69. Your Child's 3 "Hidden Senses": Interoception, Proprioception, & the Vestibular System with Reena Singh, OT
In this episode of the Nourishing Autism Podcast, Brittyn welcomes occupational therapist Reena Singh all the way from India to discuss the intricacies of three lesser-known sensory systems and their impact on children. Reena shares her extensive experience working with autistic kids over the past 23 years and breaks down the significance of vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile senses.
Listen to gain valuable insights into how sensory processing affects eating, sleeping, and daily activities, and learn about the connection between emotional states and sensory experiences. You'll learn practical tips to help your child feel more comfortable during mealtimes and how to create positive emotional associations with food.
Episode Resources:
Download Reena's new app, Awetism Insights on iOS and Android:
- iOS: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/awetism-insights/id6499340907
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.awetism.insightsAwetism Insights is a treasure trove of support for families with children diagnosed with Autism. It has content curated from 24 years of experience and cutting-edge research. It features:
15 Masterclasses on topics like sleep challenges, toilet and potty training, sensory diet, oral motor challenges, visual supports, PECS, and emotional support scripts for parents
5 Detailed Courses on primitive reflex integration for emotional regulation, academic readiness, boosting oral motor and fine motor skills, and an Autism intervention roadmap
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Weekly Live Events hosted by speech therapists and occupational therapists including me
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi, I'm Brittyn, a Registered Dietitian and autism sibling. I have a passion for helping parents of neurodivergent kids navigate nutrition and wellness for their child, one small step at a time. Here we'll explore practical nutrition tips, learn from top autism experts, break down the newest research, and share inspirational stories that will empower you to utilize nutrition to help your child feel their best and thrive.
Listen in while picking kids up from school, sitting in a therapy waiting room, taking a quick walk or wherever you find yourself, looking for some inspiration and a friend to guide you along this journey. This is Nourishing Autism.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. We are digging into three hidden senses that are affecting your child in ways that maybe you're not realizing. It can be affecting their nervous system, it can be affecting their eating, their sleeping, so many things. I think a lot of us only think of our senses as smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight, but there are additional senses.
And when we start to learn about these, the way in which we can support our kids just really opens up. So I'm talking to Reena Singh today, who is an occupational therapist. She's been helping kids diagnosed with autism to become more independent in social and communication skills. She mentors families to navigate this journey with calmness and clarity. And over the past 23 years as an OT, she has helped over 25,000 kids become independent in [00:03:00] communication and social skills using OT and other complimentary approaches, making therapy holistic.
She also just launched an app, which I'll be linking in the show notes below. I'm really excited to dive into this episode and can't wait for you to take away all of the fantastic takeaways that I had. I learned so much during this episode. So without further ado, here is Reena Singh on the podcast.
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to an episode of the Nourishing Autism Podcast. I am so excited to be sitting here with Reena. Reena, thank you so much for being here today.
Reena: Thank you, Brittyn. It's an honor to be here.
Brittyn: I got to be on your show. It was maybe a month ago now, maybe two months. And you primarily have your show on YouTube. Is that right? Yes.
I'll have to link our show and your show in the notes so that everyone can go check that out as well. But Reena, tell us who you are, what you do, and who you help.
Reena: Yeah, so [00:04:00] I'm an occupational therapist. I have been working with kids with developmental disabilities since the year 2000.
So it's been like 23 years now. The main chunk, I mean, 60-70 percent of the kids I worked with had a diagnosis of autism. And I loved working with them because it was fun because they challenged me, you know, every child
was very different from the other. So, I started out as an occupational therapist, and then I trained along the way, added up a lot of other approaches, because there were
so many things, and even till now, I feel, there's so much that is still, missing, like oh, the auditory intervention, let's add it up.
Oh, the primitive, let's add it up. Oh, the emotional wellbeing, add it up. So what I do right now is a combination of all and occupational therapy as a practice is holistic, so it's working with kids, working with families, especially the parent trainings is [00:05:00] what I do.
Brittyn: That's amazing. I love talking about occupational therapy because it encompasses so many different areas and so I'm excited to dive in more about how you support kids because I think some people don't realize just the
bandwidth that occupational therapists do because it brings in feeding, it brings in toileting, it can bring in just daily activities. And so it feels like what you do seriously can affect every little piece of a child's life, which is really amazing.
