Brief Report: Mealtime Behaviors of Chinese American Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Lee and colleagues asked 35 Chinese-American parents of kids with autism to fill out the BAMBI mealtime survey. The survey lists 18 common feeding problems like food refusal or leaving the table.

Families lived in the United States and spoke English. The team wanted to see which mealtime issues showed up most often in this group.

Top three concerns were: prefers crunchy food, food refusal, and leaving the table. Average BAMBI score was 39—lower than the 45-50 seen in mostly-white samples.

Still, 8 out of 10 parents marked at least one serious problem. Crunchy-food preference was checked by almost half the families.

Nadon et al. (2011) found kids with ASD average 13 mealtime problems while their typical siblings have 5. Lee’s Chinese-American sample shows the same top issues but slightly lower counts, hinting culture may shape how parents rate the same behaviors.

Burkett et al. (2022) interviewed moms who said feeding stress is huge. Lee’s numbers back this up—most families still report at least one big mealtime hurdle.

ALee et al. (2022) later showed positive reinforcement can cut food selectivity in half. Lee’s list gives you the first step: know which items to target.

You now have a quick checklist of the mealtime problems Chinese-American families are most likely to name. Start your feeding assessment with crunchy-food preference and food refusal. Expect BAMBI scores a bit lower than generic norms—don’t let that fool you into thinking the family isn’t stressed. Use the same list to pick goals before you apply the reinforcement tactics shown in later studies.