Maybe you want:

• dinner at home to feel calmer
• your child to join the family for part of a meal
• to visit a café again
• to accept an invitation to someone’s home
• an easier way for your child to ask for help, a break or “finished”

A useful first goal may be very small.

It could be sharing the same room, joining for a familiar snack, visiting a café briefly or leaving before distress builds. The resource treats comfort, communication, connection and recovery as useful outcomes — trying a new food is not required.

Participation can look different. Eating a new food is not the goal of this resource.

Your child may only need:

3-part routine

Get ready → Eat & drink → Finish

Or a fuller 6-step routine.

Or simply:

First → Next → Finished

The pack also includes individual routine cards that can be paired with your child’s own words, photographs, signs or AAC symbols.

Start with the smallest amount of information that makes the meal clearer.

At home

Consider seating, noise, smells, familiar crockery, food touching, predictable routines and what happens after the meal.

A shared meal can still include different foods and different amounts of time together.

In the community

Prepare the parts that make the biggest difference:

where you will sit • familiar food • waiting • a break space • how you will leave

The pack includes a community-meal sequence, support for waiting and unexpected changes, and an outing preview.

At someone else’s home

Plan with the host beforehand.

You can agree on familiar food, a quieter place, a flexible visit and a way to leave without a long goodbye. The pack even includes a Note for Our Host so families can explain what helps without sharing more personal information than they want to.

Mealtimes are easier when your child has a reliable way to communicate:

Help
Break
No thanks
Drink
Finished
More

The pack also includes a support-planning page for recording familiar food and equipment, communication methods, early signs support is needed, and plans for home, community and guest meals.

A child does not need to earn a break, finish the plate or use perfect words before an adult responds.

Mealtimes Together

US$10.90

A 31-page visual support package for making mealtimes more predictable and workable across everyday family life.

The pack includes:

• parent guidance
• short and detailed mealtime routines
• First / Next / Finished board
• reusable routine cards
• home mealtime support
• community meal preparation
• waiting and unexpected-change support
• break and leaving plans
• outing preview
• guest-meal preparation
• A Note for Our Host
• food-space and “No thanks” support
• communication cards
• comfort and support choices
• personalised Mealtime Support Plan
• adult reflection sheet
• blank custom cards
• printing and storage guidance

Best for:
Families who want to support mealtime participation not only at home, but also in restaurants, community settings and other people’s homes.

$10.90Add to cart

This resource supports routines and participation.

It is not feeding therapy and does not replace existing feeding, allergy or swallowing plans. The pack specifically advises seeking appropriate professional support for concerns such as repeated coughing or choking, difficulty chewing, dehydration, poor growth, persistent pain or rapidly narrowing food intake.

Keep your child’s existing health and safety plans at the centre.

Sometimes a visual routine is only one part of the support a child or family may need.

These organisations and resources provide additional information around mealtimes, feeding, health and related support.

1. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust

Eating and drinking information for autistic people

2. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Eating and feeding support

3. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

Food and mealtimes

4. University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Advice for children with autism and restricted eating

5. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing

6. Food Standards Agency

Advice for teenagers and young adults with a food allergy

You do not need to carry or prepare all 31 pages.

Start with:

one routine + communication cards + the pages for your current setting

Then add more only when it makes the situation easier to understand.

The pack recommends printing a little first, keeping relevant visuals easy to see and reach, and storing small setting-specific sets for home, outings or visits.