The Penn State College of Medicine recently published a study about autism. According to it, atypical food eating habits may sign that children should be checked for signals or signs of autism.
Susan Mayes, Professor of Psychology, showed that atypical eating behaviours were present in 70% of children with autism. This is 15 times more common than in neurotypical children.
Atypical eating behaviours can include:
- Severely restricted food tastes
- Hypersensitivity to food texture or temperature
- Food pocketing without swallowing
According to Mayes, Food Habits Signal Autism in certain 1-year-olds. These may indicate to doctors and parents that a child may have autism.
What is Autism?
Autism is a severe developmental disorder that refers to various disorders characterized by:
- Challenges to social skills
- Repeated behaviour
- Expression and non-verbal communication
It affects the nervous system and thus affects cognitive, mental, social and physical wellbeing. Autism is often known as ASD or autism spectrum disorder. The range and severity of symptoms vary greatly. This is because it may be a minor problem or disability requiring full-time treatment.
Common Autism Symptoms:
- Lack of contact with the eye
- A narrow range of interests or an intense curiosity in certain topics
- Don’t listen to other people
- Particularly sensitive to noises, touches, smells, or sights that are common to other people
- To do something on a repetitive basis
- Facing the challenge of adapting to routine changes
- Delays in spoken language
Unusual eating habits in infants that may be early signs of autism
Children’s unusual eating behaviors as one-or two-year-old children could be early signs of autism. According to researchers at Penn State University, unusual food eating habits can signal five times more in children with autism than other conditions such as ADHD and learning difficulties. And it is 15 times more common in autism than in normal children.
According to a survey of 2,000 children (average age of 7), 70 per cent of children with autism had irregular eating habits compared to 13 per cent with other disorders and 5 per cent with normal children. The most prevalent atypical eating behaviour is limited to food preferences (88 per cent).
Unusual eating behaviour in children with autism
Hypersensitivity to food textures. Children who are more sensitive to foods with smooth and creamy textures may have autism. Hypersensitivity to food textures is common in 46% of children with autism.
Severely limited variety. Children with autism are resistant to eating new foods (sometimes referred to as food neophobia). The vast majority of children have a very limited selection of food they can consume. They gravitate toward light, neutral-colored foods. The most widely used foods for children with autism are gluten foods. These include macaroni, pancakes, pizza, PBJ, and chicken. Children with autism want to keep their food to maintain sameness and do not want changes. Children with autism rarely have their diet limited to vegetables, rice, meats, eggs, fish, or cheese due to a severely limited range of food preferences.
There are reports of exceptions in some children with autism. A boy ate raw lemons, and another ate spoonful pepper.
Rigid brand preferences. Children who embrace only one specific food brand are also registered with autism. Rigid brand preferences are widespread in 27% of children with autism.
Pica. Eating non-food products, such as crayons, soap, and Play-Doh, is common in children with autism. Pica is normal in 12% of children with autism. Pica (food habit) is considered a signal only in children with autism.
Regimented mealtime rituals. Smelling food before consuming it and requiring food to be prepared in a manner that is served on a specific plate or with food that does not touch each other. Such unusual, atypical habits include consuming food only if eaten in a certain manner. These include eating a banana only if it is peeled and given to the infant.
Underdeveloped oral-motor musculature. Kids with autism may lack the muscle development required to chew foods such as steak or burgers. It is because of their strong preference for almost exclusively eating soft foods.
Techniques for tackling unusual Food Habits
Techniques for solving different mealtime activity issues are similar. But you need to break them down into manageable measures. Below is a comprehensive guide for parents that can help both parents and their children. It can reduce the meals’ stress.
Prioritize. So many parents try to tackle all eating behaviours at once. It’s a mistake because it just leads all children and parents to get overwhelmed and give up. As Dr Lee works with families, she asks them to pay attention to their goals. Is there a rise in the number of foods that your child can eat? The amount they’re eating? Or is he sitting less disruptively at the table? Parents need to define their primary goal.
Start small. No matter what the target is, it’s important to start with baby steps. For, e.g., when trying new food with a kid, Dr Lee would begin with a small amount. It is so small that a child may not even be able to taste it.
If the initial goal were to try the food, the child would try the bite and count it as the child’s “no thank you bite.”
Don’t push your luck. If the kid has been at the table for 10 minutes, and that’s the target, parents may always try to push for a little longer. This is a mistake. Sometimes, we think they’re doing good; let’s push it another 10 minutes, says Dr Lee. But really, that extra 10 minutes can result in the meal ending less successfully. Specifically, for students struggling at mealtime, they must start developing successful experiences to improve their food and eating attitude.
Meet your child where he is. Is your child not eating all of the food you put in front of him? It’s not a smart idea to start cleaning her whole plate. Parents must have reasonable expectations that begin with meeting their child where they are present about their mealtime behaviour.
Make your expectations clear. The target, how the meal will end, and what defines success all need to be clear to the parents. There are ways to make goals easy for children to understand. These include using a visual timer that counts down the minute they are supposed to stay at the table.
The Bottom Line
Autism is a severe developmental disorder that affects the nervous system. Thus, it affects cognitive, emotional, social, and physical wellbeing. Autism develops mainly in one to two years of age. And unusual eating behaviors are early signs of autism. Unusual eating habits are five times more common in children with autism than in other conditions such as ADHD and learning disabilities. Some of the nusual eating behaviors that are early indicators of autism include hypersensitivity to food textures, severely limited choice, rigid brand tastes, pic and regimented mealtime routines, etc. However, there is no cure for autism. But you can treat it using some home strategies, like making food fun and introducing a visual schedule.
