Abstract:
Eating is an essential skill, vital for continued growth and development. Fussy eating is commonly reported for children aged two to five years old, often thought of as a typical developmental stage. If pro-longed, fussy eaters can become selective eaters who often have heavily restricted diets. Restricted diets can lead to disruptive family mealtimes and disengagement in social settings. At large, behaviour analytic interventions dominant the literature for serious feeding concerns involving children aged between 5 and 12-years-old, most conducted in highly controlled clinical settings with a therapist. The literature highlights the need for understanding mild selective eating concerns for children under the age of five in a home setting.
This study implemented an intervention for pre-school aged children with fussy eating. Commonly recommended intervention options, repeated exposure and modelling, were implemented first to encourage acceptance of new foods. Insufficient acceptance led to further assessment and development of individualised function-based interventions, which were delivered over three months. Parents implemented the procedure themselves, following an increase in target food acceptance early in the intervention period. During the intervention period, social validity data were collected. The function-based intervention methods and associated assessments are compared with current literature. Limitations and future recommendations are discussed.