**AUTISM / ASPERGERS SUPPORT GROUP**

[doll*obsession]

A safe place for all members with friends or family with ASD

Come and have a cuppa, share your joys, and vent your problems with other people who understand.

[azureline**]

We are having a good week. The new dietitian has suggested some changes to eating routines, no grazing.
Meals at set times, and specific food groups, so each meal has 3 choices, 2 are foods we know she will eat, 1 is a new food that may have smell, texture or colour she does not like. So.....she must taste it to see if she likes it but can then spit it out if she doesn't.
So far so good but the set times are a struggle.
The funny bit...it brought back a memory of her mum, at age 2...she was a very well behaved child, never naughty, no tanties, a rules child, except with food.
If she tasted food she didn't like, she would not swallow it, food was an issue from day 1, with solids. One day my sis in law gave her nuts.....little miss chewed them up as instructed by her lovely aunty.....then tried to get her attention but was ignored, as she was talking to someone else.
Little miss took auntie's hand and spat the contents into it.:O
I was mortified and aunty was horrified at the time but it is funny to look back on, given the current situation.

[sheepy_1-4]

wait until she learns to throw up on demand. Happened many times to avoid eating a meal.

however, it's looking good that she will try one new food at a time.

[azureline**]

So, morning tea went well, despite having to bring it forward by 1/2 an hour, because "I am really hungry"
Lunch....Pasta and sauce, chicken breast meat chunks, juice.
This chicken looks disgusting.
No, it doesn't, it looks fine to me.
well, not to me, I think it's the worst chicken in the universe
it is very yummy, trust me, just try it, it will taste good.
I can't trust you, it looks horrible and it will taste like that too
no, I am sure it won't.
I think it looks like really disgusting chicken
don't look at it and just eat it?
what if it tastes nice but still looks disgusting?
well, that won't matter will it?
I am sorry, I just can't do it.
you will be hungry if you don't and afternoon tea is a long time.
Trust me, I promise I won't

[sheepy_1-4]

az - I think it was the peady who assured me that a healthy child would never starve themselves.

for now all I can offer you is cyber support and ((((hugs))))) - but it will get better

some think its a control thing - some think its a tactile thing - I just think - I'll feed you anything as long as you don't throw up on your plate again.

[krazy.kiwi]

az - I think it was the peady who assured me that a healthy child would never starve themselves.

for now all I can offer you is cyber support and ((((hugs))))) - but it will get better

some think its a control thing - some think its a tactile thing - I just think - I'll feed you anything as long as you don't throw up on your plate again.

An autistic child might 😞

that is why the dietician wants 2 trusted foods and 1 new one served.

If it was me, I would also put the new food on a seperate plate so she won't refuse the trusted food because of "contamination"


Hang in there Az, these types of changes can take a long, long time to successfully work.

One change I did to encourage C to do homework took 3 months of not backing down for him to realise I was serious and he would have to do it.

Now he will do homework easier than work at school.

[azureline**]

Thanks Eternal flame and Kiwi :-x , her food is never on the same plate, lol, learned that very early. At prep it will be in different containers, colour coded, so we are doing it now to prepare her.
Afternoon tea went well, she was starving at 3pm! and she said, sorry, I didn't know I would be hungry, I should have listened to you nana but I just couldn't eat that disgusting chicken.
:^O

It gets thrown out after 15 mins if she doesn't finish it.
I am struggling with that but the dietician seems to know what she is about? so I am complying.....:8}
That is interesting about C and the homework, I am finding that the "training" is what works best? the repetitive stuff seems to pay off. I have confidence now that she will be ok, some days I find it hard to recall what last year was like!

[timeless_beauty_australia]

An autistic child might 😞

that is why the dietician wants 2 trusted foods and 1 new one served.

If it was me, I would also put the new food on a seperate plate so she won't refuse the trusted food because of "contamination"


Hang in there Az, these types of changes can take a long, long time to successfully work.

One change I did to encourage C to do homework took 3 months of not backing down for him to realise I was serious and he would have to do it.

Now he will do homework easier than work at school.

Hi Kiwi what strategies did you use for homework?. My son absolutely hates doing homework, he got his Uni NSW testing back and it was all at genius level so he believes he doesn't need to do homework!!!. By the time he gets home he has used up all his energy with the social stuff and just wants to game. I have been putting my foot down and it causes huge meltdowns and anxiety for days.

[timeless_beauty_australia]

Just wondering if any mums have aspie children that can't accept defeat regarding academic stuff. My son just competed in the Aust & NZ finals of lego robotics and didn't place. He was absolutely gutted and has had massive anxiety ever since. He was the only Tasmanian to actually make the finals in his category and is only in year 4 and all the winners were in year 6-8. Still doesn't cut the mustard, in his eyes he is a failure.

[krazy.kiwi]

My boy is seriously addicted to computer games.

So I put a chart on the wall that lists what has to be done before he has his "Electronic turn" for the day. That chart included (when I first started it) Homework, exercise, reading, spelling and music practise.

He isn't even allowed to turn on the TV before all that is done. We don't watch TV at all in the mornings.

When he did everything he was supposed to each day, he was allowed his half hour on electronic things of his choice. We also ticked it off when done. When he had done a certain amount each week, he qualified for a reward - usually a bit of extra time playing or something like that.

And at the end of the school term, if he had kept up his end of the bargain, we bought him a new game of his choice.

It took a whole term of watching his brother (who is NT) easily getting his turns and rewards, before he decided we were serious about it and finally joined in. It was a hell of a term though.:(

[catsnknots]

Yes, aspie kids have a very high standard and then usually develop anxiety related study problems. When they get a less than perfect score it can really be hard on them.

It is a trait that they will carry for the rest of their lives. It is very hard to make them understand that even though they don't get first place they are still more intelligent than the majority of the people in the country and should be proud..

I think a good psychologist can help out in that department.



On the food issue..

Mr 13 will eat most food... just don't mix it up and don't put a sauce on it.

Sauce looks like vomit to my son and he will just plain refuse to eat it. (he will eat white sauces though) Maybe next time make it without the sauce.

Our kids are different. I figured that as an adult I don't like some food so why should I force Mr 13 to eat food that he thinks is disgusting. Eating fruit toast for example makes me gag..

I am willing to make some concession for him When we I cook. He has frozen peas and corn and we have it cooked. We eat the frozen bean variety but he has fresh uncooked beans. If I do corn on the cob he will eat it cooked but prefers it raw. When I cook chicken wings his usually come without marinade. If he does not have enough and wants more he usually has to eat one of "ours" and does so with a grim look on his face.

The thing is that these kids are very tactile and can be turned off food just by it's smell. The texture of the food is enough to turn them off so I try to find out why he won't eat something and work around a fix.

I am willing to give these concessions as life is hard enough for these kids. Every day is an effort and exhausting and I want meal time to be pleasant.

As for the 15 min thing... Mr 13 use to take forever to eat. He use to have trouble eating (later found out it was due to his huge tonsils and adenoids.)

Another trick I used was to put out a platter of food on the table that he could pick at. It had six different salads such as grated carrot, cucumber, snow pea shoots, alphalfa sprouts. or I did a fruit one with six different fruits. Just small amounts of each and I left it alone.

i found that when I was not there he would sneak up and eat something to test it out. That was really important as I figured out the pressure of me standing there watching was what scared him off. Now he eats just about every vegie except for broccoli and cauliflower and every type of fruit.

Strawberries took a while as he could not stand the little seeds... he can eat them now but that has only come about in the last 12 months.

Working with them instead of making it another battle is really important. You do not want to make eating food a battle. You may need to broaden your boundaries a little bit and include them in the decision making.