Starting to Panic about SID son going to all -day Kindy: Lunch?

[JamesMom]

I thought I was ready but after attending Meet the teacher night last night I am not sure.

My son, who has Sensory Intergration Disorder, has an IEP and has been in special ed/early childhood since age 2. He is being mainstreamed into full day Kindy. It took me a few months but I think he can handle the academics with help (which his IEP is providing). He thrives on routine and rules so that shouldn't be a problem *fingers crossed* He did give a fright last night when it took 5 minutes of comforting to get him out the car at school. He was scared because he was moving into a new classroom and teacher. We did the bait and switch where we were going to DS7 2nd grade teacher and then Opps? Are we in John's Kindy class? how did that happen? Well, while we are here lets me the teacher, lol. He wouldn't look at the teacher directly but at least we got him into the room with ease... We had talked for several weeks about the new class, bus, lunch, etc. to acclimate him.

What I am petrified about is behavior, especially lunchtime. My son still has knock down, drag out, kicking and screaming temper tantrums when things don't go exactly the way he wants or thinks it should. Additionally, he is insanely picky about food.

An aside, over the summer we focused on toilet training and for the most part, have it undercontrol except for a few smears most days. We focused on this because I didn't want him stimatized and made fun of by his peers. I am already worried about the teasing because of his speech delay (he has the language skills of a 3.5 year old). So we haven't worked on varying his diet which consists of dairy products and crackers/cereal for the moment. He has some serious food fetishes.

So...here is my delimina. What in the world is he going to eat all day? I got a copy of the school lunch menu for I thought we would just throw him in the deep end and "make" him eat school food or go hungry. But then I had flashes of all out temper tantrums and calls from the school about how I am not feeding my son, etc. Kids laughing at him, him miserable and me ashamed.
He is in school from 7:30a where he will eat breakfast in the cafeteria (which have done in the past - cereal and milk - his favs) until 3:20 when he gets off the bus.

Am I over reacting? I don't know wether to bring a lunch with his beloved dairy products (no refridgeration during the day) or pack a lunch of peanut butter and crackers, cereal, raisins (the only fruit he will eat) and buy a milk? Should I suggest he attempt school lunch or let peers influence him? Ugh.

Isn't it crazy how it's the little things that make you go insane? lol. BTW school starts Monday.

 

[SueM in MN]

I am going to move this thread to the disABILITIES Community Board, where subjects not related to WDW are discussed. You will probably find you get more input there since people with disabilities/children with disabilities who are not planning WDW trips are on that board more often.

I would suggest you look into lunch containers that are designed to keep things cold or hot. That would be a good solution for not having refrigeration.
You can find those containers at places like Target and Walmart in the school supplies and sports gear areas. You can do a google search for lunch kits or lunch box to find out what is available - 2 of the common brands are Aladdin and Thermos. (Thermos has a bigger selection of 'cool' containers). They are not inexpensive, but will keep the food safe. You can also put hot foods in most of them too.

That way you can alternate meals of dairy products with the things that don't need refrigeration that he will eat.

 

[melissa37]

I would go with packing a lunch. My DS 8 is autistic and very picky with his food. He ate at school in K and 1st and then suddenly in 2nd he quit eating the lunch at school. Took about 2 weeks to figure out why he was eating non stop in the afternoon and evenings. Needless to say I felt extremely guilty and immediately started sending a lunch and it has been much better. I'm just bored making the exact same thing every day for over a year now.

I have learned with him that the eat or go hungry option does not work. Trying to force him to eat something he has an objection to just does not work, and causes stress for everyone.

Good luck!

 

[millerpjm]

I would do whatever makes your DS most comfortable to start. You could start off the year (first couple of weeks) packing a lunch. Then, once he sees the other kids eating hot lunch you could ask if he wants to eat hot lunch also.

My DS goes through the lunch menu each month and picks which days he wants hot lunch and we mark it down. The other days I pack a lunch. It ends up being about a 50-50 split of hot/cold lunch.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Pack the lunch. Use frozen ice packs to keep the dairy from spoiling.

