Teaching communication to students with disabilities is essential because communication is the foundation for learning, relationships, independence, and behavior management. Every person—regardless of ability—has the right to express needs, wants, feelings, thoughts, and choices. Teaching communication ensures that students with disabilities have a voice in their world. But, teaching communication, especially to students with disabilities, requires intentional strategies, patience, and individualized approaches. There are a lot of strategies used to build communication skills and development: gestures, pictures, signs, objects, visuals, devices… and food! Food tends to be a favorite strategy used by a lot of teachers because it is motivating for foodies, and easy to implement. Using food to teach communication to students with disabilities can be helpful in certain situations, but it also comes with important limitations and concerns. For me, I rarely used food to teach communication, and when I did, it was used in natural settings, i.e., breakfast and/or lunch. If you do choose to use food, here’s a breakdown to help you decide if and when it’s a good idea!
Why Is Using Food An Issue?
To motivate students to communicate, the food used has to be a food that gets students to respond. What this means is that teachers use student’s favorite foods! These foods tend to be cereal, cookies, chips, crackers, puddings, candy, etc… all unhealthy foods. Rarely do you have the student who enjoys carrot sticks, celery sticks, fruits, cheese sticks, etc.
When Using Food Can Be Effective
Food can be a powerful motivator… a very powerful motivator! Especially for students who are nonverbal or early communicators, are working on requesting or making choices, or need highly preferred items to engage. In these cases, food is used strategically and sparingly to build meaningful communication.
When Using Food Is Not Effective
Relying too much on food can definitely be a problem, and it does not promote communication. One reason why it does not promote communication is that food is short-term motivation, not long-term learning. For example, students only communicate when food is involved, then learning is not occurring. When students do not generalize those skills to other settings or people, then learning is not occurring.
There is also a health risk involved. Using food can lead to overeating, food obsession, and reinforces unhealthy eating patterns. Also, using food does not promote social communication because food-based communication focuses on wants (“I want cookie”) rather than social or emotional expression (e.g., “help,” “look,” “I feel sad”). And using food definitely can reinforce problem behaviors. Students may tantrum or act out if they don’t receive the food quickly, or if food is withheld. Students can also refuse to eat “healthy foods”, preferring the food used for communication. These students will hold out and not eat because they are looking for their favorites. 
Best Practices
Instead of just food, use a variety of reinforcers. Include toys, social praise, sensory items, or activities. Shift to functional, real-world communication: asking (for help, something to drink during lunch, for a toy, etc.), expressing choices, joining in conversation, etc. Use visual supports, core vocabulary boards, or AAC devices instead of only concrete food items. Involve speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to design balanced communication goals.
The Bottom Line
Food can be a starting point to motivate early communication in students with disabilities, but it should not be the only method or long-term strategy. It’s most effective when used intentionally, in small doses, and with a clear plan to fade it out and build broader communication skills. Your goal is to develop intrinsic communication skills, skills that are motivated by internal needs, feelings, thoughts, and desires, rather than by external rewards like food.
