What is the best way to get my autistic child to eat new foods?

Do it in small steps

1st sitting just let her look at it

2nd sitting get her to smell it

3rd sitting get her to put it in her mouth, let her spit it out

4th sitting get her to chew it and spit it out

5th sitting get her to chew it and swallow it

Always reward with something she loves after each step. Don't stop if she gagges or vomits because she will always do it as an escape. I know it seems like alot but it works and after a while she will surpise you by skipping steps on her own. Good luck

We had a similar problem to this. All the bland foods were popular. Maybe this is because of hypersensitivity with everything. Sounds,touch,taste are all exaggerated as part of the autistic condition.

Gradually introduce something new. Even get someone else to do it. Sometimes it is effective where you will fail, just the novelty value really of someone else.

The diet used to be chicken nuggets,or fish fingers,chips,cucumber and sliced red or green peppers. Cereal without milk.

A breakthrough came when we went to a chinese restaurant where we had closest to chicken nuggets which was Lemon chicken - served without the sauce almost like the nuggets but tastier. Then a little rice and some coloured vegetables. We went to a buffet restaurant here in UK called Cosmo that was a breakthrough where my son could try something he liked the look of and also know he was not able to have any of the usual items presented to him because we were in a very different environment. After traveling a bit in Asia he ate what he thought may be ok (as long as no sauce) and got used to reasonably spicy foods.

It is possible to change and improve the diet. A power struggle will ensue if it looks to her like you feel it really important to change things or get some food into her no matter what. Hunger will not let her win, and things change as the taste-buds can tolerate many other flavours as time goes by!

you should look around the boards here and try and find"beetlemilk"...she has 3 kids who have an autism spectrum diagnosis AND she herself has one. Another good person to find would be the lady who has twins, including a boy named Thomas, who has autism. I can't remember what is currently under her picture, in the past it has been "the beautiful face of autism" and "mommy's little rain man". They live in the UK, and Thomas is pretty badly affected by his autism. He is over 10 years old now and still on-verbal and in diapers. These two mom's should be able to help you.

You might also want to look for a "feeding clinic" at your local children's hospital...or a speech therapist who works with children who have feeding issues. My 3 year old's speech therapist does "feeding therapy" for some of her clients

Sounds like she prefers food she can handle herself- finger foods. You might try offering soups in cups she can drink, veggie flowerettes she can pick up, small corn on the cob, burritos, tacos with lots of lettuce, sandwiches cut into small 1/4s maybe the crusts cut off, or even cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Then worry about forks and knives and spoons after she knows and trusts the food.

By "finger foods" I mean those appropriate to pick up (not just eating with one's hands).

Autistic children are VERY sensitive to texture that's normal. Have you tried only serving her other foods. I mean don't starve her if she refuses to eat but try not cooking the other ones for her. Also I don't know how bad her mental age is but if she is talking try asking her why she doesn't like them also try foods with textures similar to the ones she likes like if she eats fish sticks try breaded salmon and see how she reacts then graduly changs things up. I hope I could help

hard 1 make it fun dont just slap it on a plate make it fun 4 ya child