Last week I was skimming through an academic research paper on the subject of sensory processing in autism. What I was interested in was reading the direct quotes from the group of autistic adult friends discussing their experiences. A few of them agreed that they couldn't stand the sensation of foods that popped or burst in the mouth, like peas.

I'd previously understood about temperature, texture, how hard or soft the food is, and combining foods being potential areas of difficulty, but hadn't considered the way that foods change as you chew them being a source of disgust, but it makes perfect sense! You only have to think of people eating an eyeball on such things as the TV show 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here', where the burst of the eyeball in their mouth is the most disgusting part, to appreciate the problem - peas (or similar) could be just as nauseating for someone with aural sensitivities.

My son announced yesterday that he finds peas too squashy (his choice of vegetable is broccoli - he eats the flower part and leaves the stalk). He's only ever eaten a few peas at any meal, and that all started years ago with a book called Peas!: It's Not Easy Being Peas-y, a fantastic book which my son absolutely loved. It's about two peas called Pete and Penelope (if I remember their names correctly!). That book was the start of my son becoming willing to try new foods and, years later, he now actually asks to try new things sometimes (he can still also reject trying a new thing you offer him).

He understands that as you grow older your food likes and dislikes can change, which is one of the reasons he is insterested in occasionally trying a nibble of something, and he sometimes comments that maybe he'll like it when he's older :) He also knows that we will never force him to eat something he doesn't want to, which gives him the confidence and security to try things - he will never get into trouble for then not eating it all (some tries can result in food spat out into some kitchen roll and a rush to the sink to rinse his mouth out, but that doesn't put him off!).

I have suggested to my husband (who does all the cooking in our household), that he try serving up frozen peas to our son next time. Frozen peas that are still frozen. I remember that when my daughter was younger she used to like having a small bowl of frozen peas as a snack! Perhaps our son will like eating frozen peas, which will of course be hard and crunchy, and he does like iced water, so the combination of cold and crunchy may work well for him. I'll do an update when we've tried it out!