Evaluating a Treatment Package for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder to Increase Food Variety

Andersen et al. (2024) tested a three-part feeding package on one child with ARFID.

The parts were demand fading, escape prevention, and self-monitoring.

The team wanted more food variety, not just bigger bites of safe foods.

The child ate more foods and the new foods stayed eaten at home and school.

Parents said the child still liked old foods best, but variety grew anyway.

Najdowski et al. (2003) had parents run demand fading plus escape extinction at home for an autistic child.

Their early work showed parents could do this without a clinic; Andersen adds self-monitoring for ARFID.

Penrod et al. (2012) used demand fading without any escape extinction for autistic kids.

Andersen keeps the gentle fade but adds escape prevention, showing the mix still works for ARFID.

Kirkwood et al. (2021) proved single-function treatments fail when food refusal is driven by both escape and attention.

Andersen’s package heads off that risk by blocking escape and having the child track each bite.

You can copy this package next week. Start with tiny demands the child already meets, like touching the food. Block escape by keeping the plate in place. Let the child mark each step on a chart. The combo grows variety without force or tears.