Spotlight on success: overcoming food challenges

As part of their insight into their pupils, staff at Bardwell SEN school noticed a number of their pupils ate a limited diet, particularly around the range of vegetables being eaten. This limited diet was rooted in hesitations around the appearance, colour, texture, smell and taste across all food types, with each pupil having their own sensory specific preferences. Research suggests that individuals on the autistic spectrum don’t always imitate others or make generalisations across food types. Recognising this and knowing we learn that food is safe by watching others around us, the school decided to develop and implement a personalised programme, supporting pupils to overcome these barriers and broaden their diets. 

The programme offers a bespoke structure for each pupil, based on their individual food challenges. For example, if a pupil is averse to the colour green then the vegetables chosen would not be of that colour. Pupils then slowly build up their tolerance of the set vegetable through a series of specific food activities, for example they may start off with pictures of it before moving onto touching and exploring the vegetable with implemented support. 

With encouragement of an adult, the aim is for the pupil to eventually taste the vegetable. 

         Transferring                 Shape manipulation       Hedgehog construction      Shape manipulation 

Each morning, new resource boxes are produced for each child with their task for the day with recording methods to see the level of engagement and success. Tasks can then be repeated if necessary or the pupil can be moved onto the next stage when they are ready. The school have been closely monitoring progress of the pupils taking part in the programme, with some excellent results so far! 

One student on the project has been able to add a broad range of fruits and vegetables to his diet across his 12 weeks on the project. 

Prior to joining the project, he very rarely ate any vegetables and wouldn’t eat any fruits. Through structured and engaging food activities presented daily, the project has sparked the student’s curiosity within food. Through following TastED’s two golden rules, firstly that ‘No one has to try’ and secondly, ‘No one has to like’, the student has been able to enjoy and explore food types with the pressure to eat removed. This alongside adult modelling to look, touch, smell, listen and taste has resulted in a confidence within the student to explore and enjoy a broader array of food. 

This project has been particularly successful when working in collaboration with families to model and support food introduction at home to continue broaden accepted foods. 

If you would like more information about this programme, please contact Natalie.robb@oxfordshire.gov.uk