The Efficacy of the Global Intensive Feeding Therapy on Feeding and Swallowing Abilities in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study.
A short, play-based feeding camp quickly widened food lists for kids with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Eleven children with autism joined a two-week day-camp.
The camp ran GIFT: Global Intensive Feeding Therapy.
Each day had group meals, oral-motor games, and swallow training.
Staff used praise, bites of preferred food, and gradual new-food steps.
Parents watched and practiced the same moves at home each night.
Before camp, right after, and one month later, the team scored chewing, food acceptance, and mealtime behavior.
What they found
After the two weeks, every child ate more foods and chewed better.
Mealtime tantrums dropped and stayed low one month later.
The gains were large enough to pass a stats test, even in this tiny group.
How this fits with other research
Elder et al. (2006) and Tonnsen et al. (2016) tested gluten-free, casein-free diets.
Those studies found no group-wide feeding benefit.
GIFT won because it taught skills, not because it removed foods.
Clark et al. (2020) also got kids to accept bites by coaching parents.
Their single-case style and GIFT’s camp style both show: structured behavioral meals work.
Crippa et al. (2022) remind us to check sensory issues first.
If noise or textures overwhelm the child, start there, then run GIFT steps.
Why it matters
You now have a two-week roadmap instead of months of weekly sessions.
Pick a quiet room, gather three peers, and block two hours daily.
Use tiny tastes, loud praise, and parent practice each night.
Track bites accepted and problem behavior; expect fast change.
If the child gags on mixed textures, pair GIFT with sensory warm-ups from Crippa et al. (2022).
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present investigation aims to explore the efficacy of Global Intensive Feeding Therapy (GIFT) on feeding and swallowing abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). GIFT was developed as an intensive rehabilitation approach, divided into 30 sessions for 2 weeks, three times a day. GIFT focused on (a) encouraging desensitization; (b) widening the food repertoire (in terms of both variety and quantity); (c) reducing inappropriate mealtime behaviors; and (d) encouraging the development of appropriate chewing and swallowing abilities. GIFT was preliminarily implemented among 11 children with a diagnosis of ASD. To measure the efficacy of GIFT, the Karaduman Chewing Performance Scale (KCPS), the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI), and food repertoire were investigated using Wilcoxon signed-rank test in three different times: baseline (T1), after treatment (T2), and one month after treatment (T3). Using Bonferroni correction, statistically significant differences were found between T1 and T2 for behavioral issues, as measured with BAMBI (p = 0.007), as well as for chewing abilities as measured with KCPS (p = 0.005) and for food acceptance (p = 0.005). These improvements were maintained after a month of follow-up, thanks to the collaboration of families and/or primary caregivers. In conclusion, GIFT seems to be an effective approach to improving behavioral issues, food acceptance, and chewing abilities in children with ASD.
Children, 2023 · doi:10.3390/children10071241