Hmm.
So what I really wanna talk to you about today is our senses and also our sensory systems because I think this is a really important conversation when it comes to autism and kids with sensory processing disorder.
So most of us know we have our five basic senses, right? We have our smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch, but we also have some [00:06:00] other senses as well, and not a lot of people understand that. So would you be able to explain what some of those senses are?
Reena: Yeah, definitely. So when I started, when I was a student of occupational therapy, when I thought we had five senses, the ones that we learned in school, and then when I got into this world of sensory integration, the vestibular system, the proprioceptive system, and the tactile.
These are the base of the pyramid, of the learning pyramid. The vestibular system is so, so, so important, you know. It is a system that is functional at three months of age. It can support the head in the uterus, meaning it's that very powerful. And you know, the main, what you call, feedback
or the main receptor for the vestibular system is gravity. So before a child makes a relationship with his or her mom, the first relationship has to be with the gravity, with mother earth. And if that's not in place, then the [00:07:00] rhythms, you know, the basic rhythms, if I take the basic biological rhythms are sleep, wake, hunger, thirst, and bowel, bladder.
They all get impacted. So, it's so, so, so important, the vestibular. And then, the vestibular and proprioceptive, they're like hand in glove. They work together, you know. Theoretically, we can separate them out, this is vestibular, this is proprioceptive, but it's not functionally possible to separate their functions.
So, they both work together. Vestibular has a lot of raw material, the sensory input is more about gravity. Head position, any change of head position is what is going to impact the vestibular system. And proprioceptors are receptors in the joints, and both of them together, when they work, they help in regulation.
When the child is regulated, child sleeps better, eats better, passes motions and the arousal level, arousal [00:08:00] level is like, if
I'm with you right now and if I'm very excited, I know that I need to calm down and relax and be in a state where I can pay attention, talk, even if I'm very excited.
I have the dial to dial myself down. If I'm in a playground and if I feel very dull and all, I can get myself up. So we have those dials of self regulation within us. And that is something which gets affected. The arousal level gets affected if the vestibular proprioceptive systems are not working together.
You have to sit on a table to eat. But if the child is not able to control that arousal level, he'll be all over the place, running, jumping. And if I just give instructions, come on, sit down, do this. Even if I get the best of food, it would be difficult for the child to regulate that.
So that crucial it is. And then, the proprioceptive system is very, very strongly also connected to what is called as [00:09:00] interoceptive system. Interoception is about, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I am sleepy, you know, like I get that awareness. So if you see they're all interlinked, and then is the tactile system.
Tactile is the system of touch, like if I have hair on my face, and if there's a light touch that comes, if a breeze blows, I'm like, oh my god, what was that? So touch is also a sense which alerts and it changes the arousal level. And if the child is not able to interpret the information that is received from the touch system and touch is so important in eating because if I feel that it's gooey, it's sticky, it's, you know, I have had kids who don't want things in their hand. They just throw it off. They don't like it, so that's the touch system.
So what I feel is the main senses of course, the vision, the auditory, they're all very important, but vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, I keep saying VPT, VPT, that's what I keep saying in my [00:10:00] trainings, and interoception. If I get that in place, a child is able to regulate the arousal level, be present, pay attention, do whatever that's needed, you know.
So that's what the sensory systems are. And what we do as therapists is, we understand, is this system functioning, is it hypersensitive or is it hyposensitive? And how do I help to get the child in a zone of optimum arousal, where we are right now. So that's what the sensory systems are.
Brittyn: I have never heard somebody explain it quite like that, and it just really clicked for me. I think that that's such an interesting way, and I hadn't thought about it, I mean, I know that a lot of kids need that proprioceptive input in order to self regulate, but I didn't understand the connections that all of these different senses have, so thank you for explaining that.
You know, I think in a lot of families, I think they know [00:11:00] about proprioception. Maybe their child really likes sitting on something and spinning, and usually the parent will say it seems like they really need proprioceptive input. Now I'm working out like what I thought I knew about all of these senses.
