3 ways to make feeding therapy for picky eaters fun!
Elizabeth Mays, CCC-SLP
If your child is having a hard time with eating, or is working with a feeding therapist in a clinical setting, there are many things you can do at home to make feeding therapy for picky eaters fun, and support the work that is being done in the clinic. In this post we will explore the ways clinicians at Ability Innovations make feeding therapy fun, and how you can replicate it at home.
Let The Child Pick The Food:
At the beginning of most sessions, I let the child look in the fridge and pantry. I have them choose 2 items they want and I pick 1-2 goal foods that might stretch them. It is okay if they pick preferred foods. Allowing kids to choose what they want to explore and learn about helps with their buy-in. They have autonomy when they make a choice. Children crave autonomy, especially in the kitchen if feeding and eating are difficult for them.
Cook The Food With the Child:
I love cooking with my kiddos. Preparing food together allows children to learn about food in a low-pressure environment- they don't have to eat it- but oftentimes they do! Their interaction with ingredients and seeing how something they enjoy, for example, cheese, goes on pizza, melts, and is still cheese. This also lends itself to using the food explorer levels we use in therapy (see, touch, kiss, lick, bite, chew, swallow) away from the table.
Note: Children have varying attention spans. For children with shorter attention spans, I typically measure out the ingredients ahead of time and have them only engage in steps like dumping and mixing.
Use Cute Utensils for Cooking and Eating:
We love using cookie cutters, cute food picks, etc. Use your child’s interests to help you decide what to use. Some kids love letters, numbers, animals, and characters- find cookie cutters or props that correspond. One of my kids loves the letter “P” so we cut various preferred foods and goal foods with the cookie cutter…it works! Food picks allow the child to be creative, and make monsters, animals, etc with their food. These tools can be found on amazon “food picks for kids”, “kid veggie cutters”.
PLAYING WITH FOOD IS LEARNING. NORMALIZE IT.
Many parents get stressed out when kids are “playing” with food at the table. This could look like your child using hands instead of utensils, liking it, eating with their mouth instead of using hands, etc… We get it. As parents you want to teach your children to have good manners at the table, but these are all ways that children explore food and become more comfortable around food. We promise your child won’t leave for college eating their food face first.
The stakes are low at home around the dinner table. Your job as a parent is to create a safe and comfortable environment for your child so they can develop a healthy relationship around food. If that means your child explores their food in a variety of ways throughout the meal, LET THEM! This is all part of normal development while they’re exploring new foods and textures.
If you feel like your child needs help with picky eating, and you need some tools and strategies you can use at home, call one of our clinics for a free feeding consultation so we can talk about the ways feeding therapy may benefit your child.