School Lunch Time

[mum0fthree]

DS 7 (ASD) is having problems at lunch time. He has lots of sensory problems smell etc. At home if someone burps this makes him heave and retch. This week in school he has thrown up at the dinner table because the person facing him was eating with their mouth open. Every day since he has not eaten his packed lunch because he has lost his appetite due to having to sit across from someone eating their lunch.

They get no choice in were they sit. I am not sure what to do, school will most probably think I am crazy if I request that he sit at a table alone.

WWYD?

DS used to have a lot of sensory issues (hes not ASD though). When he started at school (Special school) he was entirely tube fed. At home he'd sit with us while we ate, no problems, but at school he really struggled at lunch times, including usually being sick. We weren't given the option of him being withdrawn - the class had to sit together. However they came up with a way to help. He had his own little table adjacent to the class table - initially it was put so that he could look out of the window (and as he wasn't eating he'd have a book or puzzle to do). It was also positioned so that it was near the teacher and with an easy escape route. Gradually it was turned to face the others and moved nearer so that he was eventually sitting with the class.

So I would say talk to the school. I'm sure they would rather work with you on this than having him throwing up at the lunch table!

Does the school have a lunch club he can go to?
Our school has a lunchtime nurture club which is fantastic.
It may well be worth talking to the Headteacher.

My Dd3 really struggled with everything about the dinner hall when she first started school, she was vommiting almost daily at first.

The HT put a table outside the hall near the doors and put a couple of other children on there with her. They gradually moved the table into the doorway and eventually after about a term she actually started going in the hall.

She never really liked it but she could cope.

Now that she has moved schools she never has to go in the dinner hall so she has gone back to avoiding it.

I would definatly[sp] talk to you HT or SENCO.

Good luck.