Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is SPD?CausesOther Texture ProblemsTreatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is SPD?
Causes
Other Texture Problems
Treatment
Your toddler will only eat pureed food. Your son will only eat crunchy foods like hard pretzels, celery, and chips. Your daughter calls any food wetter than a cracker “slimy.”
Your kids might just be picky eaters, or have mild food texture sensitivity, but their food aversions could also be a sign of a sensory processing disorder (SPD). Your pediatrician can help you determine whether a very picky eater should be evaluated for the condition.
This article looks at the characteristics of sensory processing disorder, what causes it, and how it is treated.
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Sensory processing disorder is a condition that affects how your brain processes sensory information. The stimuli can involve any of your five senses, including taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing.
When a child has SPD, they may seem to have out-sized reactions to what you’d consider “normal” inputs to your five senses. For example, many people with SPD cannot handle loud noises, like thunder or fireworks.
Researchers believe the problem in SPD involves differences in how the brain handles sensory inputs. These inputs, in some people, overload their brains and cause over-reactions to “normal” sights, tastes, smells, and sensations.
SPD can also affect adults and is typically classified asavoidant-restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). It is defined as an individual severely limiting the amount and/or types of food consumed and is unrelated to body image or self-image distortion.
Sensory Processing Disorder Overview
What Causes Food Texture Sensitivity?
Children with sensory processing disorder have a difficult time making sense of the sensory information that their body collects. This makes it hard or impossible for the child to respond normally to external stimuli, such as food with a particular texture.
Examples of food texture sensitivity:
Children may gag if forced to eat food with the problematic texture, and they’ll likely refuse it if they can. The texture that triggers the aversion could be crunchy, slimy, near-liquid, or something else.
SPD can cause other symptoms, such as being over- or under-responsive to stimuli.
Over-responsivecharacteristics may include the following:
Under-responsivecharacteristics may include the following:
Treatment of SPD involves physical andoccupational therapythat eventually should help your child become accustomed to more textures and types of food.
A trained occupational therapist can evaluate your child’s sensory processing and determine if the food texture aversion is due to the condition.
Other Potential Texture Problems
Not every child who has an aversion to a particular food texture has sensory processing disorder.
For example, if your child will only eat soft food, it may be that they havedifficulty chewing and swallowing other foods.
This can be due todental problemssuch as untreated cavities, pain in the mouth or throat, lack of muscle control, or a physical difference in mouth structure that makes chewing and swallowing difficult.
A child who has always been in pain believes that pain is a normal state of being and probably won’t describe feelings of pain when eating.
It’s also worth noting that food allergies may be a possible cause of food aversion. In some cases, a child may refuse to eat a certain food (eggs, for example), due to an underlying allergy that has yet to be diagnosed. It is possible that even a tiny taste may cause a mild reaction—and more severe reactions could occur with continued exposure.
Children withautismoften have rigid rituals around meals that can include refusing to eat certain textures, tastes, or temperatures of food. They’re also more likely to have a sensory processing disorder. The two conditions are separate but linked.
How to Treat Food Texture Sensitivity
Treatment usually involves working with a therapist and making small changes gradually. If over time little progress is made or there are concerns about your child’s nutritional status, health, or growth, you may need to consider a more intensive (sometimes hospital-based) feeding program.
Work With a Therapist
A therapist can work with your child to gradually expand their diet. Various kinds of therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), family-based therapy, and occupational therapy may be recommended.
Expand Their Diet
If your child strongly prefers one type of food—say, crunchy food—see if they’ll accept different types of crunchy food in order to expand their dietary intake.
Food Pairing
Pairing disliked foods with favorites may help improve overall acceptance. For example, if your child dislikes yogurt, pair it with their favorite fruit or cereal. By making small changes continually, you can broaden the universe of foods your child will eat.
Cooking Methods
Different cooking techniques can alter the texture of foods. For example, raw vegetables have a very different texture than roasted or sauteed vegetables and vice versa. Altering the texture may make it more palatable to your child.
Food Temperature
Along with cooking methods, the temperature of foods can change the texture. For example, warm pizza or macaroni and cheese may have a slimier texture to your child when it’s warm, so try serving them at room temperature or cold to see if they’re better accepted.
Blend Textures
Sometimes masking a texture can help your child get a greater variety of foods. For example, blending vegetables into a pasta sauce or soups or blending fruits into a smoothie may make it a more desirable choice for your child.
While blending foods can work in the short term to ensure your child is receiving valuable nutrients, it doesn’t help treat the underlying issue long-term.
Summary
If your child rejects whole food groups or foods with a certain texture it may just be picky eating, or they could have another issue, including sensory processing disorder. If treatment techniques are unsuccessful or you are concerned about your child’s nutrition, growth, or health, talk with your child’s healthcare provider to get further evaluation and a proper diagnosis.
