Looking for a way to relate to your child, have fun together, and teach skills at the same time? Then look no further. Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer has a delightful approach and a rewarding recipe for family life. --Robert A. Naseef, Ph.D., psychologist, parent, and author of
Special Children, Challenged Parents: The Struggles and Rewards of Raising a Child with a Disability, and co-editor of
Voices from the SpectrumParents of children with developmental disabilities such as autism, ADHD and Down syndrome can use
The Kitchen Classroom to spend quality time with them while teaching them the fundamentals of cooking.
This innovative cookbook by a cooking instructor shares how to cook with a developmental disability, plus step-by-step recipes for adults and a CD-ROM with photos and words to provide visual cues for children.
There are color photos for each recipe, so children won't have to guess what the finished product will look like.
Each recipe can be a learning experience for a child. Recipes are coded so that each step indicates what skill being honed: math, science, literacy, communication, social skills, sensory activity, fine motor and gross motor. Children can learn from activities like cracking eggs into bowls, setting a kitchen timer, rolling meatballs, measuring ingredients and more.
The author has a son with autism. He follows the GFCF diet for the most part, with occasional low casein treats. Kaplan-Mayer says the diet has helped, though not cured, her son. She offers words of support to other parents of autistic children. 'For me, it has been removing the expectation to cure my child that has allowed me to focus on being present for him to work on his neurological deficits while building our emotional relationship,' she writes.
The recipes are all simple but come with detailed instructions. For example, making lemonade takes up two pages of instruction. Parents will need patience as they go through each step to teach their child helpful skills. But 32 recipes later, parents and their children will have created some tasty dishes and lasting memories. --Gluten Intolerance Group Magazine, Spring 2011
The Kitchen Classroom: 32 Visual GFCF Recipes to Boost Developmental Skills helps kids develop communication, motor and social skills through the activity of cooking. This book and CD-ROM set is designed to be fun and educational for all families, including those with special needs. Author Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is a freelance writer, cooking instructor, and mother of a son with autism. Her approach to parents and children reflects her understanding of autism, Down syndrome, and ADHD. All of the recipes are gluten-free and many are casein-free.
The strength of this cookbook is the way Kaplan-Mayer weaves framing into the cooking activities. Framing is setting up an activity for the child s developmental level so that the activity is a success. Reducing clutter and preparing for noise (blenders!) will lead to a more successful experience. Modifying cooking techniques to honor a child s developmental level and sensory sensitivities leads to a more pleasurable activity for everyone.
The accompanying CD-ROM is a delightful set of visual cooking instructions in pdfs. Kaplan-Mayer encourages readers to print out, laminate, and place instructions in a binder for repeated use. Readers may insert pictures of their families into the pdfs for a customized experience of the book.
The author believes that dietary interventions help her son but she does not believe that her son will be cured through diet. She is an advocate of cooking as a culturally rich experience for families. She encourages readers to adapt recipes to fit their own dietary needs. --CAPHIS Consumer Connections
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer is a freelance writer, educator, and cooking instructor based in Philadelphia. She is the author of several nonfiction books for adults, including INSULIN PUMP THERAPY DEMYSTIFIED and THE CREATIVE JEWISH WEDDING BOOK. Gabrielle currently teaches a cooking class at Gratz College, in which teenagers cook meals for several hundred home-bound senior citizens each month. Previously, she was a cooking instructor for Williams-Sonoma in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. As a mother of two young children, including a son with autism, Gabrielle also shares her personal experience of engaging with them as they create healthy, wholesome food together.
