Autism assessment - worried about how he eats

[Eyelashwishes]

My 3 year old son started at preschool in April. Since he was a baby he has stimmed when excited or upset and never grew out of it, so we always had suspicions. Ever since starting pre school we've been having conversations back and forth with his teacher. On Friday we decided to get him referred to have an assessment for autism because he really struggles to be separated from me and also gets very intensely upset over certain things.

Anyway the point of the post is that he used to eat literally every single thing I put down for him, he wasn't fussy at all. When he got to about 2 and a half, the foods he's eat started to get less and less. She started to refuse dinner every night unless it was pizza, sausages, burgers, chicken nuggets, chips or fish fingers. I never cook something else instead of what I've offered, so it's not out of habit. I know food issues and autism can be linked. He will point blank not eat anything in a sauce, eg pasta with a sauce or a curry with rice like he used to. He literally will not even try it. He's very reluctant to try anything new and will not touch vegetables. He's pretty good with most fruits but I have noticed recently he's also started to pick at them and refuse certain ones that he always used to eat no problem. I never pressure or bribe or really comment about what he eats or doesn't - just silently worry to myself about it 🤣😅

I'm starting to worry he will end up with an extremely limited amount of foods. Can anyone give me some advice on what to do/how to handle this?

Not forcing DS to eat is the right thing to do. Keep offering the safe foods DS will eat. Will he also take a multivitamin?

Have a look at ARFID. You could request a referral to dietetics or a specialist ARFID service.

Does DS have other sensory difficulties? How is he with sensory play?

Ok well that's good to know at least I'm not doing something terribly wrong 😅 yes he will happily take a multivitamin. Thank you I will look into that. He does but they're very specific - HAS to have socks on at night time, point blank refuses an apron for any kind of water or messy play (he LOVES water play so so much, but he would rather not do it than wear an apron), he goes into complete meltdown if a fly is anywhere near him, loud sounds and things like that paralyse him with fear etc. But he doesn't really mind getting his hands dirty, happily will play in water, mud, sand, with play dough etc.

It isn’t that unusual for DC to have sensory processing difficulties with particular elements of sensory processing, but not others. You might find the books The Out of Sync Child and Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight helpful. Also this booklet.

Not all areas commission sensory OT, but if your area does, it is worth a referral to them too.

Brilliant, thank you so much. This is all new to me so am diving into any bit of info I possibly can - will add those to my reading list.

Some people find food chaining helpful. For example, if DS will eat pizza, will he eat a different brand of pizza, homemade pizza, different toppings? If DS will eat sausages, will he eat a different brand or chicken sausages? If he will eat chicken nuggets and fish fingers, will DS eat chicken fingers or fish bites?

Ok thank you that's interesting. He will eat different brands of pizza, have tried homemade and he took one bite and then didn't have anymore but at least he tried it. When I put a pasta dish down for example, he won't even think about trying it. Quite specific about fish fingers, will only eat them in rectangular fingers, not if they are bites. But chicken nuggets he is a little more flexible with but definitely prefers if they are battered than breaded.