I mean, is that the case? Is that proprioception that they're craving whenever they sit on something or they swing in something, or deep pressure? What senses would align there?
Reena: So, you know, the fact is, I mean, somehow we do this and it's not supposed to be done. We separate the sensory system from the motor system, from the emotional system.
They all work together, you know? So I mean, as a child, I had my trauma history and I had some food, you know, like milk or whatever, which I didn't like at all, not because I couldn't self regulate, but because the context of relationship in which it was provided didn't help me to regulate myself.
I don't know if you get that, you know? So the emotional [00:12:00] state of the caregiver plays a very important role in making the senses hyper and hypo also. So if I'm feeding a child and if I'm like, come on, eat it. How long are you taking? That may make me need more proprioceptive input. And I'm not saying that's the only factor, but it's an important factor.
So, but if the parent says it was very calm, very quiet, very relaxed, you know, and in that zone, and there's no demand that you have to eat. Why is it taking so long? We have to go to the therapy, you know, we're not in that rush, rush, rush state that affects self regulation. Another important thing is it's not just proprioception that helps with self regulation.
Self regulation develops through co regulation. And you know what is co regulation? I think of an example when I was doing rappelling once. Do you know what's waterfall rappelling, you come down a mountain rappelling?
Brittyn: Oh my, yeah. Yeah, [00:13:00] yeah. I've never done it, but yes. Yeah.
Reena: Yes. Yeah. So I was coming down and doing rappelling and I was like, oh my God, this is so difficult. Oh my God, I can't do it. Oh my God, there's water. This, this, this, I had all my thoughts and I was in a very hyper arousal state. And my friend came, he threw one rope down and he said, Reena, it's okay.
I'm there with you. See, it's okay. You can hold my hand. We can go down together. So he offered a space where I could regulate myself. So what I'm trying to convey is, it's not just the proprioceptive and the tactile and the vestibular. It's also the state that the caregiver provides. So the first important thing is co regulation.
That will help me to do what is called a self regulation. Because if I don't know what it looks like, if I've never received it, I can't give it, you know. So that is one. Secondly, when a child is spinning, that's vestibular, more vestibular. If the child is very hyperactive, you will see them flap [00:14:00] their hands, pace around, jump around.
So yeah, they're trying to give that proprioceptive input to their body so that they can come into a state of balance. And imagine at that time, if a parent is available emotionally and physically and calm and gives those nonverbal cues, you know, you can fake a body
language, but when the parent is calm and quiet and relaxed and passes that state to the child and then provides the proprioceptive input, the effect is magical and miraculous.
So that's what I feel is important. Yeah, sensory is important. But that will affect my motor and all of that is wrapped in a blanket of an emotional co regulation state of the caregiver.
Brittyn: Again, perfectly explained and I hadn't heard it that way, the way that you explain things just really clicks in my brain right now.
So I [00:15:00] teach this a lot and co regulation is the perfect word for it. And so when we're sitting down at mealtime, I think a lot of families, especially if their child only eats just a few foods, the parent is anxious because they want more nutrition. They want them to eat and the child can absolutely pick up on that.
And they're saying, can you take a bite? Can you do this? And it comes out of a place where the parent just wants what's best for their child. But unfortunately, it kind of backfires. And so I talk with a lot of parents about taking those cleansing breaths when we come into mealtime, thinking about the mealtime language that we are using, because I also think that's incredibly important, but also the kind of pressure that we're putting on ourselves and our children.
And we're just talking mealtime here, I mean, this is a microcosm, but I just find that it is so, so important to be able to also model that behavior exactly like you're saying too. And it's easier said than done, especially when you are feeling overstimulated. [00:16:00] So it takes a lot of practice for sure.
Reena: It is like a work in progress. I remember Brittyn when my son was born and he was till two years, no, till one year, 18 months, I was like, wow, the best child in the world. Amazing. I'm so blessed. And then the actual child came out and I was like, oh my God, a no to everything.
And then there was such a lot of tantrums and meltdowns. And I was like, I am a therapist, I can manage, but nothing, nothing was working. And I took him to a developmental pediatrician trying to find a label that maybe he has some problem. And she said, no, there's no problem, Reena. You need to calm down.
