Hi Everyone,
Following last week’s blog about smell it seems logical to move onto taste as the two sensory systems are so intertwined. As we all know it can be hard to taste if we have a reduced sense of smell, for example if we hold our nose or have a cold it is difficult or impossible to taste properly. Our mouths have lots of sensory receptors, both tactile and taste, and as result are an excellent ‘tool’ for exploring and learning about the world around us. By putting an object in our mouth we receive information about smell, taste, texture and temperature. This also means for children with hypersensitivity in certain sensory systems daily tasks such as eating and brushing teeth can be very challenging:
On our tongue we have different taste bud receptors for sour, sweet, salty, umami (meaty) and bitter. The tactile receptors on our tongue gives us information about the texture (crunchy, dry, smooth, wet) and temperature of food.
I have included a link to a brilliant clip about taste and smell, which explains why children are more sensitive to strong taste than adults.
Some children may have strict ‘rules’ around what they eat, or a very short list of food they enjoy. Other children might seek out non food substances to eat such as sand and dirt. This may be because they are seeking strong tastes (hyposensitive to taste) or even because they are trying to stimulate their tactile receptors in the mouth (hyposensitive to touch). *[Pica is an appetite for non food items ]
Food and eating can be a very emotive and stressful subject for parents and families.
A fun way to explore your child’s reaction to different tastes and textures is sensory food sessions. At school these are sessions where we can gather information about preference of taste and texture, hypo and hypersensitivity to temperature, taste and texture and this information can help us to encourage sensory exploration of different foods and ingredients. At Hillside we explore food during weekly cookery sessions, when pupils are encouraged to investigate ingredients using their senses. Staff use their observations and consult with parents and our wonderful school cooks, and where appropriate Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists to build individual eating and drinking profile for our pupils. With the information we have gathered we can begin to build some sessions to incorporate sensory preferences and begin to try to increase the range of foods the young person will accept.
At Hillside we encourage the pupils to use their senses to explore food, I have attached some visuals if you would like to try using them as a prompt at home.
Below I have included a selection of different sensory food activities you could enjoy with your child at home. If you would like any of these in printed form please contact the school or email me directly at lindsey.robertson1@eastayrshire.org.uk. Alternatively if you would like visuals to support sensory food exploration tailored to the specific preferences of your child contact me and when can create something around your child’s needs.
- Pica is an appetite for non food items which may in part be caused by seeking the feeling of eating certain non-food items, but there can be other developmental or nutritional reasons behind Pica. I have included a link to a website that explains Pica in more detail for your information: https://thechildpsychologyservice.co.uk/advice-strategy/pica/
