IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i6p5092-d1096530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food Selectivity in Children with Autism: Guidelines for Assessment and Clinical Interventions

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Esposito

    (Autism Research and Treatment Centre Una Breccia Nel Muro, 00168 Rome, Italy
    Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnology, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Paolo Mirizzi

    (Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy)

  • Roberta Fadda

    (Department of Pedagogy, Psychology, Philosophy, University of Cagliari, 09100 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Chiara Pirollo

    (Autism Research and Treatment Centre Una Breccia Nel Muro, 00168 Rome, Italy)

  • Orlando Ricciardi

    (Autism Research and Treatment Centre Una Breccia Nel Muro, 00168 Rome, Italy)

  • Monica Mazza

    (Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnology, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Marco Valenti

    (Department of Applied Clinical Sciences and Biotechnology, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
    Regional Centre for Autism, Abruzzo Region Health System, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

Abstract

Autisms Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by core symptoms (social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors) and related comorbidities, including sensory anomalies, feeding issues, and challenging behaviors. Children with ASD experience significantly more feeding problems than their peers. In fact, parents and clinicians have to manage daily the burden of various dysfunctional behaviors of children at mealtimes (food refusal, limited variety of food, single food intake, or liquid diet). These dysfunctional behaviors at mealtime depend on different factors that are either medical/sensorial or behavioral. Consequently, a correct assessment is necessary in order to program an effective clinical intervention. The aim of this study is to provide clinicians with a guideline regarding food selectivity concerning possible explanations of the phenomenon, along with a direct/indirect assessment gathering detailed and useful information about target feeding behaviors. Finally, a description of evidence-based sensorial and behavioral strategies useful also for parent-mediated intervention is reported addressing food selectivity in children with ASD.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Esposito & Paolo Mirizzi & Roberta Fadda & Chiara Pirollo & Orlando Ricciardi & Monica Mazza & Marco Valenti, 2023. "Food Selectivity in Children with Autism: Guidelines for Assessment and Clinical Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-33, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:6:p:5092-:d:1096530
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/5092/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/5092/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katarina Babinska & Hana Celusakova & Ivan Belica & Zofia Szapuova & Iveta Waczulikova & Dagmar Nemcsicsova & Aleksandra Tomova & Daniela Ostatnikova, 2020. "Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Feeding Problems and Their Associations with Dietary Interventions, Food Supplement Use, and Behavioral Characteristics in a Sample of Children and Adolescents with Autis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-18, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:6:p:5092-:d:1096530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.