Harvest Time: From Farm to Table to Little Mouths!

 

By Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP, of MyMunchBug.com

The Joy of Gardening

When I walk about my neighborhood, I love to stroll past our community garden: plot after plot of vegetables lined up in perfect order, ready for inspection.  In the cool Colorado evenings, parents and kids gather to ooh and ahh at what new plant is peeking out of the earth.  Today I saw a three year old cutting lettuce with “safety scissors” that his mom had brought especially for his little fists.

Teaching kids to become more adventurous eaters begins in the garden.   When I decided to produce a children’s CD that celebrated the joy of food, I knew it had to include a garden song.  Joan Huntsberry Langford, the singer and songwriter, titled it “Harvest Time” and recreated the sensory experience of growing food in the garden, harvesting and ultimately, enjoying it together around the family table.

Healing Picky Eating Begins in the Dirt

Cucumbers curling around a trellise.Got a picky eater at home?  Learning about new foods doesn’t start with steamed broccoli sitting on their dinner plate.  It starts with a seed, or a tiny plant and most importantly, little hands in dirt.  Children love to take care of living things, and plants are no exception.  Daily watering and tending to a garden gently exposes a child to a new food until harvested, when it eventually finds its way to a lovely family dinner.  

When I work with children in the community and we are exploring a garden, I bring a clean bucket of cool water with us.  While most children love to play in dirt, some are tactilely defensive, especially picky eaters.  Having a bucket to swiftly drop a muddy carrot in or to wash tickly palms eases their uncertainty about touching something gritty.  Plus, we may get up the courage to wash that carrot right then and there and even see how loud we can crunch it!  Feeding therapists like kids to get dirty, the sensory experience is part of learning about new food.  But, if your child is particular about keeping his hands clean, child sized gardening gloves are an option.  Better yet, kid-sized tools make it twice as fun!  Ideally, larger family gardens have paths for little feet and rows of hardy crops (to ensure success) that are within easy reach for children to explore.  Smaller, raised bed gardens are perfect for any child to explore the perimeter or sit on the edge as they pick sugar snap peas or cucumbers. Have you tried growing your cucumbers up a trellis or chicken-wire fence?  Brilliant method and so easy!

My Dad & Family Gardening Love

My daughter & my Papa breaking garden ground, many moons ago.
When I was a child, my Dad kept a pocket knife in his “dungarees” when we gardened together.  My Dad is now almost 91 and this is the first year that he has not planted a garden.  One of my fondest memories of Dad was growing kohlrabi, a cabbage like veggie that has a tough, outer skin.  Dad would let the 5 year –old me tug away at the vegetable until it popped out of the dirt, almost toppling me backward.  Then he would slap it against his thigh to shatter the dirt clods, dunk it in a bucket of water (hmmm…that’s where I go that idea!) and use his pocket knife to carve away at the hard outer core.  What lie beneath was a cross between a mild radish and an apple. Similar to the texture of jicama, but not at all like jicama; well,  more like kohlrabi. 

Kohlrabi, cleaned and ready to eat.

It may be hard to describe the taste and texture of a kohlrabi, but what I remember vividly is that time with my Dad.  It was our time.  As I grew to have a family of my own, I asked my Dad to start a planting tradition with my girls.  Each summer, he would be bring over giant pumpkin seeds to plant in our horse pasture.   Daddy would dig a decent hole and hand the seeds to my daughters to drop in before he covered it, patted down a nice mound and finally handed the hose to the girls for the pumpkin seed’s first long drink. 

Gardening creates memories for your family.  Whether a pot of herbs on the kitchen window sill or an acre of corn, there is nothing quite like the experience of coming together as a family to plant and enjoy the harvest.  Best wishes to all of you during Harvest Time!

About Melanie

Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLPMelanie is speech language pathologist who specializes in feeding.  Her work brings her into the homes and schools of her clients, kids, who for various reasons have difficulty with food or with eating. She works with kids and their parents to develop effective strategies that help children become “more adventurous eaters”.  At least 50% of her clients have food allergies or intolerances, and for them, “adventurous eating” takes on a special meaning.  Melanie is also the author of Happy Mealtimes with Happy Kids” and the executive producer of “Dancing in the Kitchen.”

More Posts From Melanie

Why Children with Autism are Often Picky Eaters

Review:  The Magic of the BellyFull Kit (From the Hopeful Company)

The 12 Days of Christmas -- My Favorite Lunchtime Things (Part 1)

Tips to Help Your Food Allergic Child Belong During the Holidays

How to Talk Turkey (and Food Allergies) at Thanksgiving

How Can Parents Feel Less Stress with a Food Allergic Child in School?

Follow Your Gut:  What's Eating My Daughter's Stomach? (Part I)

Why Children with Autism are Often “Picky Eaters.”

Warm welcome to guest blogger, Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLP.   Melanie works with many autistic children with food allergies in her feeding therapy practice. 

One in 88 Children

April is National Autism Awareness Month.  “1 in 88 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD)” according to estimates from CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, which goes on to report that “ASDs are almost 5 times more common among boys (1 in 54) than among girls (1 in 252).”  

Startling statistics, but it corresponds perfectly with my therapy practice as a feeding specialist.

