Preparing Meals

Children with ASD can find the long-term goal of preparing meals difficult to master. Children with ASD often have sensory issues that make mealtime challenging. For example, your child may avoid entire categories of food if they do not like the taste or texture. In order to help your child master the long-term goal of preparing meals, you can work with your child on short-term goals of preparing a meal using a recipe, preparing a meal using a toaster oven, and preparing a meal that requires measuring. This can encourage your child to be independent and may also help address problematic eating behaviors, such as pica and food avoidance. It may also help to reduce health problems that arise from eating challenges, such as deficits in vitamins and minerals. Providing your child with the opportunity to cook beside you and learn how to identify ingredients and assemble them into a snack or meal can also be a fun and rewarding activity. 

The following strategies may help your child make progress towards mastering the long-term goal of preparing a meal:

• Caution! Some children refuse to bring certain foods near their mouth because they are allergic to a specific food item.  For example, while some children with ASD may not eat eggs because they do not like the texture of the eggs, other children may refuse eggs because they have an undiagnosed egg allergy. It may be the smell of the food that triggers an allergic child to refuse a specific food. Be mindful of potential allergens, and discuss with your child’s doctor whether it is safe to introduce a new food, especially if it is a known allergen (such as egg, peanut butter, soy, tree nuts, etc.). 
• Prioritize safety. Familiarize your child with items in the kitchen that are safe and unsafe. You can use visual aids like this kitchen safety worksheet. For example, when you are teaching your child to chop, start with the “hand over hand” method to provide physical guidance. As another example, start every cooking activity with hand washing. And lastly, make sure to tell your child that preparing meals that involve heat or sharp objects must be done with the help of an adult.
• Prepare for potential sensory issues. Start with foods that are less likely to create a negative sensory experience. Pay attention to textures and items with strong smells (such as onions), and consider avoiding these foods initially. 
• Desensitize. Encourage play with items that can help your child become familiar with different textures and smells, such as play slime, clay, or bags filled with beans. Use positive reinforcement when they touch and play with an object with a texture that is new to them: offer a piece of candy, a small toy, etc. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Start simple. Pick a recipe for something that involves three or fewer steps and ingredients, such as ants on a log. Demonstrate how to prepare the snack. After you have demonstrated, go through each step again with your child. You can allow your child to independently do tasks that do not pose a safety risk, such as washing the celery, spreading the peanut butter (or sunbutter), and placing the raisins onto the peanut butter (or sunbutter). If your child is allergic to peanut/tree nuts, use sunbutter instead. To help your child cut the celery, start with the “hand over hand” method before allowing your child to use a sharp knife independently. Provide positive reinforcement and praise during each step (such as when your child is cutting the celery with you and independently) and reward successful attempts to follow these steps. Phase out the positive reinforcement when the skill has been sufficiently acquired. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement.
• Use visual recipes. Visual recipe cards or images can help provide a task analysis for preparing meals. You can download free visual recipe cards or create your own. 
• Get familiar. Help your child get familiar with items in the kitchen. You may want to show your child where commonly used items are in the kitchen (e.g., utensils, cookware, cooking tools that are safe for a child to use) as well as where ingredients are (e.g., items in the refrigerator, pantry, etc.).
• Other Resources.

Meals Kids can COOK! - Bing video

Free Preschool Recipe Cards | Printable recipe cards, Kids cards, Preschool (pinterest.com)

Free Kids Cooking Printables. (kids-cooking-activities.com)

LITTLE CHEF by Elisabeth Weinberg & Matt Stine | Story Time Pals | Kids Books Read Aloud - Bing video

In order to help your child master the long-term goal of preparing meals, you can work with your child on the short-term goals of preparing a meal using a recipe (e.g., making a peanut butter or sunbutter and jelly sandwich using a recipe), preparing meals that require a toaster oven (e.g., making toast pizza ), or preparing meals that require measuring (e.g., making no-bake energy balls). For the short-term goal of preparing meals using a recipe, you can choose a target such as making a peanut butter or sunbutter and jelly sandwich (substitute sunbutter for peanut butter if your child has allergies), making pasta with sauce, or making oatmeal. 

Preparing Meals Using a Recipe

Step 1: Decide what meal you would like your child to learn to prepare using a recipe. For example, you can choose the target of making a peanut butter or sunbutter and jelly sandwich while working on the short-term goal of preparing meals using a recipe. The task analysis for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using a recipe could be as follows:

1. Print a recipe or create your own by writing out the steps for the target of making a peanut and jelly sandwich. 
2. Read the recipe.  
3. Wash and dry hands. 
4. Retrieve the bread and peanut butter (or sunbutter) from the cabinet (or the location where they are kept) and place them on the kitchen table. 
5. Retrieve the jelly from the fridge and place it on the kitchen table.
6. Retrieve a butter knife and a plate and put them on the kitchen table.
7. Take out two slices of bread from the bag and put them on the plate.
8. Open the jelly and the peanut butter (or sunbutter) and place the lids on the table.
9. Using the butter knife, spread jelly onto one piece of bread. 
10. Using the butter knife, spread peanut butter (or sunbutter) on the other slice of bread.
11. Put the two pieces of bread together with the peanut butter (or sunbutter) and jelly on the inside.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This can be  a visual SD, such as a picture of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a verbal SD (“We are going to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch now!”)

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child is able to complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete the entire task analysis independently during a set amount of time (e.g., 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, etc.).

