By: Maureen Karwowski, OTR/L
Vice President of Clinical Services
A New Perspective on Tomatoes
One of my favorite things about this time of year is enjoying fresh tomatoes from the garden. They have always been my favorite vegetable. Every August, they remind me of a little boy named Max, who taught me an important lesson about how differently children can experience the world around them.
Several years ago, Max was referred to occupational therapy because sensory processing challenges were impacting many areas of his daily life. One of those challenges was highly selective eating. Over the course of our time together, I learned a great deal from this wise nine-year-old.
During one therapy session, I brought in a freshly picked tomato from my garden for us to explore. Max immediately informed me that tomatoes were “the worst food ever” because they contained five different textures. Intrigued, we carefully sliced the tomato and examined it together. To my surprise, Max was absolutely right. Within a single tomato, we identified five distinct textures.
As someone who has eaten countless tomatoes throughout my life, I had never once noticed those differences. But for Max, each texture was impossible to ignore.
Many children experience heightened sensitivity to smells, tastes, textures, and other sensory characteristics of food. Some may only tolerate foods with a certain texture, while others prefer foods of a specific color or appearance. Some can detect subtle differences between brands or become distressed when food is prepared differently than expected. Their experience of eating can be very different from that of their peers.
The good news is that, through occupational and speech therapy, many children can expand their food repertoire and develop a more positive relationship with eating. Success requires a skilled, individualized approach and close collaboration among therapists, children, and families. With patience, support, and the right strategies, meaningful progress is possible.
As for Max, I am not sure he will ever enjoy eating tomatoes. But by the time we finished working together, he had added five vegetables to his list of accepted foods. For him and his family, that was a remarkable achievement and a success worth celebrating.
Explore our Services
Wherever you are at in your child’s journey, there are many aspects to feeding disorders in the pediatric population. Therefore, identifying and addressing all of them is a priority that should not be overlooked. Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley’s Feeding Clinic uses an interdisciplinary Pediatric Feeding Disorders approach led by a skilled team of professionals.
Nutrition issues is an area that brings an enormous amount of stress and anxiety to a child and his caregivers. Our team is uniquely qualified and experienced to assist children at all levels of feeding, instilling hope and helping them be their very best.
Every child is unique, and each intervention is tailored to fit your child and family. Learn more about our nutrition or feeding services and contact us to get started.
