ABA for food

[Littlemisssunshine72]

Another ABA 'discussion'.
My DS is 7 with ASD and was diagnosed at 3. Since then I have done a lot of reading on different therapies,approaches,etc.
I also home educate my DS and have not used ABA directly (although I realise I have indirectly on all sorts of occasions) for academic purposes because I have managed to motivate him through his interests i.e. stuck pictures of 'disney planes' characters on word cards or made a toy story number line to name a couple. This way he has completed the task without requiring a reinforcer/reward.
However, food is the only area where I have not had any success.He has a very limited diet and eats the same foods everyday. In the past, I had hoped by being exposed to different foods he would build his tolerance levels up.Unfortunately, this has not happened. Therefore, we have started an ABA program for his food aversions. The consultant comes very highly recommended who has had a lot of success in the past with acquaintances whose children had similar food aversions.
We have only had a handful of sessions so far and I must admit it has been extremely stressful. I remember seeing the child on the TV program doing ABA for food issues and I always thought I wouldn't let my child get into that state but he is in that state every week and the only thing that keeps me going is thinking about the long term outcome and what the alternative could be.
My DS is a very anxious child and we have done so much work on reducing his anxieties and keeping him calm that I feel like I am going against everything we have worked towards by letting him get that worked up. He doesn't become aggressive, just very anxious, very desperate and pleads with me. I do understand that in order for results, there will have to be some element of stress as I realise to a certain degree this is learned behaviour that needs to be unlearnt.But I also believe that the underlying causes should be dealt with and my DS is extremely tactile defensive and has major sensory issues. He gagged when my partner just offered him some raisins.
He doesn't seem to cope well in the 'artificial' setting of having the food set out on the table and then being told to follow the set of instructions.Last week it took him 4 hours to put a crumb on his tongue.
But, I have recently started putting different food textures on trays and let him walk in it,put his hands in it, etc and this way he has licked and tried a couple of new foods. I don't doubt that this probably would not work for many foods but providing the opportunities in a 'fun' environment does seem to have a more positive effect.
Also, by the time my DS has put a crumb in his mouth, he has forgotten about any 'motivator'(last week a Tom and Jerry DVD) and the only motivator was for the consultant to leave.
I suppose I am 1) looking for reassurance to continue with the program as the results will make it worthwhile, 2) I have heard that ABA is not for everyone, so how do you know if it is not for your child without seeing it through?
I honestly feel when I see my DS in this much stress-if someone is being tortured, they will submit finally but then on the other hand, I liken it to moving to a foreign country where to begin with, you may not be able to tolerate the local food but after a couple of years, you wonder what all the fuss was about.
I know so many of you have had so much success with ABA but I guess I would just like to hear some food ABA related success stories.
Thank you if you have got to the end (lol), if nothing else, it has been therapeutic just writing it all down.

Bleugh, didn't like re-reading it though.

Ds's life has been transformed because ABA got him eating almost everything under the sun. We can now go out for the day as a family, on holiday, and generally do things we never believed we would ever do when he was terrifyingly rigid re food. I defy anyone to tell me he would have been happier eating a separate meal of crackers every evening.

And no restraint or cruelty involved!! Just fun for him and a lot of patience from us. Nothing remotely mystical either.

How would TEACCH have got my son eating?? No one asks these questions of the accepted methodology, but they demand incredibly high standards of ABA and its proponents. TEACCH probably would have said he was getting his nutritional requirements met so leave him to it. Which would have been a tragedy when he has his whole life ahead of him.

Do you know I've been thinking a lot about this thread you can probably tell I have no friends ! But on a serious note I'm not sure any therapy could change dd2 she is who she is a beautiful, glowing girl who has moderate autism and some level of learning difficulty . Of course I've asked for advice on here and in rl about biting and hitting and maybe I'm a lazy mum but I can't see how I could change dd2s concentration level or receptive language problems sorry for ramble

Zzzz you get exactly what I mean and being in a class of eight with a teacher and two trained tas had been fantastic for dd2 ,

Sisterchristina-PLEASE tell us how it was done! That is what I am asking. Thank you.

Exactly!!!!

Ok, I'll bite

oh bugger, after all that I forgot the attachment. hang on.

