Lunch time at school can be rather daunting for a child with ASD. Not only do they have to deal with the noise, they must encounter different smells, students bumping or brushing up against them, other sensory and social difficulties, and most of all food.
Some things in the lunchroom may be too intense or overwhelming and cause the ASD individual to become upset or anxious and it can also lead to intense anxiety or panic. They must therefore find another place that is quiet and away from the lunch room. A great alternative is having a “Lunch Bunch” where some student’s from your child’s class meet with the school counselor and have lunch together. Individuals who make up the Circle of Friends should be high-status peers, generally compliant with school rules, socially astute, and genuinely interested in (and hopefully like) the student with ASD (Myles, 2001). During elementary school my son had Lunch Bunch with the school counselor and later in high school he had it with his Speech teacher where they incorporated some social skills from his IEP into it.
Since my son was a picky eater we opted for bag lunch. Because of his fine motor problems lunch could be difficult at times and we had to make sure he could open the various containers so he could eat his lunch independently. We found those zip-lock storage bags that you can zip open and close worked best for MONK to put his sandwich and other snacks in. Later on when his his fine motor skills improved he used Tupperware sandwich containers. As for his drink, we used a Rubbermaid plastic container that you pulled up the spout so you could drink out of it.
What does your child do for lunch at school? Please comment so others can get ideas.
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