6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Family Physicians.Sensory processing disorder (SPD).Miller LJ, Schoen SA, Mulligan S, Sullivan J.Identification of sensory processing and integration symptom clusters: A preliminary study.Occup Ther Int. 2017;2017:2876080. doi:10.1155/2017/2876080National Eating Disorders Collaboration.Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.Farrow CV, Coulthard H.Relationships between sensory sensitivity, anxiety and selective eating in children.Appetite. 2012;58(3):842-846. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.017Patel MR, Piazza CC, Layer SA, Coleman R, Swartzwelder DM.A systematic evaluation of food textures to decrease packing and increase oral intake in children with pediatric feeding disorders[published correction appears in J Appl Behav Anal. 2006 Spring;39(1):122].J Appl Behav Anal. 2005;38(1):89–100. doi:10.1901/jaba.2005.161-02Nadon G, Feldman DE, Dunn W, Gisel E.Association of sensory processing and eating problems in children with autism spectrum disorders.Autism Research and Treatment. 2011;2011:1-8. doi:10.1155/2011/541926Additional ReadingErnsperger, Lori, Ph.D. and Tania Stegen-Hanson, OTR/L. Just Take a Bite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges. Future Horizons, Arlington, TX.STAR Center Foundation.Understanding sensory processing disorder.
6 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Academy of Family Physicians.Sensory processing disorder (SPD).Miller LJ, Schoen SA, Mulligan S, Sullivan J.Identification of sensory processing and integration symptom clusters: A preliminary study.Occup Ther Int. 2017;2017:2876080. doi:10.1155/2017/2876080National Eating Disorders Collaboration.Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.Farrow CV, Coulthard H.Relationships between sensory sensitivity, anxiety and selective eating in children.Appetite. 2012;58(3):842-846. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.017Patel MR, Piazza CC, Layer SA, Coleman R, Swartzwelder DM.A systematic evaluation of food textures to decrease packing and increase oral intake in children with pediatric feeding disorders[published correction appears in J Appl Behav Anal. 2006 Spring;39(1):122].J Appl Behav Anal. 2005;38(1):89–100. doi:10.1901/jaba.2005.161-02Nadon G, Feldman DE, Dunn W, Gisel E.Association of sensory processing and eating problems in children with autism spectrum disorders.Autism Research and Treatment. 2011;2011:1-8. doi:10.1155/2011/541926Additional ReadingErnsperger, Lori, Ph.D. and Tania Stegen-Hanson, OTR/L. Just Take a Bite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges. Future Horizons, Arlington, TX.STAR Center Foundation.Understanding sensory processing disorder.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Academy of Family Physicians.Sensory processing disorder (SPD).Miller LJ, Schoen SA, Mulligan S, Sullivan J.Identification of sensory processing and integration symptom clusters: A preliminary study.Occup Ther Int. 2017;2017:2876080. doi:10.1155/2017/2876080National Eating Disorders Collaboration.Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.Farrow CV, Coulthard H.Relationships between sensory sensitivity, anxiety and selective eating in children.Appetite. 2012;58(3):842-846. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.017Patel MR, Piazza CC, Layer SA, Coleman R, Swartzwelder DM.A systematic evaluation of food textures to decrease packing and increase oral intake in children with pediatric feeding disorders[published correction appears in J Appl Behav Anal. 2006 Spring;39(1):122].J Appl Behav Anal. 2005;38(1):89–100. doi:10.1901/jaba.2005.161-02Nadon G, Feldman DE, Dunn W, Gisel E.Association of sensory processing and eating problems in children with autism spectrum disorders.Autism Research and Treatment. 2011;2011:1-8. doi:10.1155/2011/541926
American Academy of Family Physicians.Sensory processing disorder (SPD).
Miller LJ, Schoen SA, Mulligan S, Sullivan J.Identification of sensory processing and integration symptom clusters: A preliminary study.Occup Ther Int. 2017;2017:2876080. doi:10.1155/2017/2876080
National Eating Disorders Collaboration.Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.
Farrow CV, Coulthard H.Relationships between sensory sensitivity, anxiety and selective eating in children.Appetite. 2012;58(3):842-846. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.017
Patel MR, Piazza CC, Layer SA, Coleman R, Swartzwelder DM.A systematic evaluation of food textures to decrease packing and increase oral intake in children with pediatric feeding disorders[published correction appears in J Appl Behav Anal. 2006 Spring;39(1):122].J Appl Behav Anal. 2005;38(1):89–100. doi:10.1901/jaba.2005.161-02
Nadon G, Feldman DE, Dunn W, Gisel E.Association of sensory processing and eating problems in children with autism spectrum disorders.Autism Research and Treatment. 2011;2011:1-8. doi:10.1155/2011/541926
Ernsperger, Lori, Ph.D. and Tania Stegen-Hanson, OTR/L. Just Take a Bite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges. Future Horizons, Arlington, TX.STAR Center Foundation.Understanding sensory processing disorder.
Ernsperger, Lori, Ph.D. and Tania Stegen-Hanson, OTR/L. Just Take a Bite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges. Future Horizons, Arlington, TX.
STAR Center Foundation.Understanding sensory processing disorder.
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