A study on factors and strategies for selective eating in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) – Focus on families experienced great difficulties
Purpose: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have many problematic eating behaviors. The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors and strategies for selective eating in children with ASD. Methods: Participants were 218 families of 3-18 years-old-children with ASD, They responded to a questionnaire and divided into three groups: great, minor and no feeding difficulties. We focused on families experienced great difficulties. This study was accepted by ethical review board of Osaka Prefecture University. Findings: 154 families responded, and the response rate was 70.6%. We analyzed 101 children and excluded children with no diagnosis and no selective eating behaviors. There were 89 boys and 12 girls. The average age was 7.18±3.18 years old. In the group of great difficulties (26 children with ASD), they were able to eat was 16 out of 47 items (34%), and 75% were difficult to eat out. Items the children hate were not the individual item, but the big food groups, such as vegetables or fish. The cognitive factors were greatly affected in the group of great difficulties compared with sensory or oral factors. In contrast, the main problem was oral factors in the group of no difficulties (p <0.05). In the group of great difficulties, they tried the average of 30 out of 50 strategies to overcome selective eating, but the effective rate was 56.3%. The strategies with high effective rate (more than 70%) were ‘clarifying each step and process’, ‘preparing the same brand’, ‘making food bite-size’, ‘Changing the flavors and textures’, and ‘no mixing flavors’.\
Conclusion: The problem was mostly due to cognitive factors, such as obsession and familiarity. The very effective strategies were presenting meals in a predictable way, such as ‘clarifying each step and process ’.
雑誌名
四條畷学園大学リハビリテーション学部紀要
雑誌名(英)
Annual reports of Faculty of Rehabilitation, Shijonawate Gakuen University
自閉スペクトラム症児の偏食の要因と保護者の対応 - 保護者の困り感が高い群に着目して
自閉スペクトラム症児の偏食の要因と保護者の対応 - 保護者の困り感が高い群に着目して
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