A Little Chaos Theory

One of the “side effects” of autism that Breydon has is Picky Eater Syndrome. In fact, there was a point in his life where the only things that he would eat were Nutragrain bars (fortunately generics were okay), canned mandarin oranges, and crisby chicken nuggets. If we gave him something that was not on his approved list, he wouldn’t eat it – in fact, he’s the only child I know who voluntarily refused to eat cake for his first three birthdays. Unlike most kids who will eventually get hungry enough that they’ll try the other things that show up on their plates, if he didn’t want what was served Breydon could go days without food. Since he was already diagnosed with Failure to Thrive we found ourselves picking other battles.

Despite the frequent suspicion that my son was going to turn into a chicken nugget, we muddled along the best we could. The summer after he turned four gave us our first glimmer of hope when Breydon grabbed a rib covered in barbecue sauce off Scott’s plate, ate it, and demanded another. Over time he first accepted other meats, followed by corn-on-the-cob and undressed salad, peanut-butter and cinnamon toast (his personal creation and still a favorite) and desserts. But no matter what, he would not touch any Italian foods other than pizza – which absolutely horrified my Sicilian husband.

Recently the boys discovered the joys of On Demand television and  Activity TV immediately become a huge favorite. At first I had to explain to them that when exercise shows are on participation in said exercise is expected, but once that hurdle was crossed we were doing fine. And then Breydon discovered that Activity TV not only has exercise and craft programs, but cooking shows. Cooking shows which use SPICES.

Suddenly a switch has flipped. As long as he gets to help cook, Breydon is willing to eat just about anything. Pasta, formerly the most evil food ever invented, is yummy when sprinkled with a bit of paprika. Rice is great if doctored with rosemary and thyme. Even tomato sauce is okay because it needs basil and oregano. Our once picky eater tries new foods without much effort going into the process.

I wish we’d figured this out years ago.

Posted: Monday, June 30th, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
Categories: The World According to Breydon.
Tags: autism, Breydon, food, spices.
Subscribe to the comments feed if you like. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.