You'd be surprised how well our kids can do!

 

[Hannathy]

A friend of my son's brought cereal in his lunch at least 3x a week, So it is nothing new and not anything that a lot of other kids don't do. Put the cereal in one of the plastic bowls with a lid and he can add the milk at school from the carton he buys. If he likes milk he can buy 2 cartons 1 to drink and 1 to put on his cereal.

I don't do food battles and especially at school or a kids lunch. They need the food to get the energy to focus and do their best and work hard and you can't do that if your stomach is growling.
My son took the same lunch everyday for a year except for the few times they had french toast strips on the menu. I tried varying it at the beginning and he would just not eat it. I asked don't you get bored? Don't you want something different and he said NO. so I gave up and packed a PB&J with grape only jelly,1 rice Krispy treat, 1 fruit rollup and occasionally a baggie of Dorito's or Frito's.
Last year I was able to put in a ham and cheese sandwich occasionally but the rest stayed the same.
Send what he likes and save the battles for something important (like the temper tantrums)

 

[JamesMom]

OP here,
Thanks for all the replies. I feel a bit better sharing my zaniness with people who 'understand'.

I have thought about sending ice packs, dishes, thermos, etc. But he just turned 5, in a class of 20, in a crowded and boisterous cafeteria, I doubt any of the stuff would make it back home and no one would notice at school.
I made up the list of of his favorite non-perishables and we will start there: fruit loops cereal, goldfish crackers, whole wheat crackers w/peanut butter, raisins, with juice (the sneaky kind made with vegatables, shhh don't tell him). He can buy milk there. He can eat some of his lunch for snack (per teacher suggestion) since they don't have lunch until almost 5 hours (!!!) into the school day. Crazy for any 5 year old, if you ask me.

This is new territory for me. My older son has no issues like these (just asthma ) and when my youngest is at the drop-off daycare, or "camp" as he calls it, they serve chicken nuggets everyday for lunch and they know his temperament.

Guess I gotta loosen those apron strings...*sniff*

Thanks again for the helpful comments.

 

[disfan07]

Regarding the ice packs, I wouldnt rule those out completely.

When I was in kindergarten, my mom always sent an ice pack in my lunch and we had 2 kindergarten classes with like 25-30 kids in each in the cafeteria along with the 5 first grade classes (another about 120 students) and according to my mom, I only lost 2 ice packs thorughout the year (and those were the 2 I accidently threw away)

My mom would put a piece of tape with my name, my teachers name and room number on it so if it was left in the cafeteria, it would be returned. We had teacher lunch monitors whos job it was to do a sweep of the cafeteria afterwards to make sure nothing was left behind. If they missed something, thte custodians usually foudn it and would take it to the front office to be returned.

 

[kirstenb1]

If you get LL Bean lunchboxes, they have a pocket in the side to keep an iceblock in. Other lunchboxes might, too. My point is, your son would have to deliberately remove the iceblock to throw it away. There's no way it will just tumble out.

I would absolutely pack his lunch, and have him help me choose what went into it. Don't worry about what anyone else thinks. As long as he's eating his favorite foods, and is able to tune out the cafeteria noise, that will be a huge victory!

 

[bookwormde]

I hate to say this but it is a bit of an "experiment" with our kids. Have a trained person (psychologist, councilor or an experienced sensory para) sit with him or near him the first few days, and see if there are signs of stress from the sensory issues and perform a sensory audit if there are.

bookwormde

 

[barkley]

do the kids have to commit to eating hot lunch by a certain time each day?

reason i ask is b/c the elementary near us does'nt make the kids pre-order their hot lunches. there's a system set up where you put money on their account and at lunch time if they opt to have it, they just get in line to get it and it's debited from their account.

if this is the case, you might consider sending lunch each day but giving him the option of having hot lunch if it appeals to him. it could be that a meal might not sound appealing to him when shown the menu but then the smell or look of it on a classmate's tray gets him interested.


i've got a pickey eater too-so he takes his lunch but knows he's got the option of buying too (and it's surprising how many things he's come home and announced that he's tried at school that he's turned down at home a million times over-but now he likes it).

