Autism Live: Parent to Parent: Top Ten Tips for Improving Your Child’s Diet

Shannon Penrod, Host of Autism Live, gives great tips for improving your child’s diet without creating bigger problems.  Food is a primary reinforcer, it makes us happy, and we all feel very particular about what we like and don’t like to eat.  How many of us would be happy if we were told we could only eat wax beans from now on and we could never have ice cream again in our lives?  We wouldn’t be happy.  We might even throw a tantrum!  Why would our kids on the spectrum feel any differently?  They don’t.  So what is the solution?  Do we just let our kids live on nuggets and French fries so we don’t upset the delicate balance?  That’s not a great solution for our kid’s health.  Is there another solution?  Shannon gives us tips on finding the happy medium, so our kids will eat healthier foods and still be happy.