2005 March
News Points
Fun World, Mapplewell, Sat 19th March 2005, 4:30 to 6:00pmFollowing the success of our last event hear, we have booked another exclusive use session at Fun World in Mapplewell for BAPG. It's open to all the children of BAPG parents and their friends. The cost is only £2.50 per child and includes a drink. Please note that parents remain responsible for the children they bring, i.e. BAPG is not able to provide child carers. It's a great chance for the kids to meet each other and have some fun, and an opportunity for the parents to chat. (Please note that the normal height restrictions don't apply for this private event).
Logo Competition Winners
Well done to all the kids who took take part in the BAPG Logo Competition. Clearly a lot of hard work and some excellent imagination went into the pictures. Each entrant received an edible prize (courtesy of Wm Morrisons). The entries were judged independently and the winning one chosen was by Aidan Waller. Congratulations Aidan! You will receive a WHSmiths voucher to use as you wish very soon.
We aim to convert the picture into a logo we can use on letters and the website. Many thanks for Wm Morrisons for donating their prizes.
Guest Speakers Priorities
Many thanks to those of you who sent back your views on priorities for future guest speakers. The preferences were as follows (most popular first):
Benefits - financial support is available to families of Aspergers children
Medicines - their place in dealing with Aspergers
Speech and Language Therapist - developing specific skills and communication
Paediatrician - on problems sometimes related to AS e.g. digestive or sleep
Coping with Behaviour / Anger Management
Jessica Kingsley Publishing - book fair
NAS Earlybird and Earlybird Plus
Education person for SEN / Inclusion or Behaviour Support
Befrienders
Respite Care
We will now try to book these accordingly. If at any time you have a idea for a speaker, or you perhaps have a contact who might be appropriate, then please let us know. Back to top
Help! BAPG needs you!
Please see the attached sheet about the help that BAPG needs to continue and hopefully expand the support it can provide to parents. Please consider if you could volunteer for one of the tasks. Back to topParents Meeting on 16th February 2005
The Guest Speaker this month was Sarah Adam, Paediatric Dietician at Barnsley District and General Hospital. The main part of Sara'a talk was to report on a conference she attended recently, 'Feeding Problems in Children on the Autistic Spectrum'. This set the particular problems of ASD children in the context of more general principles of appetite and food acceptance. Paper copies of her slides can be provided from the Steering group on request. However, the main points were as follows:Problems with mealtimes are very common (90%) in children with ASD. These problems are frequently involve a restricted repertoire of foods.
ASD children may eat only a few foods (e.g. 5-10); specific brands; importance of the physical characteristics of accepted foods: taste, texture, degree of cooking; disgust at smell of non-accepted foods; extreme anxiety if asked to eat non-accepted foods.
Research suggests that this is not 'attention seeking', is not predicted by parenting style, is not realted to bad experiences (e.g. choking).
What does not work: hiding or disguising food (may lose a preferred food); force feeding or withholding food; insisting on healthy diet; star charts or rewards, or; imitating other children.
What might work: relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety and fear; encourage grouping foods to 'spread the sets'; allow preferred foods to maintain weight; introduce new foods gradually; expand the range by introducing new foods from the accepted categories; allow the child to choose the new food; offer small portions frequently; allow child to desensitise to smell/taste of new food.
Our aim as parents might be to take the pressure off, try to reduce the kid's anxiety, and play a long game of introducing and encouranging acceptance of foods.
Multivitamin tablets won't interfere with the body's natural mechanisms (appetite and compensation), but may help the child with a restrictive diet, and will take the pressure off (us).
In summary: there is a paucity of clinical information about eating practices in autism; more research is needed; and treatment issues are about re-thinking the problem.
"It is like being in a restaurant like when Father takes me out to a Bernie Inn sometimes and you look at the menu and you have to choose what you are going to have. But you don't know if you are going to like something because you haven't tasted it yet, so you have favourite foods and you choose these, and you have foods you don't like and you don't choose these, and then it is simple."
Haddon, M (2003) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Back to top