Using a flipped spoon to decrease packing in children with feeding disorders.
Turn the spoon upside-down and cue swallow to cut food packing right away.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two kids with feeding disorders kept food in their mouths instead of swallowing.
The team tested a flipped spoon package.
They turned the spoon bowl-down, gently moved food to the front, and cued swallow.
What they found
Packing dropped for both children once the flipped spoon started.
Meals ended faster and mouths were clear more often.
How this fits with other research
Levin et al. (2014) and Taylor (2022) kept the same bowl-down move and added a sip of drink, called a chaser.
Their kids with autism also stopped packing, showing the spoon trick works across diagnoses.
Takahashi et al. (2023) later called the move underspoon and saw the same gain in a bigger group, a nice conceptual replication.
Zhou et al. (2018) swept all these spoon studies into one review, so the 2011 paper sits inside the evidence base.
Why it matters
Flip your spoon bowl-down at the next meal.
Slide food to the front and give a quick swallow cue.
No extra gear, no cost, and the chaser papers show you can add a drink later if needed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We evaluated the effects of redistribution and swallow facilitation with a flipped spoon on packing in 2 children with a feeding disorder. For both participants, packing decreased when we implemented the flipped spoon treatment package. Mechanisms responsible for behavior change and areas of future research are discussed.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2011 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2011.44-617