Autism>Eating Behaviours & Autism 
Eating Behaviours and Autism
The Primacy of the Relation between Food and Communication
- Many autistic children display unusual/ odd eating behaviours or eating-disturbances.
- Autistic children also have difficulties in using spoken language for communication.
- Both eating and speaking involve the mouth.
The Early Feeding Experience
- characterised by 'early reciprocity' (Brazelton 1974) or 'primary intersubjectivity' (Trevarthen 1977)
- dialogic turn-taking structure of burst-pause patterns during breast-feeding (Kaye 1977)
- prototype of experience of discomfort being changed into comfort through relationship with mother
- elements: food, warmth, empathy, physical and emotional containment
- weaning is an issue of mental development and interpersonal relationships
Unusual Eating Behaviours 
- smearing, crumbling, … and other sensuous 'playing' with food
- stuffing mouth full and holding food for long periods of time without swallowing
- refusing to bite/ chew food, but biting everything except food, i.e. toys, books, etc.)
- refusing lumps and anything other than baby-food texture
- insisting on drinking all the time or drinking instead of eating
- throwing and discarding food
- eating non-foods or food off the floor
- non-eating eating = 'allows food to be taken in in an affectless way' (Stroh 1977, 1986) or as a non- or anti-mental activity
What are the functions of + reasons for the unusual eating behaviours?
- enjoying sensuous unmentalised experience, and letting their mind fall apart
- afraid of/ not wanting anything new/ different to enter body/ mouth/ inside
- afraid of teeth and biting/ being bitten
- dismantling mental experience, letting mind fall apart
- not wanting to give adult the satisfaction
- fundamental conflict between the basic need to eat and communicate and the fear of doing so
Elements of the Eating Situation 
- The Child
Body: sitting, standing, wandering
Mouth: mouth-cavity, teeth, tongue, saliva, vocalisation, speech
Eyes:
Mind:
Hands: palm, fingers
Emotions: fears, pleasure, aggression, ambivalence, motivation, disgust, greed
Behaviour: smearing, spitting, throwing, grabbing, pushing plate away…
- The Food
- The Environment
The Eating Situation
The Child |
Body |
Where does the child 'put him/herself' when eating? |
| |
Where does the child eat? |
| |
Does the child sit down for eating? |
| |
Will he only eat wandering around? |
| |
How does the child use tools (fork, spoon, knife)? |
| |
How does child hold their body, move? |
Mouth |
How does the child use their mouth in and outside of the eating situation? |
| |
Does it involve putting different parts of the mouth together? |
| |
e.g. sucking, stuffing, holding food |
| Teeth |
biting, chewing, nibbling, crunching…. |
| Tongue |
licking, tasting… |
| Saliva |
playing with saliva inside or outside the mouth, covering food with saliva |
| Vocalisation |
e.g. vowels, consonants, syllables, melodies, words… |
| Speech |
e.g. in response to being spoken to, to request something |
Eyes |
How does the child use their eyes? |
| |
e.g. glazed, watchful, vacant, anxious, inspecting… |
Mind |
How does the child use their mind? |
| |
e.g. cut-off, withdrawn, engaged with food or environment, connected, curious, interested, keen, bored, disinterested, disengaged, negative, resistant, aware, enjoying, vacant, defensive, apathetic, passive… |
| |
- motivation, concentration, attention, learning, cooperation… |
| |
- aware of expectations, self-discipline, taking some responsibility |
| |
- making choices, trying to do 'it' well |
| |
- engaged in patterns, e.g. eating food in a particular order, only eating |
| |
crunchy/ wet/ dry/ starchy foods, foods mustn't touch, eating only the inside, always the outside first |
| |
- does child sometimes have ideas, try different things with food, show imagination? |
| |
- does child play 'symbolically' with food? Will he feed a doll/ teddy? Like food aces or representing something? |
Hands |
How does the child use their hands? |
| |
e.g. hand-eye-coordination, using tools, using 1 or 2 hands, holding plate/cup, floppy, grabbing |
| Fingers |
poking, pulling bits off, pincer-grip, picking up, touching |
Emotions |
e.g. emotionally aware, engaged, cut-off, anxious, greedy |
| |
Will child respond to someone's disgust, pleasure, … |
| |
Will child 'feed' an adult? |
| |
fears: of colour red, of… |
| |
How does child deal with conflict, aggression, ambivalent feelings? |
Behaviour |
How does the child behave around and treat food? |
| |
e.g. smearing, spitting, throwing, grabbing, pushing plate away, clamping mouth shut, stuffing, not swallowing, not chewing, eating until sick, vomiting, 'stealing' off other's plates… |
| The Food |
| What does the child eat? |
Texture, temperature, consistency, juicy, starchy, taste, colour, appearance… |
| |
Does the child prefer eating or drinking? |
| |
New and unknown foods, soft and hard foods |
| When does the child eat? |
Are there set mealtimes? |
| |
Does the child want to eat all the time/ not at all? |
| |
Does child want to 'feed' all the time? |
| How does the child eat? |
e.g.: using teeth, chewing, sucking, arrangement on the plate, playing with food, … |
| |
- interested in mixing, combining, keeping separate, getting foods to meet, or not … |
The Environment |
| noise |
|
| social |
cooperation, willingness to share, turn-taking |
| |
interest in choices/ preferences of other people, watching others eat |
| |
self-conscious, e.g. feeling bad when told off, guilty, shame… |
| relationships |
between child and feeder |
| |
with parent: worried, anxious, pushy, force-feeding, |
| |
of parent with food and eating |
| |
between parent and child |
| |
between parents about food and eating |
| |
with/ to other children |
| play/ symbolic play with food/ on plate/ … |
|
