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Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

ASD food - school unhelpful attitude?

4 replies

Dairyqueenie · 27/04/2022 18:42

DS has ASD in a mainstream primary with an EHCP and is due to go on an overnight school camping trip in a few days time. We had a parents meeting about the trip today and we’re shown the menus that the children will get while at the camp. Unfortunately my DS has a very restricted diet of what he will tolerate eat - it’s more than food faddiness: he will get upset to the point of vomiting/ and has almost fainted on occasion when he’s pressured to try a food he doesn’t like. The alternative is he will go hungry and refuse to eat.. I don’t know if he would back down eventually and it seems cruel to test this out but I expect given the seriousness of his reaction he would not.

The menu does not have one thing on it that he will eat but we were told that under no circumstances can we provide alternative food for our children and that ‘all children will eat something when they are with their peers and hungry enough’. It would be absolutely wonderful if this was the case and my son magically tried something new on the trip BUT I know him and this has never happened before: never on a play date, never at a birthday party, never when eating with friends. I’m feeling anxious as his mood is really affected by hunger and he can have (understandable) meltdowns when he is starving. I want to talk to the school privately tomorrow about making an excel and allowing him to take a few foods he will eat with him but wanted reassurance I’m not being a snowflake. The foods would be things like sliced bread, microwave pasta with no sauce and fruit.

OP posts:
AReallyUsefulEngine · 27/04/2022 20:14

You are not being overprotective. I think the school saying parents shouldn’t send food is a general rule aimed at stopping parents sending lots of sweets, chocolate and crisps, and one would hope they would make reasonable adjustments for those with a disability.

Dairyqueenie · 27/04/2022 21:16

Thank you that’s reassuring- I will talk to them tomorrow and put my case across.

OP posts:
Ellie56 · 28/04/2022 20:51

I would be making it very clear that ‘all children will eat something when they are with their peers and hungry enough’ does not apply to children with autism.

Under the Equality Act 2010 your son is classed as having a disability and every school is required by law to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils. A reasonable adjustment here would be allowing him to take food he will eat.
Not making reasonable adjustments could be construed as disability discrimination.

www.ipsea.org.uk/what-is-disability-discrimination

www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/reasonable_adjustments_for_disabled_pupils_1.pdf

PathOfLeastResitance · 28/04/2022 22:23

I can see why they were heavy on the message of not sending food with the kids (allergies, too much sugar, mess in rooms, etc) but I’m sure that if you emailed them and explained, they would be receptive and accommodating. We would at my school. We have found that if we give any hint of accommodation to requests to the wider school community, we are inundated with requests and parents bending rules that have been put in place for good reason. In your circumstances, we would bend as much as your son needed us to.

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