About The Eating Game and Jean Nicol, the Inventor

The Eating Game*TM

* Get Awesome Meals Every Day

The following post is about the creator of The Eating Game,

Jean Nicol, and the game and kit itself.

*Jean Nicol  began a teaching career in 1970 using her Nutrition Degree from St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia to teach Junior High School Home Economics.

*She returned to the same university to do an Education Degree and taught in Grades 1 - 4 for eight years.

*She worked 25 years as a Special Education Teacher, resource and program support teacher, with a special passion for working with children with autism.

*She retired from teaching in 2002 and spent 2 very busy years as an autism consultant for the local school board.

* She spent 3 years working as a part time Early Interventionist, a home visit program for preschoolers with developmental delays and their families.

*A friend, whose child was Autistic, asked Jean to help with her son who was not eating well.

*She was able to use all her education and experience over 37 years to develop The Eating Game.

*The past two years, Jean has had her own small business, EYECAN CREATIONS Publications, established to produce and market The Eating Game and other related products.

Who will benefit from The Eating Game and how is it used?

 Many can benefit from this unique idea: the picky eater, the reluctant eater, the fussy eater, maybe even the compulsive or overeater, the overweight and perhaps undernourished eater, adults in group homes and most recently an adult who has not yet regained speech and writing since having a stroke.

*The Eating Game was created to be used as a support tool to help children plan healthy meals every day.

*The game teaches skills to hopefully improve the users eating habits for a lifetime.

* It is a daily meal planner that includes laminated pictures of food with velcro buttons so that they will adhere to a planning chart based on Canada's Food Guide (very similar to the American Pyramid Model for making healthy food choices).

*The pictures (painted by an artist) and charts are color-coded. The only skills the user needs are: 1) know how to make a choice and 2) match 4 colors (blue, green, yellow, red). Verbal skills are not needed.

*If your child can read and write and does not need the visual supports of the pictures, then you might consider an alternative for ages 4 and up - the Eater's Choice Daily Meal Planners. This is a planning chart like the ones in The Eating Game but in a dry erasable format so food choices are written on the chart, erased at the end of the day to be ready to plan for tomorrow

*The Eating Game will provide a fun and interactive way for the user to be involved in the meal planning process.

*The parent presents the possible food choices, attending to sensory needs, specific likes and dislikes we all have and allergies.

*There are three Editions of The Eating Game: English, French and Mi’kmaw.

*The market for The Eating Game has expanded to include many therapists, community resource clinics, hospital clinics, schools, preschools, children with eating challenges who are not autistic and families who want to involve their children in planning and eating healthier meals.

*For more information about Jean Nicol and The Eating Game follow these links:

j.nicol@live.ca

www.theeatinggame.ca

www.eyecancreations.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/naejic

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jeannicol

http://bit.ly/bWavYB The Eating Game on facebook

Pierrette and I, thank Jean Nicol, for being one of our first and most faithful cyberfriends. Her innovative The Eating Game surely is due to Jean’s savoir faire, based on 37 years working in the Education system and with Special Needs families.

How would you use The Eating Game to make family meals a happy occasion at your table?