btw-noone will question cereal for lunch. some of the stuff kids bring would make you-there was a period of time when for some unknown reason the trend at dd's school was the kids bringing packages of top ramen-and they ate it right out of the package, dry and uncooked dd never did, but according to her teacher it was'nt the oddest food trend she had seen

 

[LMC]

I homeschooled the early years but put DS in school in the middle of 5th grade. It is in his IEP that he have an alternate location to eat due to extreme vomiting tendencies. This has gotten better over the years (he is in 10th grade this year) and he goes to the main lunchroom now. He did use the school office his first two years as his alternate location. It is also written that he be able to use the office microwave (there are none in the lunchroom) to warm up his lunch. He takes a lunch every day, a choice of one of three items he will eat for a meal. If he does not have this accomodation, he would not eat all day. It has gone well for us since they saw that first year how extreme his SID was.

I thought I was ready but after attending Meet the teacher night last night I am not sure.

My son, who has Sensory Intergration Disorder, has an IEP and has been in special ed/early childhood since age 2. He is being mainstreamed into full day Kindy. It took me a few months but I think he can handle the academics with help (which his IEP is providing). He thrives on routine and rules so that shouldn't be a problem *fingers crossed* He did give a fright last night when it took 5 minutes of comforting to get him out the car at school. He was scared because he was moving into a new classroom and teacher. We did the bait and switch where we were going to DS7 2nd grade teacher and then Opps? Are we in John's Kindy class? how did that happen? Well, while we are here lets me the teacher, lol. He wouldn't look at the teacher directly but at least we got him into the room with ease... We had talked for several weeks about the new class, bus, lunch, etc. to acclimate him.

What I am petrified about is behavior, especially lunchtime. My son still has knock down, drag out, kicking and screaming temper tantrums when things don't go exactly the way he wants or thinks it should. Additionally, he is insanely picky about food.

An aside, over the summer we focused on toilet training and for the most part, have it undercontrol except for a few smears most days. We focused on this because I didn't want him stimatized and made fun of by his peers. I am already worried about the teasing because of his speech delay (he has the language skills of a 3.5 year old). So we haven't worked on varying his diet which consists of dairy products and crackers/cereal for the moment. He has some serious food fetishes.

So...here is my delimina. What in the world is he going to eat all day? I got a copy of the school lunch menu for I thought we would just throw him in the deep end and "make" him eat school food or go hungry. But then I had flashes of all out temper tantrums and calls from the school about how I am not feeding my son, etc. Kids laughing at him, him miserable and me ashamed.
He is in school from 7:30a where he will eat breakfast in the cafeteria (which have done in the past - cereal and milk - his favs) until 3:20 when he gets off the bus.

Am I over reacting? I don't know wether to bring a lunch with his beloved dairy products (no refridgeration during the day) or pack a lunch of peanut butter and crackers, cereal, raisins (the only fruit he will eat) and buy a milk? Should I suggest he attempt school lunch or let peers influence him? Ugh.

Isn't it crazy how it's the little things that make you go insane? lol. BTW school starts Monday.

 

[Kat77]

Freeze juice or water to act as the icepack if possible.

We pack lunches here too. Like Barkley suggested, I keep money in the kids lunch accounts so they always have the option of buying if something appeals to them. Truthfully the account only gets used to buy milk, ice cream and chips by DS10 and even that is pretty rare. DS13 will randomly buy a lunch now he is in middle school and has more choices at the snack bar.
My girls buy lunch more often because unlike my boys they get tired of what can be packed easily.

When DS10 was in kindy he would eat the vegetarian lunch (yogurt and fruit with a drink). It cost half of what the regular school lunch did and took me forever to figure out why he never ran low on money. Ask the cafeteria what other options are available but not on the menu. Ours has a veg lunch and pb&j's every day. They will also make the kids in our AS program a bunless chicken sandwich if nothing else will work... but that's a secret ! Even if you decide to pack lunches, it is good to know whats available in case mom gets the flu or lunchbox is forgotten in the car and not discovered until too late.