knows some of the former therapists we've tried. She brought that up in session. I figured that SLPs might know of each other. Lame because she sounded like she was defending some of what they were doing, but whatever she brought up had nothing to do with my reasons for switching. So, you know, sometimes it's just not a good fit. You have to just respect that and move on. I thought we were done talking about former SLPs, but made another reference to former one again last week. Urgh.
  • In reply to CharlieAllene's mom:

    Rebecca - I'm glad you have therapists lined up that you are comfortable with and that understand the motor issues. Hunter was the same way and it took us a while to find a feeding therapist that understood his particular needs. There are still a few foods that he avoids because they are difficult for him to manipulate (like apples that aren't peeled and, surprisingly, mashed potatoes), but he really controls that on his own now. I hope you see lots of progress for Charlie when she starts back up again.

    Lindsay - fingers crossed for a good connection with the new therapist. Sorry you had to deal with another bad one. So weird that he ate T's celery! I agree about feeding therapy being very personal. Hopefully being at home will make T feel more comfortable too and lead to even more progress.
Related