Judge is an 11-year-old with autism. At four, he had a variety of sensory issues and would only eat yellow foods. Today, after intensive feeding therapy, he eats a relatively balanced diet. But he still loves fast food and like many of us, he associates food with comfort – particularly fresh-baked cookies. His requests can be hard to resist.

“He does perseverate on food sometimes,” observes his mother, Barbara. “He loves cookies baked in the oven, the whole process of buying them, cooking them and eating them. He’s so happy the whole time, he’ll say, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you,’ so it’s very easy to get caught up in it and want to do it all the time. It just makes him so happy.”

Over time though, Barbara has learned that food requests can be an indication of anxiety rather than hunger. “When he’s nervous or anxious he’ll start asking for food,” she explains. “Your first instinct when your child is asking for food is to give it to him. But I can redirect him to an activity that makes him feel safe and secure. I’ll say, ‘Let’s go play chutes and ladders.’ We do something else that brings him the comfort that the food does.”