Abstract
Feeding problems are common in all children but tend to occur more often in children with developmental disabilities. Feeding problems may range from eating no to minimal food by mouth, liquid dependency, and food selectivity. The etiology of a feeding disorder is multifaceted which involves the interaction between medical, physiological, and behavioral variables. In addition, children with feeding problems often engage in a variety of inappropriate mealtime behaviors to avoid eating. This chapter will provide a description of various feeding problems as well as a summary of the tools currently used to assess feeding problems in children including medical evaluation, assessment of oral and/or sensory motor deficits, swallowing evaluation, and behavioral assessment techniques to identify environmental variables contributing to the feeding problem.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ahearn, W. H., Kerwin, M. E., Eicher, P. S., Shantz, J., & Swearingin, W. (1996). An alternating treatments comparison of two intensive interventions for food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 29, 321–332.
American Speech-Language Hearing Association. (2007). Directory of speech-language pathology association assessment instruments. Rockville, MD: ASHA.
Archer, L. A., Rosenbaum, P. L., & Streiner, D. L. (1991). The children’s eating behavior inventory: Reliability and validity results. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 16, 629–642.
Arvedson, J. C. (2008). Assessment of pediatric dysphagia and feeding disorders: Clinical and instrumental approaches. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 14, 118–127.
Babbitt, R. L., Hoch, T. A., & Coe, D. A. (1994). Behavioral feeding disorders. In D. Tuchman & R. Walters (Eds.), Pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders: Pathology, diagnosis, and treatment. San Diego, CA: Singular.
Berlin, K. S., Davies, W. H., Silverman, A. H., Wood, D. W., Fischer, E. A., & Rudolph, C. D. (2010). Assessing children’s mealtime problems with the mealtime behavior questionnaire. Children’s Health Care, 39, 142–156.
Berlin, K. S., Davies, W. H., Silverman, A. H., & Rudolph, C. D. (2011). Assessing family-based feeding strategies, strengthens, and mealtime structure with feeding strategies questionnaire. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36, 586–595.
Borrero, C. S., Wood, J. N., Borrero, J. C., Masler, E. A., & Lesser, A. D. (2010). Descriptive analyses of pediatric food refusal and acceptance. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43, 71–88.
Buckley, S. D., & Newchok, D. K. (2005). An evaluation of simultaneous presentation and differential reinforcement with response cost to reduce packing. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 155–163.
Casey, S. D., Perrin, C. J., Lesser, A. D., Casey, C. L., Perrin, S., & Reed, G. K. (2009). Using descriptive assessment in the treatment of bite acceptance and food refusal. Behavior Modification, 33, 537–558.
Christophersen, E. R., & Hall, C. L. (1978). Eating patterns and associated problems encountered in normal children. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 3, 1–16.
Cooper, L. J., Wacker, D. P., McComas, J., Brown, K., Peck, S. M., Richman, D., et al. (1995). Use of component analysis to identify active variables in treatment packages for children with feeding disorders. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 139–153.
Crist, W., Dobbelsteyn, C., Broussaeau, A., & Napier-Phillips, A. (2004). Pediatric assessment scale of severe feeding problems: Validity and reliability of a new scale for tube-fed children. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 19, 403–408.
Crist, W., & Napier-Phillips, A. (2001). Mealtime behaviors of young children: A comparison of normative and clinical data. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 22, 279–286.
Davies, W. H., Ackerman, L. K., Davies, C. M., Vannatta, K., & Noll, R. B. (2007). About your child’s eating: Factor structure and psychometric properties of a feeding relationship measure. Eating Behaviors, 8, 457–463.
Gouge, A. L., & Ekvall, S. W. (1975). Diets of handicapped children: Physical, psychological and socioeconomic correlations. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 80, 149–157.
Hendy, H. M., Williams, K. E., Camise, T. S., Eckman, N., & Hendemann, A. (2009). The Parent Mealtime Action Scale (PMAS). Development and association with children’s diet and weight. Appetite, 52, 328–339.
Hyman, P. E. (1994). Gastroesophageal reflux: One reason why baby won’t eat. The Journal of Pediatrics, 125, 103–109.
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. The Nervous Child, 2, 217–250.
Kerwin, M. E. (1999). Empirically supported treatments in pediatric psychology: Severe feeding problems. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 24, 193–214.
Levin, L., & Carr, E. G. (2001). Food selectivity and problem behavior in children with developmental disabilities: Analysis and intervention. Behavior Modification, 25, 443–470.
Linscheid, T. R., Budd, K. S., & Rasnake, L. K. (1995). Pediatric feeding disorders. In M. C. Roberts (Ed.), Handbook of pediatric psychology (pp. 501–515). New York, NY: Guilford.
Linscheid, T. R., & Rasnake, L. K. (1985). Behavioral approaches to the treatment of failure to thrive. In D. Drotar (Ed.), New directions in failure to thrive: Implications for research and practice (pp. 279–294). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Lukens, C. T. (2011). Behavioral assessment of pediatric feeding problems. In V. R. Preedy, R. R. Watson, & C. R. Martin (Eds.), Handbook of behavior, food and nutrition (pp. 3437–3452). New York, NY: Springer.
