Here’s my plan with this post. Not only do I think this would be an interesting conversation but I can be an educational one as well.
It would be really cool to share our individual experiences with food proclivities and our kids on the Autism Spectrum. Maybe your kids do just fine, maybe not.
I think that it could be beneficial to see how the other half lives. If your on the Autism Spectrum yourself, I would love some insight.
We can start by simply answering the following question as honestly as possible.
Does your food touch?
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AMDuser julh very interesting insight folks. Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Improvement with age is something I put down to natural development in the nervous system. The visual system comes in to play as biologically, it’s the first line of defence – think caveman spotting a sabre tooth before it spots him.
julh suburp @Michael AMDuser it’s so interesting to hear everyone’s stories because I can totally relate to them, especially with my youngest. Imperfections in his food sends him into an absolute panic.
It’s hard to tell if he’s getting better or not.
I like the idea of showing him how difficult it is to make everything perfect.
lostandtired
keep in mind no matter the sensory issues tastes do change with age, for example before when I was a kid I didn’t like guacamole but I liked to eat avocados but now I like guacamole.
My son’s eating has improved a lot! We never had a problem with ‘touching food’ but certain textures, especially when they are actually added to make the food ‘more interesting’ (like crunchy bits, fruity bits..) were upsetting him a lot when he was younger. Food had to LOOK a certain way, possibly the way it looked the first time he ever had it, it was pretty difficult, any thing ‘broken’ or irregularly cut was problematic too. I had a long fight over his high fibre cereals every morning. not because they did not taste exactly exiting, but because the chocolate powder had to cover each cereal “pillow” in the most homogeneous way possible. He would refuse to eat them otherwise. I ended up refusing to do it, put the powder in a shaker and let him experience just how hard it actually was to achieve what he asked for. It took a while and a lot of cacao all over the place and not in the bowl but he eventually learned to accept the daily ‘imperfection’.
For my 5-year old Autistic son – it really doesn’t matter if the food is touching or not. If there’s something he wants, he’ll just pick out individually. Though for the most part – when he does eat – it doesn’t matter.
When I was a kid, it was a lot more extreme. Pasta separate from sauces – which I would pick through because it was so ‘bitty’. Rice separate from stir fry dishes. I wouldn’t eat hamburgers or pizza – too many things all together. I ate no fruit and carrot and corn under sufferance. My biggest nemisis is onion because it’s added to freaking everything for ‘flavour’ but to me is just a slimy, unwelcome surprise. As I’ve got older, things have improved and I’m able to eat things together and tolerate things I don’t like better. I’ve become extremely adept at picking through meals to get rid of things I don’t like (like onion). If I’m stressed or unwell this all goes out the window and the only thing I’ll really want to eat is chicken, potatoes and plain rice.
With me it depends on the food and if the combination is normal but I have seen some that don’t make sense, like Mash Potatoes have to have gravy on it or for example biscuits are good with a certain type of gravy which is that country Gravy even better then that has meat in it. But alot of food I don’t like touching at all because sometime the flavor of one will get transfered to another one for example one time someone made mash Potatoes for me but also cooked it in the same pot that they cooked carrots in and the mash potatoes tasted like carrots and not mash potatoes. But the only modifier is bacon because it seem bacon is good on almost anything. I had meatloaf wrapped in bacon one time and it was good because who doesn’t like bacon.
So with me even when I don’t don’t like my food touching and my tastes sensitive to certain things there is always exceptions and modifiers. I hope I worded it right and don’t confuse you.
AMDuser Amazing insight. Thanks for your honesty.