I'm like, what, why are you telling me? And from that time, what you call the journey started where I've been working on myself. The way I was raised by my mother is what I was doing to my son. I didn't want to do it consciously, but those patterns are so deep in me that they just would erupt up and I used to behave like a very big [00:17:00] monster, trying to pounce on my child.
So co regulation and to calm yourself is a work in process, it takes a long time, long time.
Brittyn: Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. I think you're very right. It takes a lot of inner work as a parent in so many different areas, right. We're always growing with our children and learning to become the best parent for them.
And sometimes it takes some unlearning as well. Yeah.
Reena: Yeah. A lot of unlearning, lots.
Brittyn: Mm-Hmm. . Absolutely. So, I mean, we've talked about these sensory systems and they're especially important for kids with sensory processing disorder or sensory processing challenges in autism. My big question, and I think that there's no easy answer to this, but I'm curious to hear what you'll say, but I mean, how do you support these sensory systems?
It sounds like kids try and self regulate by doing some stimming behaviors too, but as an OT, what are the things that [00:18:00] you teach parents to do or that you're doing in therapy that help the child learn to self regulate and give this kind of input on their sensory systems?
Reena: Wonderful. So what I do is, it is called sensory integration, which most people are aware of.
And the first thing that I work upon is, again, as I said, I can't separate vestibular and proprioceptive, but vestibular, providing opportunities so that the vestibular system gets that input. It can be by bouncing on a ball. It can be by swinging on a swing which is hung from two points. It can be by swinging on a swing which is hung from one point because each of that will provide a very different kind of an input to the system.
And, as a therapist, also I teach parents to be very, very conscious and aware, to pick up on those cues which tell you whether the child is able to process it or not process it. So if you're making a child bounce [00:19:00] on a swing, bounce on a therapy ball, and you see your child is flapping hands and breath is dysregulated and child is not giving you eye contact, you know, he's just getting too excited.
You know that this is not the movement for your child. The child needs the vestibular input. But then in that time I would add up a proprioceptive input because maybe he's not able to process it. Same way if I make him sit on a swing front and back and the child is swinging and I find him really flapping, all excited, all funky movements of the body, looking from the corner of the eyes, he's too dysregulated.
I know that I don't have to go there. I have to go slow. I have to add a proprioceptive. Proprioceptive would be anything like heavy pushing, pulling, crashing, any of those kinds of things, maybe tug of war, any of those kinds of activities. So what we're actually doing is providing small, small, small, small inputs to the vestibular system so that it learns
to process that [00:20:00] information. And when it is not able to, we add up proprioceptive, we add up the deep pressure because deep pressure is always coming. So deep pressure can be with a therapy ball. Deep pressure can be sandwiching between mattresses. Deep pressure can be putting a child into complete flexion, like full flexion in a lycra swing.
So in a therapy, therapy set up. What I do and what I teach parents is provide those opportunities, but keep looking for those cues. Oh, I need to stop. Oh, I need to start. Usually, it's like, okay, do 10 rounds of jumping. Okay, do 10 minutes of swinging. No, it's not that way. It's about how much can the child take.
And to make it even better, I won't say better, but you know, to accelerate the process, I use a lot of auditory intervention. So there's something called therapeutic listening, which I can use. There's something called safe and sound protocol that I can use. So while the child gets that safe and sound protocol, and then we do sensory [00:21:00] work, the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, I also do a lot of work on primitive reflexes, because a lot of primitive reflexes,
when they are not integrated, then the emergence of the postural reflexes and to strengthen them does not happen. So I work on a lot of integration of primitive reflexes, working with the sensory systems, adding up the tactile, the therapeutic listening or the safe and sound protocol. And while I do all of it, I am also a practitioner of what's called emotional freedom techniques.
So I don't know if you know, it's called EFT. So I take up topics. So maybe parent says, Oh my God, my child is disorganized. So I've made a script on what I can tap on myself, calm myself down, then work with my child. It would be like, Oh my God, this teacher told me this about my child. So there's a script that I've made.
