Come Sit at the Table

Autistic people often demonstrate a limited repertoire of preferred foods due to sensory feeding challenges and co-morbid conditions. Playful sensory-based exploration of less familiar foods is a powerful therapeutic strategy that allows for expansion of dietary repertoires. Group therapy is an effective way to treat a variety of speech, language, and feeding goals within the autistic population. Through these playful, child-centered interactions, we can support our students in expanding their diets while simultaneously building upon their language skills within the context of meaningful relationships. This presentation provides concrete examples of how to embed feeding therapy within a variety of therapeutic contexts, including sensory exploration, structured recipes, and mealtime.