Episode 245: Using Cooking to Teach Neurodiverse Students: Unlocking Skills and Building Connections

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Discussed in this episode

✅ Sequence, order and routine

✅ Writing skills like recipes and observations

✅ Why cooking for somebody else is important to teach

✅ Sensory desensitisation (you don’t have to do the eating for cooking to be worthwhile)

✅ Motor Skills

✅ The importance of “Backward chaining”

✅ Tips and tools to make it easier to start cooking

Cooking can be used as a tool to teach various skills such as reading, comprehension, sequencing, and even math.

Sensory Learning: Cooking can help children understand and navigate their sensory preferences, such as the sound of a frying pan or the feeling of cold items from the fridge. 

Math Skills: Cooking can be used to teach fractions, volume, and even problem-solving skills. For example, doubling or halving a recipe can help children understand multiplication and division.

Motor Skills: Cooking involves various motor skills such as stirring, flipping, and opening containers. It’s a great way to help children develop these skills.

Hygiene: Cooking provides an opportunity to teach children about hygiene, such as washing hands before and after cooking.

Problem-Solving: Cooking can help children develop problem-solving skills. For example, if a recipe doesn’t turn out as expected, children can learn to think about what went wrong and how to fix it.

Social Skills: Cooking can help children develop social skills such as turn-taking, requesting help, and expressing likes and dislikes.

Creativity: Cooking allows children to be creative. They can experiment with different ingredients and flavors, and even invent their own recipes.

Fabulous Resources To Teach Cooking