They tap on them, then they work with their child. So do this work for yourself. Then provide the input, and then, it's not like this, then, this, then. It's like as and when, what you need, pick up that tool, [00:22:00] use it, regulate yourself, offer that co regulation to your child, so that the sensory systems are not kindled, they're not in that stress.
They are calmer. So that's how I work.
Brittyn: That is amazing, and I have to bring up such a weird coincidence. This morning, I did an EFT for the very first time in my entire life. So it's just such an interesting thing. It was very calming. I know that it's something that takes practice and repetition, but I had never been walked through a session before.
It was so interesting. I'd always heard of it. So I just wanted to say. Yeah. Very interesting coincidence that you brought that up today.
Reena: EFT is something that has helped me when my son was two years and in that phase where this doctor said, you have to work on yourself and I'm like, I know, but what?
As in, I need to work, but what do I do with myself? That's when that EFT thing started. It helped me heal through my childhood trauma, [00:23:00] through whatever stuff that I had been through. It's very powerful. Very simple, but very powerful.
Brittyn: Wow. Thank you for sharing that. That's really amazing to hear more about that, too.
And maybe we'll have to have a whole other episode talking about that, too. So, my last questions that I have for you would really be, what do you notice in terms of eating? So, bringing it back to feeding and kids who maybe have a more limited diet, oftentimes I notice that kids show up at mealtime already overstimulated, and then the odds that they're going to try something new or actually sit down at the table and have a successful mealtime are very, very low.
And so oftentimes I talk about how we can do some of those sensory activities before mealtime in order to help them come into mealtime in a more regulated place. I would love for you to touch on that and maybe some of those activities that you've recommended before mealtime and if you've seen that that actually helps with [00:24:00] mealtime.
Reena: So yeah, I can do something just before mealtime, but I feel it should be a routine where the child gets it in the form of a sensory diet or the parent is working to get those vestibular proprioceptive tactile systems to work and integration. In general, that should be a part of the routine is what I feel.
But activities just before mealtime would include, I used to use a lot of music. It could be either in therapeutic listening, there are these musics called quick shift music. So there is this music called quick shift, oral motor respiratory. There is another music called quick shift regulation.
So these are kinds of music that can be done while maybe the child is bouncing on a ball. Maybe you're doing a rough and tumble play. Maybe you're doing a pillow fight. Maybe you're doing a nice deep pressure for the full body. Maybe you put the child into a lycra in complete flexion, where the knees are touching the chest and the neck is down.
So in that position and the child is just moved [00:25:00] rhythmically in that lycra swing. So these are all ways that the child would calm down and in the background the quick music could play. The safe and sound protocol is another thing, which is like just a five hour long protocol, but if that's done, that also helps with a lot of mealtime and eating and those things.
So a lot of things just before is good, but I think it should be a part of the routine. Working on primitive reflexes, mainly the defensive reflexes, that's the Moro reflex. Working on integrating that reflex is very important and the fear paralysis reflex. So there are many ways to do it, but simply just putting your hand on the child's chest, like on the sternum here and just going one, two, one, two, three, simple, like one, two, cha cha cha, that rhythm.
Then let your child breathe. Nice in breath, out breath, two breath cycles, doing it again, one, two, one, two, three, and again, wait, do those three rounds, and do like [00:26:00] as I said, the jumping, also, very important thing is the touching, kids don't like to touch food, so playing with things
which have textures which are similar to that of food. You know what I mean? It's like a lot of paint play or a lot of gooey play. Because that, if the child can tolerate that in the hands, child will be able to tolerate it in the mouth. Because if they can't tolerate in the hands, they can't take it to their mouth.
So I feel these are certain things that can be done to get into it and very important is visually preparing the child. Because if it's just "come on, mealtime", no. I usually tell parents to have a schedule. So if the child knows that in half an hour, It would be mealtime.
We're going to go and eat. Even if I'm jumping or bouncing on the ball, how long would that be? So if all these are told and explained, I think it helps. And modeling that. Modeling it as in parents eating it. Because usually, child is fed and parents [00:27:00] eat separately, but when the child sees how parents are eating it, when I say, wow, look at this food,
oh my God, this crunchiness. Oh, this is so good. I just talk about how I'm enjoying food. So it starts getting paired up as a reinforcer rather than, oh my God, I have to eat. So a lot of things together I feel would help.
