SOS feeding program

We did it! We launched our offensive on the food issue. We're armed and ready for battle!

For those of you who don't want to go read about Jacob's food issues in detail, I'll give you a quick summary here. Jacob finds food extremely aversive. For many years, he couldn't even be in the same room with food (other than the dozen plus things he'll eat). This all has to do with his Sensory Processing Disorder (and a little bit with his Autism, but I think we can blame the vast majority of this issue on SID). His extremely limited diet and severe food aversion was reason enough for his Sensory Integration Therapist to want to make a feeding program a top priority. At the time (more than a year ago), I just didn't have the energy to invest in undertaking yet another thing. Jacob's diet was balanced, despite being quite limited, and I felt that this could wait.

Of course, as a result of his brother's poor eating habits, Zoo Boy has developed a pretty limited food repertoir himself. Despite having his own sensory issues, Zoo Boy's eating habits seem to be mostly a learned behavior rather than a sensory issue in and of themselves. I'll use an example below to demonstrate what I mean. But in any case, both boys will be involved in the feeding program that we have just started using.

The program is called the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) approach, and a concise description of it (and why it would be used) can be found here. Basically, it takes the understanding that these kids' feeding problems are based on sensory issues, and works on slowly desensitizing them to the overwhelming effect that food has on their senses. In a nutshell, you start by getting them to tolerate being near food, then progress to getting them to touch it, smell it, and eventually taste it. From looking at it to taste is a pretty long road, taken at micro-steps, but in the end should result in a child without an eating disorder, and without any trauma induced by the method. I've long known that this would be our feeding program of choice, I've just been lacking in energy to undertake it. But given that I'm feeling comfortable at the moment with our RDI program, and that the food thing is our last battle to surmount, I decided that the time was ripe to get moving with it. My hope is that by fall, we'll actually be able to concentrate on homeschooling and leave the therapies in the dust of our memories.

So above is a photo of our very first SOS session. I served lunch -- cheese and crackers -- as usual. Then I brought over a plate with a few of the same crackers, but with peanut butter on them. And a bowl with a few baby carrots in it. And a bowl with a small handful of raisins in it. As I set the bowls between the kids, I explained that they do not have to try them, but that I was setting them there in case they wanted to. Both kids panicked upon seeing me set the food down. I reiterated that they did NOT have to try them. Zoo Boy immediately settled down, with a happy sigh, repeating happily "we don't have to try them". Jacob burst into tears and told me to take them away. I explained again, patiently, that he did not have to try them. He moved to the edge of his seat to get as far away from them as possible, and he kept throwing nervous glances at them, but he eventually settled down and started eating his food. (A year ago he would have ran screaming for his room and refused to eat the rest of the day, so I'm REALLY glad I waited to start this program until now, when he's actually ready to accept more difficult things!) Eventually he ate everything on his plate and asked for more, but quickly followed it up with "but not those!" pointing anxiously in the direction of the peanut butter and crackers. I just smiled and made him some more cheese and crackers. When both boys were done eating and had left the table (with the new items entirely untouched), I put the food on my plate and ate it without making mention of it again.

Step one. Of one million, maybe, but at least we've begun. We'll continue at this level, presenting a variety of foods at meal and snack times in close proximity to where they are seated, until they are no longer stressed about the extra foods. Then the next step will be to actually put them on the same plate with the foods they WILL eat. I don't anticipate getting beyond that step anytime soon!