Re: Possible SPAM: Re: Chips as reinforcers for ABA

September 19, 2005

Do you use digestive enzymes for your son? My daughter, too, put everything

in her mouth including non food items or licked things and grabbed others'

food until we started digestive enzymes several years ago. She also had

been very tiny and wasn't growing much. Once we started digestive enzymes

(this was way before gluten free or SCD diet) she mostly stopped these

behaviors and she started growing. Evidently, though she ate VERY well, she

was not assimilating well what she ate so stayed hungry, even for non

edibles. In our case, digestive enzymes were the answer.

About the only time now she licks her hands now is when they fell

numb and deep pressure on her hands will stop that.

Marilyn

daughter, age 20

autism and epilepsy

Possible SPAM: Re: Chips as reinforcers for ABA

> Hi, Liz.

>

> Our son, Dakota, went through similar issues. He navigates his world

> through his tastebuds--he licks windows, floors, hands, faces, etc. He

> would lick the table in the lunchroom trying to get crumbs from other

> kids'

> lunches, sneak swipes of their mashed potatoes, etc. Some of it was more

> to

> get a reaction from everyone and trying to interact rather than the

> desperate quest for illegals--which also definitely occurred.

>

> Anyway--for group ABA activities and general classroom snack times, we

> sent

> tons of homemade chips. By having Dakota have snacks that he loved, the

> staff became more accepting and understanding of the diet. There are

> recipes on www.pecanbread.com/recipes.htm . Zucchini, yellow squash,

> beets,

> carrots, all other squashes, pumpkin, etc. can be made into chips.

> Flavor/season to taste--salty, onion, garlic, sweet, or whatever--pumpkin

> and the orange squashes are very good as " apple " cinnamon crisps for those

> who can't eat dried fruit yet, and they are good as " honey mustard " flavor

> (olive oil, a little honey, and ground mustard seed whirled in the

> blender,

> marinate squash, sprinkle with salt, bake). Crackers and other crunchy

> food

> recipes can be found at www.scdrecipes.com . Dakota loves all of the

> Sue's

> cracker recipes (goat/sheep cheese substitute nicely or cheese can be

> omitted altogether), and the graham crackers are a huge hit--but anything

> crunchy made a huge difference for us AND the school. Dehydrators are a

> life saver--they make everything crunchy without the fear of

> over-baking/burning things up (which I did A LOT!).

>

> Finally, our speech therapist and OT were profoundly helpful--they

> scheduled

> a brief IEP meeting and explained (so I wouldn't have to) the situation.

> Fortunately (?), our school had a child with pica tendencies, and they

> implemented the same protocols that they used for pica--constant

> monitoring

> (a staff member sitting beside Dakota whenever food was present),

> recording

> any suspected illegal ingestion via licking, etc., and there was either a

> Swiffer or a Dust-Vac kept in the rooms that Dakota was in and where food

> consumed. I am a huge advocate of getting SCD protocols into IEPs in

> order

> to give the parents/guardians recourse if noncompliance becomes an issue.

> Also, most people are more compliant if things are in writing and signed.

> But the meeting at least gave us a chance to explain the diet and to try

> to

> figure out approaches to help the staff implement the diet in ways that

> were

> easier for them.

>

> BTW, we were video-taping a lot when we first implemented GF/CF, and it

> was

> amazing/scary to see how much Dakota was sneaking, his look of delight

> when

> he got away with a huge steal (once a whole pringles snack pack can and a

> bag of cheetos), and how he was able to sneak food under his shirt as a

> stash for later in the day. The staff truly did not know this, and they

> were doing adequate monitoring, but snack time/food reward time is so

> often

> a break for everyone (including the teachers), and guards are let down.

> This just shows that early on (and for some kids never) that food times

> are

> when the most monitoring may be needed.

>

> whole family SCD 2 years

> Mom to Dakota (8--NF, BWS, CDD, and seizures)

> and (5--happy, healthy, supportive little brother)

>

> For information on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, please read the book

> _Breaking the Vicious Cycle_ by Elaine Gottschall and read the following

> websites:

> http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

> and

> http://www.pecanbread.com

>

September 19, 2005

,

Have you tried digestive enzymes for your son yet? My daughter, too, put

everything

in her mouth including non food items or licked things and grabbed others'

food until we started digestive enzymes several years ago. She also had

been very tiny and wasn't growing much. Once we started digestive enzymes

(this was way before gluten free or SCD diet) she mostly stopped these

behaviors and she started growing. Evidently, though she ate VERY well, she

was not assimilating well what she ate so stayed hungry, even for non

edibles. In our case, digestive enzymes were the answer.

About the only time now she licks her hands now is when they fell

numb and deep pressure on her hands will stop that.

Marilyn

daughter, age 20

autism and epilepsy

Possible SPAM: Re: Chips as reinforcers for ABA

> Hi, Liz.