I have been reading this thread with interest and the part about never hearing real life stories about ABA has made me want to post. I have been using it for around 18months with dd who is 4.5. We see a consultant for 3hrs every couple of months who is great and helps with setting new targets, keeps track of dd progress using ABBLS & Vb mapp and showing me what to do etc. I do most of the day to day stuff myself, some times I go weeks without getting a chance to do any at all, we have a tutor who comes every so often to do sessions and give me a break or advice when needed. I have never been asked to or pressured to do a '40 hours a week with multiple tutors programme' Just given support in helping dd reach targets aimed at closing the gap with her peers and improving her life.

Sorry I'm rambling, real life example could be toilet training dd. at the very beginning I had a chart that I completed daily for a few weeks on when dd wet nappy, recording wet/dirty nappies and fluid consumption. This helped me work out when she was most likely to go. Then started sitting her on the toilet at these times until she used the toilet then she had her favourite thing (the iPad). I won't go on too much but like you say it's prob things that you do anyway but by taking the data and using it to help your teaching it's a very powerful tool. I continued to take data for a few months. Dd is still not 100% toilet trained as she won't tell me when she needs to go but by using this data I know when to try her, how long after she has a drink etc and she now successfully uses the toilet around 3 times per day without needing any reinforcement (reward) now.
I started ABA as I wanted to know how to teach dd things to help close the growing gap between her and her peers when nothing else I tried was working and it has definitely helped me do that, I could tell you lots more ways it has helped me do that but this post is huge already!

Didn't I explain how game-show boy ate his food?

I guess it can be hard as there are a variety of tools and they are used depending on the child's behaviours of avoidance and their motivations.

This child eventually nibbled a piece of grape because he was caught up in the 'momentum' and excitement of the game show. So it was 'Here we have contestant number 3, blah blah blah ooooh, he gets a cracker, will he do it YAY!!!!!!! And now for his second spin, oooh he gets a biscuit, the crowd wait with suspense to see YAY, and now he spins again, will he make a hat-trick and..........He DOES it!!! He nibbled a grape, and straight through to first prize which is half an hour on minecraft - Tune in tomorrow where we'll see if he can stay in the lead.

Here intrinsic motivation/reinforcement was used (game show theme), extrinsic motivation/reinforcement (minecraft) and momentum (he got into the swing of things where he cooperated with the concept and idea of the task and by winning when it was easy (pairing - ie finding enjoyment in complying) (the first two foods) and merely had to roll-over the whole thing to include the food he didn't like.

As you can see it is SO specific to the individual child and situation. But the generic terms like motivation, reinforcement, momentum, pairing, are the tools of ABA. It takes learning to understand the theory, and it takes understanding the theory to be able to apply it in the optimal way. And tbh, I'm only just starting to understand the complexities of the theory and the names and specifics of the tools myself so I may not be completely accurate here, but I am 'trying' to show how someone could write in great detail about what worked but it would be very likely to be completely irrelevant to your child.

I wouldn't do the above for mine. I would say 'Don't have to like it, just eat it'. Then he'd say 'how many mouthfuls?' and I'd say '6' and he'd eat 6. You're having a laff if I'm gonna be making a gameshow to get him to eat it all. But I would do that kind of thing, and have, for other things like debilitating dog fear, rain fear and hair cuts.

Sorry one more thing, one of the first things I learned when starting was the power of learning to imitate which seems obvious now but dd didn't instinctively do this as NT DC do. We practiced it intensively and took data to see when each imitation was mastered to move onto different or more complex ones. Now she can imitate anything and this has allowed me to teach her loads, for example I took her skiing last year and by getting her to copy me bending my knees and putting hands on my knees she could be taught to ski, I wouldn't have even been able to get her attention before then.

Like star said about the reinforcer, to begin with I used chocolate to teach DD to copy a simple imitation as I just couldn't get her attention long enough otherwise to teach anything, now she copies anything because she wants to without any 'material' reward

When ds was having an issue with food (very short lived) he was also obsessed with lollipops. We stuck 3 things on sticks with a 4th being an actual lollipop and he had to work towards that in order.

His aversion to food wasn't that bad though so we didn't have to do anything more elaborate. However, one of the things we did do was tackle it as soon as it presented. It is harder for a child who has had years of successfully refusing a food to come round to accepting it.