Brittyn: I think what you said is really important. I think a lot of parents expect that they're going to offer their child a food for the first time, and the next natural step is eating.
I'm trained in the SOS approach to feeding, which is very sensory oriented, and there are 32 steps in between seeing a food for the first time and actually eating it. And really about six big steps that go from sight, smell, touch, interact, and I didn't say those in order, but it basically helps you get up to eating, and I think that it's an
important thing for us to realize is that it's like building blocks, and you learn those different properties of the food, and I often [00:28:00] share with parents that experiencing all of the sensory experience of that food all at once You're getting the smell, you're getting the taste,
you're getting the feel, all of this happens at once, and so it can be really overstimulating, but when we break it down by sense, they're able to tolerate now the taste plus the feel, or maybe they're able to tolerate actually chewing it in their mouth, and what
that feels like, because we did some of that earlier work, and sat in what feels like boring, work that isn't getting anywhere because you want to see your child eat the food, but in reality, that's the most important groundwork that we need to be setting and you're right.
The sensory experience can be done with things outside of food as well. And I often see that that's a really successful step that especially for kids who maybe gag at food, being able to experience a non food item, but still get the sensory experience, I think is a really helpful tool.
Reena: And, if I see gagging in a [00:29:00] child when they see the food, it's a very, very powerful, strong response from the body, saying that it's, gag is about protection, oh my god, this is something very dangerous for my system, that's what the body is saying.
So it's important to respect it. It's like, oh, he's gagging and still we put the food into the mouth. No, not at all. And if the child is gagging, sometimes just by the sight of it, they gag. So I won't even go to touch that food also. So it's a very, very, very, yes, very gradual way of doing it.
Also, when they start eating, if it's something new, they may take in their mouth, they may not chew it and swallow it. And that's okay. The child has to know throughout that they have a choice. If they don't want it, they can express that and that is okay. If that is what is conveyed by the parent, it would be very helpful to make them try new foods.
You know, the choice is important.
Brittyn: It's really true. It really is. Adding that no pressure, real [00:30:00] time experience really makes a huge difference and it feels opposite whenever you are doing it and you're not used to that, or maybe you grew up in a home that there is a lot of pressure around finishing your plate or taking a bite.
It's hard to unlearn and unravel some of that. One thing that I found actually really helpful is YouTube for food exposure. So for kids who I see are gagging, even when the food's in the room, I'll tell parents, hey, let's take a step back. Let's go watch, maybe it's a cartoon of that food. But also what I've actually seen kids really like, there are YouTube channels of people cutting up different fruits and vegetables, and they love watching it.
I mean, anything on a screen is interesting, but a step back from there, if even that's too much, there's actually YouTube channels of people cutting up those wooden toddler toys that look like, you know, the Velcro, wooden,
yeah, and we've taken a step back to that [00:31:00] even, and it's been something that helped it feel less threatening, where we now can talk about it.
We can look at it and we can translate that into real life. It's really interesting.
Reena: Just one point I want to convey is the one thing that works very powerfully for me and for my parents is I tell them, anticipate that you are going to offer the food and your child is going to have a tantrum.
You have to anticipate. Yeah, so if you're anticipating it again and again and again and then when you actually get it, you're like, it's okay. I knew this would happen because you go with the fact that I'm going to offer food and the child is going to be like, okay, give it to me. I'm fine. That's never going to happen.
That's like utopia, you know, so that's how I feel. So anticipating and I asked them, how long do you think it'll take? So when they think about it, they say 15 days, but if the child is comfortable in five days, or maybe if they say one month and if they are comfortable in 15 days, you feel good about it.
Otherwise it's like, oh, it's been 15 days, I've been trying, he's not eating. The whole approach changes because of that perspective.
Brittyn: [00:32:00] So true. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I think adjusting expectations because feeding is something that we have to learn. And I think a lot of people just they forget they had to learn it because it happens when
they're very young. And so I think as adults, we've been able to learn, if I don't like the smell of that, or I don't like the taste of that, or whatever it might be, I just don't have to eat it. And we kind of forget the learning process. Tonight, actually, so it's, 8 pm for me, 8 30 am. for you, I was putting my son to bed right before I started this podcast episode. And I was reading him a book. And when I was reading him that book, the first time that I read that book, I didn't like it. And I was like, why did I get this book? I don't know it. I was annoyed by it.
