Friday, October 28, 2011

To Be Continued.........



With great sadness, our posts must be suspended for the time being.  Please stay tuned as we hope this will only be a temporary pause in our goals for awareness, understanding and fun.  Our dedication is unwavering and we hope to continue soon.


-Abby and Molly

Monday, October 17, 2011

Adding Fun to Food: Revisiting the Autism Food Fight


As discussed previously in our post about picky eaters, mealtime is a huge battle for those on the spectrum.  This leaves parents/teachers frustrated and individuals with autism even less apt to try new foods.  There are many hurdles so incorporating new ideas and trying a variety of things is important.


Make it an Activity
Having the individual participate in making food is a way to make it more fun and the child can be part of the activity rather than on the 'sidelines'.  Snacks and mealtime can be more of a fun learning time.

-Simplify directions - Simple step-by-step instructions using objects/food items, picture or short words depending on the level of understanding. 

-Pre-measure - If numbers, fractions, etc are stressful, eliminate that from the cooking task.  Measure out items and label bowls so that it will not include any stresses. 

-Use Interests - Lots of fun food recipes are available online, beyond what is included below.  Make it specific to your child's interest in trains, animals or cars.  Use cookie cutters to make letters, dinosaurs, etc.  Ice cube trays to mold jello into fun shapes or other foods.  Create 'faces' on food with raisins, pepper strips, marshmallows, etc. 


Visually Appealing Recipes
The Internet is a source of great recipes.  Visually appealing food can make it more interesting to kids and hopefully catch their interest enough to give a try.  Here are a few a the fun recipes we have found:

Cheesy Chums (http://www.familyfun.go.com/)

Ingredients
  • mini cheese round (such as Babybel)
  • small pieces of red bell pepper, scallions, carrot, and olives
  • whole wheat crackers
Instructions
  1. Use a sharp knife (an adult's job) to trim the wax covering from a mini cheese round, then add facial features with small pieces of red bell pepper, scallions, carrot, and olives*. Serve with a short stack of whole wheat crackers.
Tips:  We used cocktail straws and drinking straws to punch round eyes from olive halves.
Garden Octopus (http://www.familyfun.go.com/)
 
Ingredients
  • 2 bell peppers
  • Dip or hummus
  • Black olives
Instructions
  1. For the octopus's body, remove the pepper's stem end and scoop out the white ribs and seeds. For the arms, slice a second pepper into strips.
  2. Place some dip or hummus (we used French onion dip) in a shallow bowl, and arrange the octopus as shown. Use a bit of dip and sliced black olives to give your creature eyes.
  3. Serve with extra veggies, such as carrot sticks, fresh green beans, lightly steamed broccoli spears, sliced cucumber, and jicama sticks.


 Breakfast Smiles

Breakfast for lunch or dinner is also an option. 
Use eggs, fruit (of your choice) and meat (bacon, sausage, ham)



Cheesy Ham Shapes (http://www.thatsmyhome.com/)
6 Flour Tortillas
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 cup diced, cooked ham or 6 slices of ham lunch meat
1/4 cup sliced green onions (optional)

Remove tortillas from refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. Preheat oven to 375° F.
Place shredded cheese, ham and green onions, if desired, onto bottom half of tortillas. Fold tortillas in half over filling.
Place folded tortillas on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the cheese is melted. To serve, cut in half for triangles or use cookie cutters for fun shapes.



Macaroni and Trees  (http://www.thatsmyhome.com/)
salt for pasta water, plus 1/2 tsp more for cheese sauce
4 cups broccoli florets
8 oz Tri-Color Fusilli (about half bag)
3 TB unsalted butter
2 TB all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
pinch black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

*Warm Cinnamon Pear Compote
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and diced
1/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup organic apple juice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
2 tsp butter (optional)
1 TB cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
black pepper
To prepare the Macaroni and Trees
Preheat the broiler. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add broccoli, return to a boil and cook, uncovered, until al dente, about 4 minutes. Remove broccoli with a slotted spoon, leaving the water in the pot. Boil the pasta in the reserved water until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook gently for about 1 minute. Whisk milk, salt, pepper and cayenne. Bring milk mixture to a simmer, reduce the heat, and cook for about 5 minutes until mixture thickens. Stir in two thirds of the cheese. When the cheese is melted, remove saucepan from heat and set aside.

In 2 quart, ovenproof dish, combine the pasta with two-thirds of the cheese sauce. Add the broccoli to the remaining cheese sauce in the saucepan. Encircle the pasta in the dish with a border of the broccoli. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and broil for about 3 minutes, until cheese begins to bubble.

To prepare compote
Combine pears, raisins, apple juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter in a small saucepan. Cook, uncovered over medium heat, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar and black pepper and continue to cook about 5 more minutes until juice is reduced and pears begin to fall apart. Cool 5 minutes. Serve on the side with Macaroni and Trees.
Serves 4


 

SHAKE 'N BAKE® Chicken Nugget Kabobs (http://www.kraftrecipes.com/)

1 to 1-1/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-1/2 to 2-inch pieces
1 pkt.  SHAKE 'N BAKE Extra Crispy Seasoned Coating Mix
2 cups KRAFT Cheddar Cheese Cubes
1-1/2 cups  cherry tomatoes
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks
12   (9-inch) wooden skewers

Make It


PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Moisten chicken pieces with water. Shake off excess. Shake 3 or 4 pieces at a time with coating mix. Discard any remaining coating mix. Place in ungreased or foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
BAKE 15 minutes or until cooked through.
ARRANGE 3 cooked chicken nuggets, 3 cheese cubes, 2 tomatoes and 1 pineapple chunk on a wooden skewer. Repeat with remaining skewers. Serve with 1/3 cup KRAFT Barbecue Sauce or 2/3 cup KRAFT Ranch Dressing.



