When Jojo is eating, I will strap him into his booster seat even though he doesn’t really need a booster to reach the table. I do this for 2 reasons.
1) It keeps him from getting up and leaving. He knows that if he’s strapped in, he can expect to get food. It is time to eat.
2) When he is finished, he will inform us that he is done by verbally requesting it. The first word he EVER said was “done,” and it took months of practice. So I will honor that request and unstrap him every time. Even if he hasn’t touched his food, he knows that I will let him out if he verbally requests “done.”
If, for any reason, he feels stressed at the table, he doesn’t have to scream. He doesn’t have to have a meltdown, he can just say “done” and he is excused.
Sometimes he will climb into another chair and eat. Sometimes he will grab his plate and take it into another room. And sometimes, he just won’t eat. But giving him that freedom to choose not only reinforces verbal communication, it positively reinforces “sitting at the table,” because he is not being physically forced to do so.
Thanks to Autism – Doesn’t Come With Instructions for sharing.