Lukens, C. T., & Linscheid, T. R. (2008). Development and validation of an inventory to assess mealtime behavior problems in children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 342–352.
Manikam, R., & Perman, J. A. (2000). Pediatric feeding disorders. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, 30, 34–46.
Matson, J. L., & Kuhn, D. (2001). Identifying feeding problems in mentally retarded persons: Development and reliability of a screening tool of feeding problems (STEP). Research in Developmental Disabilities, 21, 165–172.
Munk, D. D., & Repp, A. C. (1994). Behavioral assessment of feeding problems of individuals with severe disabilities. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27, 241–250.
Najdowski, A. C., Wallace, M. D., Doney, J. K., & Ghezzi, P. M. (2003). Parental assessment and treatment of food selectivity in natural settings. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36, 383–386.
Palmer, M. M., Crawley, K., & Blanco, I. A. (1993). Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment Scale: A reliability study. Journal of Perinatology, 13, 28–35.
Palmer, M. M., & Hayman, M. B. (1993). Assessment and treatment of sensory motor-based feeding problems in very young children. Infants & Young Children, 6, 67–73.
Palmer, S., & Horn, S. (1978). Feeding problems in children. In S. Palmer & S. Ekvall (Eds.), Pediatric nutrition in developmental disorders (pp. 107–129). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Patel, M. R. (2008). Feeding problems in children: An innovative approach to treatment. San Francisco Medicine, 81, 24–26.
Patel, M. R., Piazza, C. C., Kelly, M. L., Ochsner, C. A., & Santana, C. M. (2001). Using a fading procedure to increase fluid consumption in a child with feeding problems. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34, 357–360.
Patel, M. R., Piazza, C. C., Martinez, C. J., Volkert, V. M., & Santana, C. M. (2002). An evaluation of two differential reinforcement procedures with escape extinction to treat food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 35, 363–374.
Patel, M. R., Reed, G. K., Piazza, C. C., Mueller, M., Bachmeyer, M. H., & Layer, S. A. (2007). Use of a high-probability instructional sequence to increase compliance to feeding demands in the absence of escape extinction. Behavioral Interventions, 22, 305–310.
Perske, R., Clifton, A., McClean, B. M., & Stein, J. I. (1977). Mealtimes for severely and profoundly handicapped persons: New concepts and attitudes. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
Piazza, C. C., Fisher, W. W., Brown, K. A., Shore, B. A., Katz, R. M., Sevin, B. M., et al. (2003). Functional analysis of inappropriate mealtime behaviors. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 187–204.
Piazza, C. C., Patel, M. R., Santana, C. M., Goh, H. L., Delia, M. D., & Lancaster, B. M. (2002). An evaluation of simultaneous and sequential presentation of preferred and nonpreferred foods to treat food selectivity. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 35, 259–270.
Piazza, C. C., Patel, M. R., Gulotta, C. S., Sevin, B. S., & Layer, S. A. (2003). The relative contribution of positive reinforcement and escape extinction in the treatment of food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36, 309–324.
Piazza, C. C., & Carroll-Hernandez, T. A. (2004). Assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders. In R. E. Tremblay, R. G. Barr, & R. Dev Peters (Eds.), Encyclopedia on early childhood development [online] (pp. 1–7). Montreal, QC: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development.
Reed, G. K., Piazza, C. C., Patel, M. R., Layer, S. A., Bachmeyer, M. H., Bethke, S. D., et al. (2004). On the relative contributions of noncontingent reinforcement and escape extinction in the treatment of food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 37, 27–41.
Reilly, S., Skuse, D., & Wolke, D. (2000). SOMA: Schedule for oral motor assessment. Eastgardens, NSW: Whurr.
Rivas, K. D., Piazza, C. C., Patel, M. R., & Bachmeyer, M. H. (2010). Spoon distance fading with and without escape extinction as treatment for food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43, 673–683.
Rogers, B., & Arvedson, J. (2005). Assessment of infant oral sensorimotor and swallowing function. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 11, 74–82.
Sanders, M. R., Patel, R. K., LeGrice, B., & Shepherd, R. W. (1993). Children with persistent feeding difficulties: An observational analysis of the feeding interactions of problem and nonproblem eaters. Health Psychology, 12, 64–73.
Seiverling, L., William, K., & Sturmey, P. (2010). Assessment of feeding problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 22, 401–413.
Stark, L. J., Jelalian, E., Powers, S. W., Mulvihill, M. M., Opipari, L. C., Bowen, A., et al. (2000). Parent and child mealtime behaviors in families of children with cystic fibrosis. The Journal of Pediatrics, 136, 195–200.
Williams, K. E., & Seiverling, L. (2010). Eating problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Topics in Clinical Nutrition, 25, 27–37.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Patel, M.R. (2013). Assessment of Pediatric Feeding Disorders. In: Reed, D., DiGennaro Reed, F., Luiselli, J. (eds) Handbook of Crisis Intervention and Developmental Disabilities. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6531-7_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6531-7_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6530-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6531-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)