>

> Our son, Dakota, went through similar issues. He navigates his world

> through his tastebuds--he licks windows, floors, hands, faces, etc. He

> would lick the table in the lunchroom trying to get crumbs from other

> kids'

> lunches, sneak swipes of their mashed potatoes, etc. Some of it was more

> to

> get a reaction from everyone and trying to interact rather than the

> desperate quest for illegals--which also definitely occurred.

>

> Anyway--for group ABA activities and general classroom snack times, we

> sent

> tons of homemade chips. By having Dakota have snacks that he loved, the

> staff became more accepting and understanding of the diet. There are

> recipes on www.pecanbread.com/recipes.htm . Zucchini, yellow squash,

> beets,

> carrots, all other squashes, pumpkin, etc. can be made into chips.

> Flavor/season to taste--salty, onion, garlic, sweet, or whatever--pumpkin

> and the orange squashes are very good as " apple " cinnamon crisps for those

> who can't eat dried fruit yet, and they are good as " honey mustard " flavor

> (olive oil, a little honey, and ground mustard seed whirled in the

> blender,

> marinate squash, sprinkle with salt, bake). Crackers and other crunchy

> food

> recipes can be found at www.scdrecipes.com . Dakota loves all of the

> Sue's

> cracker recipes (goat/sheep cheese substitute nicely or cheese can be

> omitted altogether), and the graham crackers are a huge hit--but anything

> crunchy made a huge difference for us AND the school. Dehydrators are a

> life saver--they make everything crunchy without the fear of

> over-baking/burning things up (which I did A LOT!).

>

> Finally, our speech therapist and OT were profoundly helpful--they

> scheduled

> a brief IEP meeting and explained (so I wouldn't have to) the situation.

> Fortunately (?), our school had a child with pica tendencies, and they

> implemented the same protocols that they used for pica--constant

> monitoring

> (a staff member sitting beside Dakota whenever food was present),

> recording

> any suspected illegal ingestion via licking, etc., and there was either a

> Swiffer or a Dust-Vac kept in the rooms that Dakota was in and where food

> consumed. I am a huge advocate of getting SCD protocols into IEPs in

> order

> to give the parents/guardians recourse if noncompliance becomes an issue.

> Also, most people are more compliant if things are in writing and signed.

> But the meeting at least gave us a chance to explain the diet and to try

> to

> figure out approaches to help the staff implement the diet in ways that

> were

> easier for them.

>

> BTW, we were video-taping a lot when we first implemented GF/CF, and it

> was

> amazing/scary to see how much Dakota was sneaking, his look of delight

> when

> he got away with a huge steal (once a whole pringles snack pack can and a

> bag of cheetos), and how he was able to sneak food under his shirt as a

> stash for later in the day. The staff truly did not know this, and they

> were doing adequate monitoring, but snack time/food reward time is so

> often

> a break for everyone (including the teachers), and guards are let down.

> This just shows that early on (and for some kids never) that food times

> are

> when the most monitoring may be needed.

>

> whole family SCD 2 years

> Mom to Dakota (8--NF, BWS, CDD, and seizures)

> and (5--happy, healthy, supportive little brother)

>

> For information on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, please read the book

> _Breaking the Vicious Cycle_ by Elaine Gottschall and read the following

> websites:

> http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

> and

> http://www.pecanbread.com

>

September 20, 2005

We never did ABA (we did Institute for Human Potential when she was young),

but I reward Kim and highly recommend rewarding autistic or any children for

that manner with things other than just food. Find out what the child

likes and reward him/her with that, at an age-appropriate level. For

example, if a child is 5 and loves horses, reward with horse stickers.

However, if that child is a pre-teen or older then maybe he or she would not

be motivated by stickers and would prefer little horse figures he/she could

collect. My older daughter is motivated by an opportunity to read (or be

read to), getting her fingernails painted, going shopping, jewelry, chatting

with friends, etc.--things that normal girls her age like. It used to drive

me (and her) nuts when she had speech therapists in school whose whole

lesson was on what snack she wanted. Just because someone cannot speak,

does not mean he/she cannot think or has nothing to say!!!!!

Marilyn

daughter 20

Epilepsy and autism

Possible SPAM: Re: Chips as reinforcers for ABA

>

>> Hi, Marilyn,

>>

>> Thanks for your response. We have tried different enzymes on several

>> occassions without success and increased seizure activity. But, which do

>> you

>> use? They did wonders for others in our family, esp. my husband whose

>> stomach perforated twenty years ago.

>>

>

> Could you give a non food reward for ABA? ( Small toy, gold stars or

> stickers etc.?)

>

> Carol F.

>

> SCD 5 years, celiac

>

> For information on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, please read the book

> _Breaking the Vicious Cycle_ by Elaine Gottschall and read the following

> websites:

> http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

> and

> http://www.pecanbread.com

>

September 20, 2005