4-year-old boy from Norman battles eating disorder, needs community help

A 4-year-old boy from Norman must travel out of state to treat a condition he’s battling against, which will put heavy strain on his family. 

Gordon Carlson, 4, received the diagnosis of ARFID, or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. He has been in feeding therapy since he was 18 months old. 

Image Provided By: Samantha Carlson

His parents said Gordon, who is almost five, is a twin with high musical intelligence. His mother, Samantha, added that he loves playing outside, swinging on the swing set, and watching planes and trains. 

“His diet right now is baby food mixed with a nutrition formula, and it gets spoon-fed. That process of eating is normal when a baby is six to eight months, but he's almost five years old.” 

Gordon’s diet consists of only a few other things. 

“His most expanded diet is the baby food with the nutrition formula, goldfish crackers, veggie straws, honeycomb cereal, and then he did add apple juice.” 

His mother stressed that ARFID is not the same as picky eating. 

"When Gordon eats right now, it's very mechanical. He gets the nourishment from the food, but there's no conversation. There's no variance in the food. There's not even the act of chewing it,” Samantha shared.  

Gordon’s mom did not recognize the signs initially. 

"The typical stage where it's called ‘oral exploration,’ where a baby takes a toy [and] put[s] it in their mouth to try to explore the toy. He didn't do that at all; he just skipped it." 

She said that was probably the first warning sign. 

"I was a new mom and I didn't see it, so I was actually really excited because I was like, ‘I don't have to worry if he's going to choke.’” 

In addition to ARFID, Gordon also received an autism diagnosis. 

“So he has several different kinds of therapy, and the reason we’re doing that is we’re hoping this interdisciplinary approach will help him, especially with eating since that’s his biggest struggle,” Samantha expressed. 

Gordon’s parents said he is going to leave for treatment soon. 

"We signed him up to go to the hospital for two months, and so that's going to split our family in half and it's going to double all of the normal costs like food, gas and housing." 

Unfortunately, local treatment options are limited, so Gordon will have to go out of state for intensive treatment.  

“In one day, they're going to have more than a month's worth of his normal feeding therapy.” 

Head to their official GoFundMe to help Gordon’s family cover the costs of his medical expenses.