While my private practice is devoted to helping all children learn the joy of food, currently 25% of my caseload are precious boys who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).   I’ve come to know this group of children quite well and their unique challenges when it comes to trying new foods.  (For the reader’s ease,  please allow me to use the pronoun “him” in this article, while keeping in mind the wonderful girls who also have ASD.)

Central Features of ASD

What distinctive characteristics of ASD hinder these kiddos from trying new foods?  Let’s look very briefly at some of the central features of ASD, while keeping in mind that this a spectrum disorder, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, this list does not encompass all of the elements of a diagnosis. 

Some of the central features that kids with ASD have difficulty with are: 

1. Social interaction, often including social reciprocity or that back and forth communication exchange known as conversation
2. Spoken language
3. Restricted behaviors often marked by rigid behavior patterns or an inability to be flexible with change
4. While not a criteria for diagnosis, kids with ASD commonly have sensory processing difficulties that hinder their ability to tolerate different tastes, temperature and/or textures of food and deal with change in general

The Hailstorm

In therapy, I assess and treat a child’s ability to allocate specific  cognitive resources in the brain in order to manage day-to-day life.  

EXAMPLE: here is a common event where, as an adult, you have to utilize many different parts of their brain.

You are driving the minivan full of kids to soccer practice, radio blaring, kids chattering.  Your brain is operating relatively smoothly, filtering auditory, visual, tactile and other sensations, while remembering to use your turn signal, maintain the speed limit, etc.  Suddenly, the weather changes and it starts to hail.  What’s the first thing you do?  Turn off the radio and tell the kids “Shush…Mommy needs to concentrate on the road.”  Perhaps you even slow down so that you can focus on the sudden change in driving conditions.  You have eliminated as much sensory input as possible so that you can concentrate on the task at hand – driving safely.  Funny how you were driving perfectly fine until one thing changed in your environment.

Life is Sticking to Sameness.  Therapy is Adapting to Change.

Consider the child with autism as he attempts to engage in mealtimes.  The reality is that daily life changes as easily as the daily weather report and some days are just like driving through a hailstorm.  This child is already challenged by poor sensory processing; he has limited ability to take in information through all of the senses, process it and filter out the unimportant info, and then act upon only the important information.

 

Now, bring that child to the family dinner table, which is all about social interaction and conversation.  Put a plate of food in front of him which looks and smells completely different from the last meal he was served.   Then, tell him to try that steamed broccoli for the very first time.  He doesn’t get to turn down the sensory input bombarding him at the table and focus just on the broccoli.  Because he has autism, he can’t filter out which stimuli might be inconsequential and it feels so much safer to follow rigid behavior patterns and never try anything new.  

Life for a child with autism is all about sticking to sameness. Therapy for a child with autism is all about learning to deal with change.

Autism, Food Allergies & Learning

Contemplate the fact that many children with ASD have the additional challenge of food allergies and/or intolerances, making choices limited when learning to try new foods.  For the older child heading to school, therapy will include teaching a child about his allergies and which foods are safe, so that he can be make safe choices independently ... while dealing with the ever-changing school environment, too.  

In my feeding therapy practice, the very first sessions are conducted in a child’s home.  Learning about new foods begins away from a family mealtime, where I can control the amount of sensory input a child has to process in order to keep his body organized and stable for small changes, such as a new food presented as we sit at the kitchen counter.  Once a child has learned to enjoy approximately 25 foods at home, the next step may be a restaurant or the school cafeteria.  

Keep in mind that this is more than just a change in venue.  Now, the visual input is different and it changes constantly, the inconsistent auditory input can be overwhelming, the fluctuating smells may be interpreted as noxious, etc.   Every input to every sense has changed.   Once again, he is encountering a hailstorm and has to learn to tune out the distractions and focus on the task at hand – in this case, eating a nutritious meal away from home.

 

Reach Out

Perhaps you are a parent of a child with ASD.   Perhaps you have observed a child whom you suspect may be dealing with the daily trials of autism.  Thank you for considering what mealtimes feel like for him and his family.  It does get better, but it is a journey that requires patience from family, friends and the community. 

Please share this article with a friend so that we can continue to raise awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder and if you know someone who loves a child with ASD, do something special for them this month in honor of National Autism Awareness Month – thank you!

 

About Melanie

Melanie Potock, MA, CCC-SLPMelanie is speech language pathologist who specializes in feeding.  Her work brings her into the homes and schools of her clients, kids, who for various reasons have difficulty with food or with eating. She works with kids and their parents to develop effective strategies that help children become “more adventurous eaters”.  At least 50% of her clients have food allergies or intolerances, and for them, “adventurous eating” takes on a special meaning.  Melanie is also the author of Happy Mealtimes with Happy Kids” and the executive producer of “Dancing in the Kitchen.”

More Posts from Melanie

Review:  The Magic of the BellyFull Kit (From the Hopeful Company)

The 12 Days of Christmas -- My Favorite Lunchtime Things (Part 1)

Tips to Help Your Food Allergic Child Belong During the Holidays

How to Talk Turkey (and Food Allergies) at Thanksgiving

How Can Parents Feel Less Stress with a Food Allergic Child in School?