 

Mini Taco Bowls (www.kraftrecipes.com)

8 flour tortillas (6 inch)
1 lb.  extra-lean ground beef
1 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
1/2 cup  KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 cups chopped lettuce
1   tomato, chopped
1/4 cup KRAFT Ranch Dressing

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F.
MICROWAVE tortillas on HIGH 30 sec. Line each of 8 muffin cups with 1 tortilla. Carefully fold back edges of tortillas, leaving opening in centers for filling.
BAKE 10 min. Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in salsa; bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 10 min.
SPOON meat mixture into tortilla bowls; top with remaining ingredients.
TACO BELL® and HOME ORIGINALS® are trademarks owned and licensed by Taco Bell Corp.


Ants on a Log
Celery
Peanut butter or Cream cheese
Raisins



Get Extra Veggies, Fruits and Vitamins
When necessary, hide the veggies and add nutrients where you can.  Sometimes getting those with autism to try new foods seems close to impossible.  The preference is to have kids learn to like a variety of foods but sometimes masking them is the only way to help those picky eaters. 

Pureed Vegetables & Fruits -
Baked squash, sweet potatoes and carrots along with blended berries, apples and peaches can be added to foods to add nutrition.  A cup of veggies into mac and cheese or spaghetti can be hidden. 

After cooking & blending, pour puree into ice cube trays

Add frozen puree (carrots) to meal (spaghetti sauce)

Vitamins -
ALWAYS consult a doctor for nutritional supplements.  Omega-3, Flax seed and Brewer's Yeast are a few of the easy ways to add powdered or liquid vitamins to food.  Fish Oil can be a stronger taste/smell and may be harder to hide but many ground supplements have little to no taste. 
Pour powdered supplements (such as flax) into sauces, casseroles, yogurt, etc


Small Changes -
Changes are difficult but not impossible.  With foods, we need to incorporate new foods on a regular basis but not change everything at once.  Slower changes in added nutrition, new snacks or a unique fruit/veggie, will be easier to accept.


-Abby

Monday, September 19, 2011

ACTIVITIES ON THE ANGLE: Rewards and Motivation

Reward systems, praise and motivation are not always a perfect match for individuals with autism.  Using rewards that are more understandable and meaningful can take a little creativity and patience.  A few things to keep in mind when making these systems more understandable can go a long way.  We talked previously about behavior difficulties that can occur with those on the spectrum.  We want to go more in depth with the motivation so that some of these difficulties can be avoided. 

Tips for rewarding: 
Make it Visual:  Show through pictures, objects or short written information. 

More Immediate:  Make sure the time from the reinforcement (such as TV time at home) is not too far from when the action (such as cleaning up at school) occurred.  There are a lot of students that can understand rewards at the end of the day or week but there are just as many that do not make this connection. 

Individualize the Reward:  We aren't all motivated by the same thing and it can change for all of us as well.  Stay on top of what is the current interest to help things from getting stale. 

Don't Take Away:  Removing rewards that are earned are not recommended.  It is confusing enough trying to make the connection between what 'to do' and the end result. 



Systems to Use:

First-Then Sequence
Through pictures, objects or words (depending on your child's current level of understanding), you can visually show first 'this' happens and then you receive 'this'.  Starting out very slow with contingencies is important, in other words, we want the child to understand that this behavior = this outcome.  We don't want to jump to complex reward systems that may be confusing and therefore not meaningful. 


First brush teeth, then TV time



First put your jacket on, then you can play outside




Puzzle Pieces
This system can be used for TV time, toy or other treat.  Simply cutting up a picture of a specific item of interest can help create a reward system that is specific to that child's motivation.

This child earns pieces of a tractor and then gets to go visit his Grandfather's farm.

This chart is earning 3 pieces of a treasure box and then the individual gets to chose one item out of the treasure box.
 
Reward Charts
Lot of samples can be found of these online.  Specific characters can be used to help motivate the individual.  Whether it is 'Thomas the Train', 'Dora' or 'Sponge Bob', charts can be found at various sites to incorporate the interest. 
-A few sites we have found:


Token System 'I Did My Chores' 
I lucked out finding this at a consignment sale.  This system is like a token system/economy.  It can be too complex for some students, so use a system that you have assessed to make sure it is understandable to the individual. 





This system can be purchased online: http://www.chores-help-kids.com/index.html


Choice Board
Also, using choices of rewards allows for flexibility with what is available but also giving the individual control over what they want. 




Creating motivation for your child or student can greatly increase compliance, interest and enjoyment.  We are looking forward to finding new ways to motivate individuals on the spectrum and always looking for new ideas!

-Abby