Behavioral treatment of rumination: Research and clinical applications.

Loukus (2015) wrote a story-style review about behavioral fixes for rumination. No new data were collected. The paper pulls together older studies to show how to assess and treat the behavior.

The review covers kids and adults with developmental disabilities. It focuses on cases where doctors ruled out stomach illness.

The big message: always start with a functional analysis. Once you know why the person ruminates, three tools work best.

First, give extra food or thicker formula to create fullness. Second, place preferred toys or music on a fixed-time schedule. Third, let the client hold a favorite item all day so their hands and mouth stay busy.

Barrett et al. (1987) said the same thing 28 years earlier. They also told clinicians to rule out medical causes first and then use food satiation or DRI. Loukus (2015) repeats that advice, but adds newer twists like continuous access to preferred items.

Saini et al. (2015) showed one-demand RIRD cuts hand stereotypy fast. Loukus (2015) could list RIRD as another response-blocking option for rumination, even though it was tested on a different behavior.

Boyle et al. (2018) paired FCT with non-contingent reinforcement to beat door stereotypy. Because rumination can also be automatic, the same FCT plus NCR combo might help, giving clinicians a ready-made hybrid plan.

You get a short checklist: rule out reflux, run a 10-minute functional analysis, then pick either extra feedings, a timer-delivered toy, or a non-stop chew item. No need to hunt through decades of journals; the review stacks the evidence in one place.