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Updated: Jan 5, 2026

A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
Randomized controlled trial of an applied behavior analytic intervention for food selectivity in children with autism
Kathryn M Peterson1, Cathleen C Piazza1, Vivian F Ibañez1
1University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute.
Abstract:
Food selectivity is a common problem for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Schreck, Williams, & Smith, 2004). Behavior-analytic interventions have the most empirical support for feeding disorders (Sharp, Jaquess, Morton, & Miles, 2011). However, there are no randomized controlled trials that have evaluated its effects with a well-defined cohort of children with ASD. In the current investigation, we randomly assigned 6 young children with ASD and food selectivity to either an applied behavior analytic intervention or a wait-list control. We used a crossover randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of a multicomponent applied behavior analytic intervention on independent acceptance and mouth clean of 16 novel foods. We subsequently exposed the wait-list control group to the intervention. We also evaluated the effects of the intervention on individual participants with single-case designs. The percentage of independent acceptance and mouth clean increased for the applied behavior analytic intervention group, but not for the wait-list control group until we implemented the intervention.
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