Mealtime Success: Transform Food Refusal Into Food Acceptance

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• 4 Dietary myths that contribute to nutritional problems
• Strategies to successfully introduce new and nourishing foods
• Re-establish healthy roles and responsibilities during mealtimes
• Interventions that motivate and reward expanded food choices
• Synchronicities between play behaviors, emotional development and mealtime skills

Eating disorders, obesity, diabetes, and chronic gastrointestinal inflammation frequently form unhealthy partnerships with the sensory and behavioral challenges faced by autistic children at mealtime. Sensory processing problems heighten aversions and obsessions to specific smells, textures, and tastes, resulting in extremely selective eating, nutritional deficiencies, and food addictions that aggravate gastrointestinal disorders common on the autism spectrum. Parents and guardians often exacerbate the problem by reacting to behavioral challenges at the table in ways that actually reinforce poor eating habits.

Discover highly effective, step-by-step strategies for integrating new and nourishing foods, expanding food selection, preventing GI distress, and transitioning the dinner table from battleground to common ground. This course will outline typical development of eating skills, medically recognized nutritional needs of the growing child, and sensory-based approaches to mealtime behavioral issues. Explore a variety of techniques that encourage children to participate during mealtime. Learn to develop successful programs that promote active play, self-care, compassionate caregivers, and the use of imagination.

OUTLINE

OVERVIEW

• Commonalities in the epidemics of autism, obesity, GI inflammation, and diabetes
• Need for multifaceted nutritionally-based approach to these conditions
• Importance of child-centered approach for long-term successful outcomes

HUNGER AND SATIETY

• Biomedical reasons for refusal to eat
• Sensory processing factors that affect food choices
• Research supporting the benefits of enjoying what we eat
• Use positive behavioral reinforcement to get improved food exploration
• Case studies

TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE NUTRITIONAL OUTCOMES

• Common food “addictions ” that affect nutrition and health
• Nutrition impact on neurodevelopment and autism
• Food journals to assess nutritional needs
• Food journals to assess sensory preferences
• Create food chains to expand a child’s diet
• Case studies

STRATEGIES FOR: A CAREGIVER’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR NUTRITIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL OUTCOMES

• Why children (and the adults who care for them) make toxic food choices
• Research on the importance of family meals
• Re-establish healthy roles and responsibilities
• Assist caregivers with meal planning
• Case studies

A CHILD-CENTERED PROGRAM FOR SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES

• Problems of trust for “super-tasters” and “super-smellers”
• Use developmental assessments to determine readiness for mealtime skills
• Create play-based programs to develop comfort with unfamiliar foods
• Case studies

OBJECTIVES

 

1. Communicate commonalities in the development of play, emotional intelligence and mealtime skills.
2. Determine common myths about picky eaters and the research-based evidence that contradicts these commonly held assumptions.
3. Analyze and differentiate a child’s current food choices for nutritional value and sensory preferences
4. Formulate a plan for successfully introducing new and nourishing foods.
5. Integrate therapeutic interventions that motivate and reward expanded food choices and the development of competent eating skills.