I have a special interest in food and nutrition for children with additional needs, who may struggle with sensory issues or find new food choices overwhelming. Many children with additional needs have associated dietary or gastric issues and food choices can also play a more significant role in regulating mood or overall mental wellbeing. This is an area that I’m still learning about, but one that I believe is crucially important for our children’s overall health. Every child should be aiming to fulfil their potential on a daily basis, but when many already face multiple barriers to learning, poor diet choices can simply compound this further. A good diet can help support both body and brain - elevating mood, boosting concentration and potentially alleviating problematic symptoms of e.g. anxiety and ADHD to name just two common challenges.

Food is about much more than simply taste and, in conjunction with the Learning and Additional Needs (LAN) Center at Oakfield Junior School in Surrey, I’ve developed a series of workshops offering a multi-sensory approach to learning about food and nutrition.

I tailor make each session to suit the individual needs of the children in the classroom. Working in small groups of 3-4 with teacher support ( - or 1:1 if that’s how a child feels more at ease), children are encouraged to touch, smell and taste beautiful fresh and where possible locally-sourced produce.

My workshops to date have included the following themes: ‘Eat the Rainbow’, ‘Healthy Body, Happy Me (Eatwell Plate Guide), ‘Winter Wellness’, ‘Healthy Hearts’ and ‘Super-powered Summer Berries (Calm your Mind)

Following simple methods to create their own dishes, children learn vital information about their physical health and mental wellbeing in the process. There is a huge sense of achievement from practical learning with tangible results - especially if it also happens to taste good - and I feel strongly that this should form a more significant part of the overall school curriculum.

For many children with additional needs, traditional academic learning can be overwhelming or out of reach. I truly believe that cooking is a way to engage these children in practical lessons, learning valuable life skills and incidentally a few numeracy, literacy and science skills along the way! And for those that can’t cope with a full day at school, chat to me about options for 1:1 or small group sessions in the home as an informal ‘therapy’ to calm their senses and feed their tastebuds.

Of course, any of these sessions can be run for mainstream children too in a school or home setting.