There are many benefits to cooking with autistic individuals. Some are:
- It is concrete – the person can see the process from beginning to end.
- It is meaningful – the person can see the point of it. It has a goal that makes sense.
- It is sensory – it involves sight, smell, taste, touch.
- It can be adapted to every skill level.
- It can be extended to involve numeracy and literacy skills.
- It is an enjoyable and pleasurable activity.
- It encourages a good self-image through the acquisition of meaningful skills.
Communicating the Activity
This will depend on the autistic person’s communication system and his level of understanding. Even if the person being supporting has good language skills, a visual jig can be invaluable. It will aid understanding, sequencing and independence.
One autistic man I supported would receive negative comments because he "knew perfectly well how to make a cup of tea." However, his problem was sequencing the activity. He knew what he should do at each stage – he just didn’t know the sequencing of stages. Providing him with a visual sequence was the key to his independence.
A sequence of symbols, pictures, sign language or concrete objects can be used. Symbols and pictures will always help communication even if the person has good language and/or sign language skills. I take digital photographs of the person cooking, print them up and make them into a personalised picture jig. However, this will depend on the individual’s specific abilities and the severity, if any, of learning disability. Each person with autism is an individual with their own mix of skill levels and difficulties and each person must have a personally designed support plan.
The Picture Jig
If photographs are used, they can be designed specifically for the person. They can be comprised of large individual photographs laid down one by one as the activity progresses. They can be attached in sequence to a board or smaller, printed on a sheet and laminated depending on the ability level of the person. Do not omit stages even if they seem simple and obvious. High skill levels may accompany problems sequencing. The person may know what to do, but need a memory aid to explain what comes next.
Planning and Preparation
All the ingredients and utensils must be checked in advance. If part of the activity involves the person getting the utensils and ingredients ready, check before the activity begins that they are available. Make sure that all elements of the communication system are there.
Planning and preparation are crucial to a successful activity. The participants must be able to complete the activity and there should not be gaps and delays while things are looked for or while someone has to go to the local shop because there are not enough eggs for the recipe. This could lead to soaring anxiety levels with undesired consequences.
Avoid Problems in Advance
If, for example, a picture or symbol is missing, plan in advance what needs to be done at that stage. Will verbal prompts and hand signals be sufficient? Should the missing photograph be printed beforehand to avoid the person being distressed? Should another recipe for which all the ingredients are available be made instead? That decision will have to be made depending on the flexibility of the person you support. This is when high quality support and knowledge of the individual is so important.
Hygiene
Teaching hand washing is a core skill. Communicate it by using a symbol/picture with the instruction or mime hand washing. Wash your hands with the person to share the activity. There is no better way of reinforcing a skill than to share it. If you wish the person to wear disposable gloves while cooking, the support person should do the same.
Supervision During the Activity
The amount of supervision required during the activity will depend on the person’s skill levels. He may need constant supervision. He may need hand-over-hand support with peeling and chopping vegetables for instance. Perhaps the support person may be able to check that the activity is progressing but leave the individual to complete certain stages unsupervised.
The Aim is Always more Independence for the Person with Autism
A visual aid will give more scope for the support person to stand back and allow more independence. The person may need constant supervision when the activity is introduced, with the aim of enabling more and more autonomy as the skills increase.
Stay Positive Whatever Happens
Remember that people with autism are surrounded by negative comments. Praise what the person can do and do not criticise when something goes wrong. Negative comments feed into the person’s self-image and can quickly undo progress. Negativity and criticism can turn a potentially fun and useful activity into a miserable battle. Allow the person to progress at his own speed. Skills may be forgotten from one session to the next and will need to be constantly and positively reinforced. Do not show any disappointment if that happens. Stay Positive!
What Should We Cook?
Again and always – this depends on the individual being supported. It will depend on his level of learning disability, his particular behavioural traits and his experience. If he has no experience with cooking, start very simple. One person with a moderate to severe leaning disability enjoyed making his desert by chopping some fruit, putting the fruit into a bowl, opening a yogurt and pouring it over the fruit.
This enabled him to express choice by choosing his fruit and the yogurt flavour. The chopping, achieved hand over hand with the support worker, encouraged fine motor skills. Being able to prepare something himself, even something that simple, instead of having it put in front of him, was an enormous aid to his positive self image.
He enjoyed the sensory experience. It helped him to learn to wait for the end result instead of eating the fruit as he chopped it – which took a while to achieve! He was encouraged to carry it to the table himself, which helped his balance. He eventually was able to open the correct drawer and find the implements himself and so on. However, another autistic man was able to learn several recipes and invite his mother to lunch preparing all the dishes himself with minimal supervision.
Praise, Praise, Praise
At the end of the activity, photograph the finished result and, if possible, photograph the person holding and presenting the dish. Use positive images to make a dossier which can also be used to enable the person being supported to choose future activities and to extend activities into full meal preparation. It will become part of that person’s communication system.
Frances Williams - Frances is an Autism specialist with post graduate qualifications but has had to take a career break. She is now a freelance writer. ...
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