Autism And Food

My eleven year old daughter Alli has Autism. She is non-verbal and is trying to find her independence by doing things on her own. If her father and I don't read the signals that she is trying to send us we can sometimes end up cleaning up a really big mess. Tonight while I was blogging she was sharing hugs and kisses, trying to get my attention. Giving hugs and kisses back wasn't enough for her. She knew that mom was busy so she went into the kitchen, which is connected to our computer room, and proceeded to eat banana bread that I had made the night before. She is on a gluten free diet but can smell out food she cannot have from a mile away. I believe she inherited that from her dad. After telling her no and cleaning her up and the kitchen floor at least twice she decided the mess she made in the kitchen just wouldn't be enough and headed upstairs where I thought she was going to watch a movie in her bedroom. After finishing my post I followed her upstairs when I realized she had not gone to her bedroom but into my bedroom. When I walked into my room I realized that she was covered head to toe in chocolate. As I said before she can smell out any food she is not supposed to have no matter where it is hidden. As it turns out she made a detour into her brothers room where he had a box of Pop Tarts hidden, hot fudge sundae flavor I believe, and decided to take two packages into my bedroom, sit on my bed, tear them open, and dig in to have a picnic on my bed. So not only was she full of chocolate but so were my sheets. After giving her a shower to get her cleaned up for bed I then had to wash my sheets and clean up the Pop Tarts from my room. This is just an average night in the life of my Autisic daughter. It doesn't matter how picked up and hidden things are, she is still able to use her long arms and her problem solving mind to get the things she wants no matter how messy she gets.