Its SPD, its real....don't let it spoil dinner time....
by carebear
(USA)
Find the flavors and textures that your child with SPD can tolerate or likes. Just accept it and move forward so that life can become more pleasant at the dinner table.
For three years I had to mash the food up for my son because he often gagged or couldn't swallow it. Toast was difficult, anything crunchy or hard like a crouton....meat was and still is difficult for him. It seems as though his mouth doesn't have the muscle power like we do to spend all that time chewing up the food. When he started speech therapy in nursery school, they pointed out to me that he may have SPD and that it was affecting his ability to move his tongue and mouth muscles around in a way to form words to speak.... He often gives up trying.
Well long story short. He enjoys foods that are soft and bundled up together so that he can "pick them up and eat them". When food spills out, he cries. He doesn't like using forks and spoons either. But since nursery school and being around other kids like him, his appetite improved and also his ability to hold the utensils and stay clean at the dinner-table.
Our son likes soft foods and things he can slosh around in his mouth and enjoy tasting the "flavor country". So, if I want him to keep up his weight and stay healthy.... I cut the meat and vegetables very finely (like until they are invisible) and wrap them up in a burrito. That's just the way it is. I'm sure that someday when he grows up he'll just be a burrito eatin' man someday! Ha, that's funny. Thanks for letting me write this blogg. It helps me to put my thoughts together and feel like I'm connecting to people out there in the world.
