Book Review: Broccoli Boot Camp

Book Review: Broccoli Boot Camp by Keith Williams, PhD, BCBA & Laura Seiverling, PhD, BCBA

I love to put up resources that I find helpful. If you are looking for an interesting and informative read during this time of social distancing. I highly recommend this book. 

Broccoli Bootcamp is written as a guide for parents of children who are selective or picky eaters. I found it equally as valuable as a clinician. This book will give you ideas for therapy and strategies to begin to delve into treatment techniques or research in behavioral feeding. It is an easy read and presents commonsense behavioral interventions to successfully expand diet variety and build comfort with new foods.

The book starts with the idea that when children are encouraged to taste and consume tiny portions of new foods with repetition and practice they learn to accept and enjoy the foods as part of their regular diets. Many therapists, whether you lean toward a sensory based approach or more of a behavioral approach, use repetition and exposure as a way to build comfort and acceptance of new foods. Those of you who know me, know I feel that therapy techniques should be unique to each child and that many of our clients need a hybrid approach of sensory manipulation and behavioral strategies. In order to be effective with the wide variety of feeding disorders we treat, we need to educate ourselves in a variety  of techniques. 

Case studies and research findings are used to illustrate and support the ideas presented on how to overcome a child’s selective eating. The book describes ways to increase participation from the child, how to choose to an intervention, and strategies to shape behavior.  Intervention plans are presented with step-by-step instructions and advice on maximizing success. The book also contains forms to use to  track data, incentives, and meals, and a behavior contract to use with older children.

I found this book resonated with me and how I practice. I enjoyed the research presented and the easy to understand explanations.  I also think the lesson plans could be applicable and easily utilized in teletherapy where we are using a coaching model.

I highly recommend this book and encourage you to check it out.