This one's for the caregivers of pre-schoolers. Is your little one starting school September 2024? Are you concerned they might struggle with lunch time? Then you're in the right place.
Around this time of year lots of caregivers start worrying about how their child will manage in school, particularly those finding mealtimes challenging. There is usually a flurry of referrals to Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) at this time of year hoping to get some support looking ahead to their child going to school in September, as is the case in the UK.
What's the issue?
Over the past few years I've been astonished at just how many children are going into school now who have some form of eating and drinking difficulty. Difficulties being reported include:
very limited chewing skills
Issue with texture on
limited diet
some finding it difficult to self feed or use cutlery being reported
I've even worked with some children going into school who still only drinking milk.
This is a big Issue for schools. When there's 30 children in the class it isn't possible to offer a high level of support at lunch time for the amount of children finding this difficult and it's not appropriate for the child necessarily to still be in that position. Children want to be like their peers, they want to join in and ultimately that's what we all want for them too.
The summer term is the perfect time to work on eating drinking skills. This is one of the biggest transitions that your children will have experienced in their little lives so it's important to try and prepare for it as best as possible for your child. Don't get me wrong, I know how hard you've been working on trying to improve your child's eating and drinking skills. But, if you feel like you're not getting anywhere hopefully this post will help.
Like I explained in my 'dysphagia' post, there can be eating and drinking difficulties without swallowing difficulties and can have many different causes that we might not think of. Check out this post and my post about sensory feeding difficulties to see if these seem to fit your experience.
What happens at school lunch time and how can you can prepare your child?
All children in reception to year 2 are able to have a free school meal. This is universal so for all children. Children in other years will also get free school meals if they receive pupil premium. There has been lots of media reports and political debates about free school meals in recent years, particularly for them to be extended through the school holidays - I couldn't agree more. Children who are well fed are happier children, we are a welfare state and should be looking after those who need a little support.
You might be dreading the idea of the school meal for your child because you think they won't eat any of it. Let me just stop you there. Children pick up on EVERYTHING. If you have even had that thought silently they will also be starting to form negative thoughts about the school meal. Promote it and sing it's praises so your child starts to think it will be great fun to eat with their friends.
How can you prepare?
If your child goes to a nursery that offers a cooked dinner and you've not been accessing it, where possible, see if you can get this for your child so they learn about new foods and eating the same as their friends. This will get them used to new smells and tastes that they can't easily predict and used to eating socially with other children who aren't familiar to them.
You'll start to have lots of interaction with your child's new school this term. If you are worried, ask the school for a copy of the menu and try to make some of the same foods at home. If your child is reluctant, check out this course of mine to work on building their confidence to try new foods.
Try to eat in busier environments from time to time. Does not have to be anywhere fancy unless you'd like it to be. Try your local community centre for stay and play sessions or local church halls often have coffee mornings. Perhaps a local cafe or supermarket cafe, these places provide lots of sensory information for your child to practice eating in a busy environment.
Put the iPad/tablet down. If your child has always eaten with an electronic device or a TV this really is the time to be working away from using it at mealtime. There are very few occasions where I would advocate for using a device at the table and most children can learn to manage without it. Think about using it as a motivating activity after the mealtime has finished 'first lunch, then insert device name here'. Use it for 10 minute downtime after a meal so your child knows it's not gone forever and they have a few minutes to themselves to let their food go down. Devices lead to passive eating and stops your child taking on information about the food itself and how they feel about it, suddenly being in a dinner hall will be very overwhelming if they aren't used to actively engaging in a meal.
Learn to sit at the table. At school your child will be encouraged to eat sitting at the table. This is because this is the safest and most effective way to eat and drink. Work at sitting at the table and on a regular chair in this time before school starts - more ideas in my post about sitting.
If you're still in doubt, leave a comment or get in touch!
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