Cooking with Amy, Part 2
As promised, today's post will highlight some feeding therapy ideas you can use with young children - easy techniques with simple food ingredients that are common around the house!
Before beginning I wanted to share with everyone this wonderful website I found called Speaking of Speech where Mayer-Johnson Company pictures are pre-made for specific recipes: http://www.speakingofspeech.com/Cooking_Materials.html *There are copyrights on the pictures and restrictions on the way in which they can be used so take note of the message at the top of the page when visiting the site.
In last Friday's post I shared a story about Amy, a little 2 year old girl who I currently work with in EI. After 28 months of feeding therapy and numerous other therapeutic supports, Amy is eating thick, chunky pureed consistencies (similar to a stage 3 baby food) and we are working to improve her bite and chew. In addition, Amy and I are now cooking and creating meals together! She loves the hands-on actions of stirring, pouring, mixing, etc and seems to be more willing to taste new foods and foreign textures because she is part of the process. Amy's mom recently reported that her two-year-old daughter is now pulling out her pots and pans and pretending to cook on her own!
Over the last two weeks we made Whole Wheat Pancakes and Cinnamon Banana Muffins during our therapy sessions. Both were a big success! We started with the pancakes because she has eaten them before and I wanted to start with something with which she was familiar. It went so well that I decided to step outside the box the following week and try a new food that she has not eaten - muffins! Amy has eaten mashed bananas and loves cinnamon, so I chose muffins that included these items; therefore we used ingredients she was familiar with to build on her repertoire. Whenever I have done feeding therapy in the past, starting with what is recognizable and favored and then expanding on that has been a very successful technique and seems to help the child feel safe enough to taste the new food.
When we made both the pancakes and the muffins, Amy loved adding in each ingredient and stirring everything together. She enjoyed watching the pancakes bubble and harden into solid disks. She was also amazed by how the muffins grew in the oven and changed shape. Amy, her mom, her nurse and I all enjoyed devouring our creations afterward!
Eating WITH Amy is another technique that we have also incorporated daily and has proven to be been very successful. The family, the nurses and myself all model good eating behaviors and demonstrate how to bite, chew and swallow food. I believe this also helps Amy feel socially connected and engaged, which is also a key ingredient for successful feeding therapy!
My next post will highlight some step by step recipes you can incorporate into your therapy sessions! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
ENJOY and Happy Cooking!!