Feeding Kids With Sensory Processing Disorder

Sensory processing disorder is a neurological condition that affects how stimuli is processed. Stimuli and sensory information include what you see, hear, taste, or touch. Sensory processing disorder can affect one or more of the senses. “SPD typically denotes an oversensitivity to stimuli that other people do not experience,” Jimmy White, MD, explained to Mom.com.

“A sensory processing disorder affects the usual reactions to eating. You’re more inclined to pay attention to how something sounds, tastes, or feels,” White continued. It can prevent a person from fully appreciating particular types of food as they're eating.

Unlike typical children who usually grow out of their picky ways, without intervention, kids with sensory processing disorder have a tendency to hold tight to their food preferences. Children with these kinds of feeding issues should be referred to an occupational therapist or feeding specialist, but in the meantime here are a few things parents can try to encourage a wider variety of foods at meals and snacktime.

Let your babies play with their food … and your toddlers and preschoolers, too
Young children learn so much about eating through all of their sensory systems. When they touch, squeeze, lick, smear, smell, throw, smoosh, and spit, they are learning about eating and about themselves. Let them make a mess. Get a mat if it drives you crazy. Or, better yet, a labrador retriever.

Engage your older child in food play, too
Paint with yogurt, make a train out of crackers, stack cheese slices.Incorporating food into no-pressure play time will expose your child to textures and smells without the challenge of eating.

Take things slow
Actually chewing and swallowing food is at the top of the ladder, and some children need to start at the bottom and climb every rung. If your child won’t even touch a food item, start with her allowing it to be on her plate (or even on the table). Work up to touch, then to kissing it (a nonthreatening way to taste a new food item) and eventually to eating it.

Let them graze
Three squares a day might work for you and me, but most children need smaller, more frequent meals — at least three meals and two snacks. Don’t let a need for routine cause a missed opportunity for trying a new food.

Don’t count out junk food
This might be a controversial suggestion. If you’ve read the book Salt, Sugar, Fat, then you know that there is a science to those junky snacks we all love to hate. They are loaded with the perfect combination of salt, sugar, and fat, and are usually a wonderful sensory experience. Sometimes they are the only first food that a poor eater will try and that’s OK. Stressing that some foods are good and some are bad is only going to add to a child’s feeding difficulties.

Consider a divided plate
Eating is challenging enough without mixing foods together, so those plastic divided plates are a cheap and easy solution. Try serving two foods your child will eat and two that are a challenge at mealtimes.

If your child has sensory processing disorder and refuses to eat most foods (and they are beyond a picky eater), you should ask your doctor for a recommendation to an occupational therapist. The occupational therapist will work with your child to help them process the stimuli and get through a meal with as few problems as possible.

Sarah Joseph’s journey with SPD started with her son being sensitive to wearing certain clothes. He felt they were too scratchy. “Then it progressed to bigger issues, like not being able to eat certain foods because the textures bothered him,” she told Mom.com. Not only did she talk to doctors about the condition, she joined a support group where she could learn from what other moms were doing.

She began to develop a plan that helped her child eat a more well-rounded diet. “It wasn’t easy, and there are still days when I feel like I’m failing," she said. "But I’ve learned that the best thing I can do is to keep educating myself and stay positive.”