How do I get DS 6 to try different foods?

[MyCatIsABiggerBastardThanYours]

My DS has a pretty limited palate. He will eat potatoes in any form, sausages, chicken (normal and nuggets) and virtually anything sweet (cakes, sweets, ice cream, chocolate) and some fruit ( apples and oranges mainly) but I just cannot get him to try much else.

I would just like for him to try foods like shepherds pie or pasta or maybe even some veg! But it is a real struggle.

By way of background, he had severe speech delay with phonic problems but is now greatly improved. I understand that children with this problem can sometimes have food texture issues so I've not pushed it too much, but I do feel now that we need to start at least getting him to try things. He has no other developmental problems.

Are there any good books out there you can recommend or does anyone have any advice? Should I leave it til he is a bit older?

There will be more useful people along, but I got a lot of fruit and veg and bits down DS (Asperger's) by giving him a bowlful whilst he was doing something else, watching a DVD for example. He'd eat absent-mindedly with his total focus elsewhere.
Then I'd put some of the same stuff in a sit down meal and point out that he'd eaten it before. he knew the taste and texture. I'd also pick a time when he was hungry, rather than just a bit peckish.
He's still unable to deal with certain flavours and textures, but his general diet is much broader.

Thanks Hag, will give it a go but he is pretty on the money and would probably unhelpfully notice. I dare say he'd eat a carrot if it was covered in chocolate!

I'd put a teaspoon ful on his plate of whatever you're eating. Let it go untouched for a while but slowly start to encourage him to smell it/ lick it/eventually eat it.

If that works you can increase the amounts. I had one fussy eater; he's 10 now and will generally eat most things (bit weird about tomatoey stuff) and at one stage he had half and half meals! But we cracked it. We also used bribery. Those shitty milky bar puddings but worked

DD is the same way. I've just repeated endlessly that it's good to try new things just in case they're lovely. She has accepted that now as she has realised that it's true, sometimes new things are worth the risk!

Also we've told her that as she gets bigger and learns more new things, her tastebuds do too, so by trying new things she's teaching her tastebuds and making them more grown up. That has the added advantage that we can get her to try things she didn't like before, just in case her tastebuds have grown up enough to like them. She likes that approach.

I watched a program the other night where they did a sticker chart and the child chose what they wanted to try each time and then got a sticker if they ate at least 2 mouthfuls - it seems to work really well

Thankyou all. Some things here I shall definitely try. I'm more than happy to try bribery and I think he would respond well to choosing what he tries.