For those that don’t know, my 6 year old son, Elijah, was diagnosed with Autism (specifically Asperger’s) and Sensory Integration Disorder. He dislikes a lot of textures, smells, taste and slimey-ness of a lot of foods (as well as the feel of clothing, noises around him, people touching him and so on). He went to food therapy for a few months and did fairly well opening up to playing/touching the foods at that time. Since then we’ve been working with him at home but Elijah didn’t really like the idea of trying to eat the new foods. It’s always been a fight trying to get him to eat the same meal for dinner that everyone else in the household has. I usually end up making a separate meal for him about 5 nights a week just so we don’t have the same “fight” every night.

Now, out of the blue, he has been very open to trying new foods without a fight! I have started with things that I know he likes.

For example, we found out he likes Potato and Noodle Stroganoff last week. He has always liked potatoes. And he likes hamburger. So I made potato strognoff, told him and showed him as I cooked it what everything was. He sat down by himself (I took my daughter in the other room with me) to give him privacy. He came to me a few moments later with an empty bowl and asked for more!

A few days later, I made the same thing but with noodles this time. And I told him what was in it. He did the same; ate two bowls! And today, he ate Fettucine Alfredo for the first time and loved it. Said he wants the broccoli next time!

And he is liking a lot of the foods that I make on a regular basis now. So maybe we will finally have the chance for everyone to have the same meal for dinner the majority of the time rather than having the “food fight” rule over our dinners.

PS: He does NOT normally sit alone to eat his meals. I did this a few times with him to give him the space and comfort level he needed to try these new foods out. I personally think if he’s in his own “bubble” he is more open to trying new things whether it be food or anything else.

It was mid-70′s here so we took advantage of the great weather and spent the whole day at the park.  Good thing since it’s back to the 40′s and no one wants to walk outside now.  We had a whole group there – myself & Maurise, the kidlets, two of my brothers, sister-in-law, my nephew, my Mama and a few of my brothers friends.