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Updated: Jul 11, 2025
A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
Assessing the US treatment landscape for paediatric feeding disorder: A survey of multidisciplinary providers
William G Sharp1,2, Hayley H Estrem3, Cuyler Romeo4,5
1Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Insights
Paediatric feeding disorder (PFD) affects many young children. This study surveyed US providers, finding feeding skill specialists like speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists are most common, highlighting a need for research support.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Clinical Research
- Healthcare Delivery
Background:
- Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) is a prevalent childhood condition affecting 1 in 37 children under five in the US.
- There is a limited understanding of the community-based treatment landscape for PFD within the United States.
- This study addresses the knowledge gap regarding PFD care delivery in the US.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the community treatment landscape for Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) in the United States.
- To identify characteristics of providers and treatment delivery methods for PFD.
- To understand the current state of PFD care in community settings.
Main Methods:
- A web-based survey was conducted between January and March 2022, targeting providers across all four PFD domains.
- The survey included 71 items focusing on patient, provider, and treatment characteristics.
- Data were collected from providers practicing in the United States, using electronic distribution methods.
Main Results:
- 83% of respondents practiced in the US.
- The majority of US providers (74.3%) were from the feeding skill domain (speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists).
- Care was predominantly delivered in early intervention and outpatient settings, utilizing responsive and sensory-based approaches lacking rigorous evaluation.
Conclusions:
- Community providers, particularly speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists, play a significant role in PFD care.
- There is a need to enhance community provider engagement with research to better understand PFD treatment approaches and outcomes.
- Further research is required to evaluate the efficacy of commonly used PFD interventions.
Background:
Paediatric feeding disorder (PFD) is a common childhood condition, estimated to impact one in 37 American children under the age of five. Such high prevalence occurs against a backdrop of limited understanding of the community treatment landscape in the United States.
Method:
To better understand the community treatment landscape for PFD in the United States and identify provider and treatment delivery characteristics, we collected primary data through a web-based survey targeting providers from all four PFD domains (i.e., medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and/or psychosocial) between January 2022 and March 2022. The 71-item cross sectional survey focussed on patient, provider and treatment characteristics. We distributed the survey using an electronic survey tool through Feeding Matters listserv followed by solicitation to discipline specific listservs and professional networks. The analytic approach involved descriptive statistics compared across settings and provider types, focussing on respondents within the United States.
Results:
Eighty-three percent of respondents reported practicing in the United States. Most of the US sample (74.3%) involved providers from the feeding skill domain (speech-language pathologist - SLP, occupational therapist - OT) who reported delivering care through early intervention or outpatient settings using responsive and sensory based approaches. These approaches lack rigorous empirical evaluation.
Conclusions:
Survey results suggest a need to support community providers in engagement with research activity to promote a better understanding of treatment approaches and outcomes associated with a large cohort of providers delivering care (i.e. SLPs, OTs) to patients with PFD.
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