Step 4. To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e, the target of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using a recipe), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt the task analysis independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child's positive behaviors to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to read over the recipe, followed by getting out the required ingredients and putting them on the table, followed by hand washing, followed by making the sandwich). 

Step 5. Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to use forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using a recipe over a certain number of sessions.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using a recipe by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using a recipe over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of preparing meals using a toaster oven, you can choose a target such as making individual toast pizzas, making toast with jam, or making a bagel with cream cheese.

‍Preparing Meals Using a Toaster Oven

Step 1: Decide what meal you would like your child to learn to make using a toaster oven. For example, you can choose the target of making individual toast pizzas  while working on the short-term goal of preparing meals using a toaster oven. The task analysis for the target of making toast pizzas could be as follows:

1. Wash and dry hands.
2. Get (pre-shredded) cheese and pizza sauce from the fridge and place on the counter.
3. Get a plate, spoon, and spatula and place them on the counter.
4. Get 1 slice of bread and put it on the plate.
5. Open sauce and use the spoon to put sauce on bread.
6. Open cheese and sprinkle a handful on top of sauce.
7. Using two hands, put the bread with cheese and sauce into the toaster oven.
8. Turn on the toaster oven and cook for three minutes or until the cheese is melted.
9. Use the spatula to remove the pizza toast and put it onto the plate.
10. Make sure the toaster oven is turned off.

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as a picture of pizza toast, or a verbal SD (“Time to make pizza toast!” or “Let’s make pizza toast!”).

Step 3:  Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete the entire task analysis independently during a set amount of time (e.g., 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, etc.).

Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of making pizza toast), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to wash and dry hands, get out all of the ingredients and tools, assemble and cook the toast pizza, carefully remove the toast pizza from the toaster oven using the spatula, and ensure that the toaster oven is off).

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at making toast pizza over a certain number of sessions.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of making toast pizza by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at making toast pizza over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.

For the short-term goal of preparing meals that require measuring, you can choose a target such as  making no-bake energy balls, making overnight oats, or making home-made salad dressing. 

‍Preparing Meals that Require Measuring

Step 1: Decide what meal that requires measuring ingredients you would like your child to prepare. For example, you can choose the target of making no-bake energy balls while working on the short-term goal of preparing meals that require measuring. The task analysis for the target of making no-bake energy balls could be as follows:

1. Wash and dry hands.
2. Gather ingredients (oatmeal, peanut butter or sunbutter, and honey) and place on the counter or table. 
3. Gather measuring cups, a bowl, a smaller spoon, a mixing spoon, and a cookie sheet and put on the counter or table.
4. Measure one and a half cups of oatmeal with the measuring cup and then put the measured oatmeal in the bowl. 
5. Measure 2/3 cup of peanut butter or sunbutter with the measuring cup and put the measured peanut butter or sunbutter into the same bowl with the oatmeal, using the smaller spoon to help get the peanut butter into the bowl.
6. Measure 1/4 cup of honey with the measuring cup and put the measured honey into the same bowl with the other ingredients.
7. Use the large mixing spoon to mix up all of the ingredients in the bowl.
8. Scoop a small handful of the mixture into palms and gently roll the mixture around until a ball forms. As you finish each ball, place on the baking sheet. 
9. Repeat until all of the mixture is used up.
10. Wash hands.
11. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to store the energy balls (alternatively they can be eaten right away).

Step 2: An initial/specific discriminative stimulus (SD) should be selected that will cue your child that the task will start. This SD can be a visual SD, such as an image of no-bake energy balls, or a verbal SD (“Time to make energy balls for a snack!” or “Let’s make energy balls for a snack!”).

Step 3: Collect baseline level data by providing the SD from Step 2 and allowing your child to attempt independently. The baseline level will vary according to your child and their specific abilities. Take data on which steps were accurately done independently. For example, you can count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Alternatively, if your child is able to complete the entire task analysis independently, record how long it takes your child to complete the entire task analysis independently during a set amount of time (e.g., 15 min, 20 min, 25 min, etc.).

Step 4: To begin the trial to monitor progress towards meeting the target (i.e., the target of making no-bake energy balls), provide the SD from Step 2 and allow your child to attempt independently. When your child is successful, provide reinforcement. If the reinforcer for the behavior is a tangible item, such as a small snack or a token for a token board, ensure that it is provided with a great deal of verbal praise. Ideally, you want your child’s positive behavior to be supported solely by social reinforcement. If the behavior was not displayed, end the trial and provide the appropriate level of prompting on the following trial. For example, employ a model prompt to show your child what to do at the beginning of the following trial (e.g., model for your child how to wash hands, gather the ingredients and measuring tools, measure and mix the ingredients, form balls, wash hands, and lastly, put the cookie sheet with the energy balls into the refrigerator).

Step 5: Collect data on how your child makes progress. For example, count how many steps in a row (from the task analysis in Step 1) your child can complete independently. Decide if you want to utilize forwards or backwards chaining to teach the steps that your child may struggle to complete independently. Alternatively, you can track progress by recording how long it takes your child to complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1. Or, alternatively, you can track progress by counting the number of successful attempts at making energy balls over a certain number of sessions.

Step 6: Track how your child makes progress to meet the target of making no-bake energy balls by comparing with either a number threshold or a percentage threshold (necessary to meet the target). For example, you can record the number of successful attempts at making no-bake energy balls over a certain number of sessions, and compare that with the number threshold necessary to meet the target. Alternatively, you can record what percentage of times your child can complete all the steps from the task analysis in Step 1, and compare that with the percentage threshold necessary to meet the target.