We have dealt with food aversions for a long time now. It started when he wouldn’t transition to solid foods as a baby. What we thought was extreme picky eating was in fact food aversions. I didn’t realize for a long time that there were multiple reasons for it. Transitions can be very hard for him. If he eats a banana every day for snack he will want a banana every day until something more appealing comes along. And it can be months or even a year until that happens. So transitioning him from the foods that he was familiar to must have been traumatic for him when I look back in hindsight.
Then there were sensory issues. The textures of different foods could be revolting, the smell could put him off. As an extremely sensory individual his responses to certain sensory stimuli are heightened. That means while he may love some sensory input like spinning, rocking, slime and kinetic sand etc but the textures of some foods would be off putting to him.
Then there can also be motor skills challenges. Holding a spoon to scoop up food requires certain motor skills. Using a fork to stab food to bring it to your mouth without dropping, using a straw to suck up drinks, we have been through it all. And he has been hesitant and resistant to all. We worked from him being force fed (not proud of that) spoonfuls of food to all the way to independent eating. There were a couple years in the middle when he would happily eat if we fed him but would flatly refuse to eat on his own.
He was hesitant to try and sometimes his inability to eat a certain food a certain way would lead to frustration and anger. Eating noodles would lead to a meltdown because he wouldn’t know how to eat these weirdly long things. Which eventually led to only a few tried and tested safe foods that we knew he wouldn’t mind the texture of and would be fairly easy for him to eat independently.
We have come a long way since then. He is more comfortable with the use of utensils now. He is a little more open to trying new foods. Last night he ate two baby carrots that he would have fought against earlier. So we welcome that change and that willingness to experiment. We celebrate it. A couple of years ago he wouldn’t touch a popsicle. He would scream because he wouldn’t tolerate the stickiness, the cold, and the possible brain freeze. He would struggle with how to hold it and how to eat it. Today he tolerates it. That’s a huge win around here.
It is funny how autism puts everything into perspective. It makes you appreciate the small things in life. Like popsicles on a hot summer day. And what a blessing this shift in perspective has been.
Our Ausome Desi Life 