The Great Leap Forward...

[signandsmile]

I just wondered if anyone else's dc makes progress in jumps? ds was always very 'clear' about what he would eat and what he wouldn't. (luckily he wasn't as strict about it as lots of kids with ASD)

Suddenly, (and it's nothing I have done, I am sure) he has decided that trying things is ok, and thus has more than doubled the different foods he eats in less than 6 weeks... It is like someone has flipped a switch.

Does anyone else have the same experience? (and is it likely to continue??)

That is brilliant news sign. How old is your DS??

My DS is extremely restrictive and we are down to 4 foods :( (although I have a feeling it is more about control than sensory issues.) I hope I can have the same experience as you have had.

DS2 always seemed to develop in great leaps and long plateaus. The leaps were fantastic, the plateaus less so! Now he's 12 he just seems to be pootling along nicely. His secondary transition was an unexpected breeze, so maybe that was a leap of sorts.

Brilliant! :)

DS loves food and always has done but for some reason he is now cutting out foods slowly that he had no problem with before which is odd. Thankfully he is still a veg lover!

Brilliant sign, keep smiling :)

DS recently ate mackerel on toast one morning and beans on toast the next he is eating very good variety of foods, mostly protein based and gf but still beans ...!

I know the beans on toast must be from reading jack and the beanstalk at school

Fantastic Sign!

and yes, ds1 tends to make sudden developmental leaps that leave us all but .

He can go ages with every day feeling like groundhog day, then all of a sudden he'll start doing something really surprising. I have used exactly that phrase 'like someone has flipped a switch' several times over the past few years.

This week he has suddenly started using jottings and asking for help in maths. Which is massive, as refusing to do it was really starting to hold him back, particularly with longer, more complex problems. His teacher is over the moon, as he was so resistant that its something we genuinely thought he'd never do, let alone try of his own volition.

None of us have a clue why now, nothing has changed, we having been pushing him harder on it - the only thing we can think of is that long-term, consistent work trying to get him to understand why he needs to do it has finally paid off. In truth though, I think he's just made some sort of developmental leap that has enabled him to understand 'why' he needs to do it.

What's even stranger is that he's had a really bad week in a lot of other ways and isn't really coping emotionally at the moment, so a leap forward in any area just at this point in time was even more unexpected.

Thanks guys that's really useful. I like the idea of leaps and plateaus, that makes sense, and that a developmental leap has given him the understanding that it might be ok to try, almost that trying it is possible IYSWIM..

well done mooseling for the huge step forward!

bee he is 5, (ASD and mild to mod LD) he loves fruit and used to eat most things, then really cut down probably 2 yrs ago, but now things that haven't been ok for 2 years are suddenly ok again.. Hope things improve for your ds...

Yes, absolutely.

Great news