Eating Therapy

Bryce isn't a great eater. He isn't just picky he really has some problems with eating. He will sometimes gag on food, sometimes even before he takes a bite. He is super sensitive about how things taste. His old babysitter who has been tending kids for probably at least 15 years even finally made accommodations for Bryce, because most kids will start eating what they are offered after awhile, but he never did. He has even started cutting things out of his diet that he once would eat. For example, he kind of choked or gagged on an orange one day and now he will no longer eat those. I cut him an apple that wasn't as fresh and crisp as he liked and now the only apples he will eat are the ones in bags-like you get in a McDonald's happy meal. He won't eat most protein-no beans, peanut butter, and most meat (with the exception of hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and bologna-not exactly healthy meats). He is 5 years old and never even tasted a hamburger. He doesn't eat vegetables with the exception of raw carrots. He will eat most grain (plain bread, plain tortilla, cereal, crackers). It's frustrating and hard. As he will be entering Kindergarten this year I started to worry. He won't eat anything they serve at hot lunch and what am I going to be able to pack in his lunch box that I will feel good about. I talked to my doctor and we decided to have him tested. 

The results he has a sensory processing issue. Due to the fact that your mouth is the most sensitive part of your body that's why his eating is affected. It makes so much sense. Lots of things not just his eating, but even more. He never went through that stage as a baby where he would put everything in his mouth. He never crawled in the traditional hand/knee form. He hated the snow the first few years of his life. He doesn't like mud, or finger paint, or having things spilled on him. He doesn't like it if you touch him with wet hands, etc.

So now what do we do with that information? Eating Therapy. Yep that's right something I had actually never heard of before now, but it's a real thing. The specific program Bryce is in is called the SOS Approach (Sequential Oral Sensory). Which is basically a 32 step program, where they first learn to look at and touch the food and the work up from there eventually hopefully to eating the food. The therapist told me Bryce was starting out at about level 1 or 2, so we have a ways to go. I am hopeful though, maybe by the time Kindergarten starts we will have made enough progress that I can feel good about lunch time.
#BryceEE