Teaching self‐control to reduce overt food stealing by children with autism and developmental disorders

Zhou et al. (2023) worked with four children who had autism or developmental delays. All of them were stealing food during meals or snacks.

The team used Say-Do correspondence training. First the child said, “I will wait,” then the adult set a timer. The wait started at five seconds and grew longer each day until the child could wait five minutes.

The design was changing-criterion: each new phase raised the bar for how long the child had to wait.

Every child hit zero food steals. They also learned to stay seated and keep their hands away from the food until the timer rang.

Most kids still waited when new adults or new foods were introduced, showing the skill carried over.

Bailey et al. (1970) once used timeout to stop mealtime stealing. Zhou et al. (2023) replaces punishment with teaching. The new method gets the same drop in stealing but adds a skill the child can use anywhere.

Fox et al. (2001) showed that giving children with autism a simple task during a wait cuts problem behavior. Zhou keeps the wait but adds the Say-Do step, proving the child can control himself without extra toys or chores.

Dunkel-Jackson et al. (2016) taught adults with autism to pick bigger delayed rewards. Zhou moves the same idea down to young children and links it to real-life food stealing.

You can stop food stealing without punishment. Start with a five-second wait and grow it by five or ten seconds each session. Have the child say, “I will wait,” start a visible timer, and praise when the bell rings. In a few weeks you may see zero steals and a child who proudly tells you, “I waited!”