Child not chewing food

[MamaBearTeacher]

Sometimes my special needs son just swallows his food.  This includes shelled pumpkin seeds, corn, grape tomatoes.  Will this hurt him on the inside?  Will he lose the nutritional value?  

[maize]

Things like seeds will pass right through, softer foods may partially digest but yeah, nutritional value will be diminished.

[MamaBearTeacher]

When they pass through, do they hurt, especially the pumpkin seeds?

[Jennifer132]

I would be more concerned about choking than nutritional value....my dd with special needs also has a difficult time remembering to chew.

[redsquirrel]

Is he working with an OT or a SLP to help with that?  There are eating therapies that can be very useful.  My younger son has oral motor difficulties and had to be taught to chew, but he was about 2-3 years old. To this day  he is more prone to bite his tongue than most people. But choking was the biggest concern. It took some time but he did get better and now it's no longer an issue. And it was just a motor issue, not a more global one. But if your son is getting any services you might be able to get some help for this.

[MamaBearTeacher]

He is not chewing these smaller items because he eats so quickly.

[TechWife]

An SLP can help with this - the child may need a swallow study and help learning how to chew and swallow. It is a choking hazard - one that needs to be addressed ASAP. 

 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

aspiration pneumonia---it's scary---I also agree that this needs to be addressed.  In the meantime, I would not give foods (like sunflower seeds) that he could easily aspirate on.  (About 10% of deaths annually happen from choking or aspiration pneumonia.)

 

Think about it--would you give a toddler whole grape tomatoes?  No, because they don't move the food around their mouth appropriately.  There should be chewing, moving the bolus to the back of the mouth, and swallowing. Any type of particle foods--seeds, nuts, popcorn---avoid those.

 

Dysphagia is kind of ignored in the autism world because there are often bigger issues to cope with, but I think habitual swallowing disorders should be addressed---particularly with the less/nonverbal populations who cannot easily articulate discomfort.

 

We worked with a SL-P....it took only a few sessions to sort things out and to change the menu plan.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

He is not chewing these smaller items because he eats so quickly.

Part of my son's plan from the feeding clinic included cutting his food and only giving a bite at a time to discourage the shoveling and huge bites.