Interventions for autistic children with behavioural feeding needs: a scoping review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Purpose Autistic children are at an increased risk of presenting with feeding support needs when compared to their peers, which impact significantly from a social, nutritional and medical perspective. However, research would indicate that the mealtime and eating challenges also have far-reaching consequences for the parents and family of the autistic child. Evidence from past systematic reviews shows that behaviourist-based interventions are the most effective for increasing oral intake. This scoping review aims to systematically search the literature to landscape interventions with other theoretical underpinnings for autistic children under 12 years of age, and to explore if consideration is given to the impact of these eating challenges on the parents and families. A search was conducted in line with PRISMA-ScR checklist across five databases (Pubmed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Embase) to identify studies that were published in the last 50 years (from 1973 to 2023). Nine studies met the inclusion criteria and were grouped into three categories: psychology-led, occupational therapy-led, multi-disciplinary-led (home and school). The most cited component of intervention, irrespective of category, was parental training and education. Limited focus was placed on exploring or addressing the emotional impact of the eating challenges on the child, parents or the family unit. Given the complexity of the feeding behaviours and the emotional journey of feeding experienced by the parents, comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessment is indicated to individualise and tailor a family-centred intervention to meet the unique needs of the individual child and the family. Design/methodology/approach A search was conducted in line with PRISMA-ScR checklist across five databases (Pubmed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Embase) to identify studies that were published in the last 50 years (from 1973 to 2023). Nine studies met the inclusion criteria and were grouped into three categories: psychology-led, occupational therapy-led, multi-disciplinary led. Findings The most cited component of intervention, irrespective of category, was parental training and education. Limited focus was placed on exploring or addressing the emotional impact of the eating challenges on the child, parents or the family unit. Given the complexity of the feeding behaviours and the emotional journey of feeding experienced by the parents, comprehensive multi-disciplinary assessment is indicated to individualise and tailor a family centred intervention to meet the unique needs of the individual child and the family. Research limitations/implications Some of the included studies were case studies or were on relatively small samples. Given the lack of agreed terminology in this area, it is possible that some relevant studies may inadvertently have been excluded. In addition, given that this review only included studies that were identified through the search terms and databases and did not include and grey material, it is also possible that not all relevant research was identified. As only English language articles were included, there is potential that this also limited the search. Lastly, while the age range of the search was narrowed to children under 12 years of age for a specific purpose, interventions available to adolescents and young adults may have furnished this review with additional information. Practical implications Overall, the findings from this scoping review underline the importance of parental training in intervention with this cohort of children. In addition, intervention needs to be informed by a detailed and holistic assessment of the child’s needs, while also considering the impact of the mealtime behaviours on the family. This will result in a more tailored approach that addresses both the child’s specific mealtime requirements, and the familial and social implications of the needs. Given the complexity and diverse nature of the eating challenges, a multi-disciplinary approach is also required that incorporates strategies and approaches from various professional backgrounds Social implications Timely intervention is needed for this cohort of children that is multifaceted and multi-disciplinary in nature. Originality/value This paper is a scoping literature review of the original work done by researchers in the field of autism and eating.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.008 | 0.044 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.007 | 0.006 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.009 | 0.008 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.006 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".