HOW TO ENHANCE COOKING SKILLS FOR YOUR CHILD WITH AUTISM

Additional time at home means additional time in the kitchen to
improve your abilities and come out better as a cook. Everybody
youngsters and old can enjoy a handy collection of basic cooking
skills with little practice. Cooking can be loads of fun to do with
your kids. It’s a fantastic approach to instill independence in your
child and allow them some influence over their nutrition.

It can be little challenging for children with Autism to obtain this
skills. Food sensitivity and sensory challenges can affect the
eating behaviors. Children with Autism are very specific with
tastes, smells, and the presentation of their food. Encouraging
these kids to develop cooking skills will not only benefit their
health but also helps them to build confidence and become more
independent in their life.

• Cooking with your child can be a lot of fun and an
  opportunity for creativity.
• Choose dishes that your child loves to eat.
  Making the dish that your child wants to eat can
  attract them and hold their attention and gain their
  interest in cooking.
• If they don’t want to eat what they are cooking they
  won’t be as interested in the activity.

Start with the Basics:

• Start by teaching basic technique such as cutting and
  mixing before moving onto the bigger tasks like
  following a recipe.
• For cutting practice start with easy to cut food that
  your child likes to eat.
• Tell your child to follow you step by step, this will help
  them with movement and pressure issues.
• Having a fun and relaxed atmosphere is the most
  effective way to teach cooking skills for children with
  Autism.

Appropriate Age Recipes:

• After knowing what your child wants to eat make sure
  you pick the recipes that are age appropriate for
  them.
• Since they have not yet learned how to use a stove
  they should stick to recipes which exclude the use of
  stove.
• Depending on their ability tell them to do simple task
  like mixing the vegetables, scrambling eggs or mixing
  dough.
• Give your child task that play to their strength. For
  instance, if your child is skilled at measuring, start
  giving them that task.
• Gaining confidence and mastering the simpler tasks
  will make it much more enjoyable to complete the
  harder tasks.

Keep It Simple:

• Explain the recipe in terms your child can grasp.
• To avoid confusion, the text should be clear and
  concise without using any complicated language.
• Visual images will allow your child to follow along with
  you as you are giving them instructions on how to
  cook in the kitchen.
• Visuals are a good way to help children follow step-
  by-step directions
• To prevent your child from becoming lost along the
  way, it is a good idea to ask questions.
• However, a lot of individuals with Autism are good
  visual learners. So, create a recipe that includes
  images.

Make it Fun:

• Prior to starting the actual cooking, it is important to spend some time clarifying basic vocabulary.
• If your child is familiar with the ingredients being used, it will be much simpler for them to understand the instructions.
• You can also expose the child to different textures in play situations, with things like Magic Sand or slime.

Explain the importance of hygiene:

• You should discuss the significance of hygiene and food safety procedures with your child.
• Allow your child to wear food-safe gloves if they are uncomfortable touching foods with different textures.
• Your child will be more likely to adopt these healthy behaviors if you model them for them.
• Demonstrate hand-washing schedule to your child and make them practice good hand-washing side-by-side with you before handling any food.