Well, turns out it's a song book. So as I started reading it, and when I learned the song and I learned the rhythm, it is one of my favorite [00:33:00] books to read to him. It's called Baby Beluga, by the way, it, for some reason clicked with
me that if I, at the first time, would have expected that this is going to be the perfect experience, we're going to love it, also, it just took me time to learn that book, and I think that we forget all of that learning to read, learning to enjoy things, sometimes is a learning process, and food is no different.
And it takes a lot of time, so for some reason I was thinking of that tonight as I was reading Baby Beluga with Sam, but I think it's helpful for us to understand that we learn to like foods, we learn the sensory experience of those foods.
Reena: And I don't know Brittyn, if you agree, I don't like sweets personally.
I don't like them at all. And my dad used to love sweets, a typical kind of a sweet, which we call malai barfi here. And he used to love malai barfi. Now my dad has passed away. He's not there anymore. But when I do something nice, which I am proud of, I bring a slice of [00:34:00] that malai barfi. I just lick it and I eat it.
So food, I feel, is also associated with a lot of emotion because it brings us into that emotional state. And when you're feeding your kids, it's actually creating those emotional states and bringing in those memories, which we can use like right now, I'm actually taking them from my memory bank.
So if we can be very conscious, I'm sure parents are, it's very hard, no judgment at all. I feel we are all going through those ups and downs of parenting. But if we can also consciously work towards that emotional bank of memories, wow, we ate this together, remember it was so much fun.
I mean, certain foods which are associated with Christmas, certain foods which are associated with Diwali, we have those memory banks. So I feel, it's the emotional state into which the child falls and the food gets associated with that also.
Brittyn: That's so true. And that comes back to the experience that they're having at mealtime and what [00:35:00] emotion is kind of assigned at that meal,
over multiple meals, but I mean the first impression of a food can absolutely make a difference, too. So thank you for bringing that up and thank you so much for sharing all of this with us I learned a lot and I really appreciate
you taking the time and for explaining everything in the way that you did. I think that again, I've never heard any of those sensory systems and everything that
you explained said that way. So thank you so much and share where people can find you and connect with you and what resources you have for families.
Reena: So they can connect with me on YouTube. I have a channel. They can just put Reena Singh, R E E N A S I N G H on YouTube. I have a lot of videos, free resources, lots of them. And then I do a lot of parent trainings. Many related to oral motor, many related to sensory diet, lots of them. They are all there on my website, khushi.
[00:36:00] net. in. So these are the two places. And my app is coming. It's called Autism Insights. And you can subscribe to the app. The app has a free 14 day trial.
It has all my masterclasses. It will have all my courses, recorded courses. It will have daily insights where I'll share every day whatever that I learned while I worked with the child. So it's going to have a lot of stuff. So it's called Awetism Insights, it's A W E, Awetism, A W E T I S M. So you can just find it.
It's there on Android, it's there on iOS, everywhere.
Brittyn: That's amazing. I will definitely link to it. And as we speak, you're about to get ready to launch it. So I can't wait to be able to see that final product. So, I'll definitely share that in the show notes for everybody.
Thank you, Brittyn. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. Same.
Transcribed by Descript
About Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD
Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, is a distinguished Registered Dietitian and Autism Nutrition Expert, known for her innovative, sensory-friendly feeding approach to nutrition for children on the autism spectrum. As the founder of the Nourishing Autism Collective, and as an autism sibling herself, Brittyn brings both professional expertise and personal understanding to her work. She empowers families with her expert guidance, helping children receive essential nutrients for optimal health and development. Her strategies are tailored to the unique dietary needs and sensory preferences of each child.
Brittyn's influence extends beyond her membership site through her active social media presence and her popular podcast, 'Nourishing Autism'. Her educational content on Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms has established her as a leading voice in autism nutrition, providing valuable resources, practical advice, and a supportive community for parents and professionals.
