Why Should Autistic Children Learn Meal Preparation Skills?

Cooking with children is a fun way to get them involved in an essential life skill that everyone needs to gain to live independently. In addition to learning how to prepare themselves food, cooking allows children to explore different textures, learn the dangers of heat, how to use certain tools and even math skills.

If your child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), you may hesitate to get them involved in the kitchen, but they can benefit greatly from learning these skills as well.

Teaching children with autism meal preparation skills can help accelerate their development and learning. Not only is meal preparation a skill they need to master if they want to live independently, it’s also a great opportunity to incorporate teaching other skills.

Here are some of the main benefits that children with autism can gain from learning meal preparation skills.

Table Of Contents

Sensory Exploration

Most children who have autism suffer from sensory sensitivity issues, whether that’s hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity. This could mean that could struggle with sensory overload at times, or they could seek out certain sensory inputs.

For some children, their sensory sensitivities may cause them to have food aversions, which can lead to nutrition-related problems.

Teaching them meal preparation can help expose them to certain textures they may not have been exposed to before, while also getting them involved in the process. By tailoring the prep to the things that they like, they can develop a connection to the food, which could lead to an expanded palette.

Motor Skills

Many children on the autism spectrum also struggle with the development of fine motor skills. Cooking and meal prep is one way you can expose them to tasks that will work to improve that.

The utensils that kids have to use to cook and prepare food can help them improve their dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Even the most basic steps of cooking such as pouring and stirring force them to grip kitchen tools and manipulate them in certain ways.

Structure

When children are involved in cooking and meal preparation, it helps to create structure to their day. Instead of just sitting down to eat when the food is ready, they will be directly involved in the steps that lead up to the food being on the table.

This, then, helps to create a routine for them, where they know at a certain time, they’ll be responsible for doing certain things. Children with ASD often thrive on structure and routines, so this could help to reduce instances of negative behaviors and increase their ability to listen and follow directions.

Communication and Interactions

Cooking with others is a great way to improve communication and social interaction skills. To be successful while working in the kitchen with others, children will need to learn how to take direction, how to divide tasks and when it’s time to work together.

With all people involved having a shared goal of completing the meal prep, it allows for collaboration and teamwork — two essential skills that fall under the umbrella of social interaction.

Meal preparation provides an excellent opportunity to work on and expand communication skills through reading and following instructions, doing steps in a set order, waiting, taking turns and expressing needs.

Self-Confidence

Part of teaching children with autism how to prepare meals should include proper praise and rewards. Following some of the strategies of applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy), parents can integrate a positive reinforcement rewards system when their children complete tasks successfully.

This keeps children focused on the task at hand, engaged in the process and motivated to do more.

As they are rewarded for their hard work and efforts, children become more confident in themselves and their ability to cook and prepare meals. This improved self-confidence often carries over into other aspects of their lives, which helps to improve their ability to live more independently.

Blue Gems ABA Supports Children with ASD to Live Independently

Teaching children with autism meal preparation skills is a great way to foster independence, while also incorporating other lessons and skill-building techniques. By getting your children involved in the kitchen, you can help them make improvements in multiple areas.

At Blue Gems ABA, our team of experienced therapists follow the core concepts and strategies of ABA therapy to help children with ASD live as independently as possible. We can apply the tools at our disposal to a number of different topics, such as meal preparation, to help children improve the skills with which they commonly struggle.

To learn more, please contact us today.