Eating Problems: When To Do Something About It

So you think your child may have an eating problem, and you're wondering if and when to do something about it. I say, do something now! Why wait? Here are a few reasons to start now:

• To insure that your child will eat a nutritionally balanced diet. As I'm sure you already know, a well-balanced diet is important to a child's long-term physical health, and as an added bonus, healthy children have fewer behavioral problems.
• To make your family's life easier! What better reason could there be for busy parents? There are a whole bunch of social benefits to improving your child's eating behavior. For example, you would only have to prepare one - yes ONE - single meal for the entire family. Or, if your child is disruptive at mealtime, you could instead have a peaceful, enjoyable meal with your family, without all those disruptive behaviors. Plus, you could begin going out to eat in public (hooray for no prep-work or clean up!), which may have previously been impossible to do.
• To stress that meal and snack times are important times for socialization. Children who do not eat with their families or other kids can miss out on major opportunities to develop social skills and friendships.
• To promote other skills by improving eating skills. The development of eating and speech are correlated, because the muscles used for drinking, chewing, and swallowing are the same muscles that are used for talking. The fine motor skills used for self-feeding are the same skills that are used for a variety of other academic and self-help skills.

• To decrease other unwanted behaviors. If your child is diagnosed with autism, eating problems involve an array of ritualistic behaviors, such as eating only specific foods or using specific utensils. Treating their eating problems may decrease their insistence on sameness and rigidity, not only with eating but in other environments as well.

There are so many benefits to addressing eating problems, but be aware that doing so requires the commitment of time, effort, and resources. Before getting started, it will be necessary for you to determine when and whether you can make these commitments.

Developing and implementing a feeding intervention can be incredibly time consuming, even more so than the time you currently spend feeding or preparing specific foods for your child. But, your time and effort will be rewarded in the long run as your child learns to eat new foods, and you can spend more time enjoying some stress-free leisure time. 

Next up, things that you should consider before starting a feeding intervention.

Source:

Williams, Keith E., and Richard M. Foxx. Treating Eating Problems of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Disabilities: Interventions for Professionals and Parents. PRO-ED, 2007.