Using high-probability foods to increase the acceptance of low-probability foods.
Three bites of a favorite food right before a refused one can spark new food acceptance in kids with autism, but watch data closely.
01Research in Context
What this study did
One child with autism would not eat three foods.
The team gave three quick bites of a favorite food.
Right after, they offered a refused food and watched if he took it.
They also tried to fade the number of favorite bites later.
What they found
The boy started eating all three target foods after the high-pro bites.
Fading worked for two foods but not the third.
No escape extinction was needed.
How this fits with other research
Penrod et al. (2012) ran the same high-pro bite plan with two boys the same year and got the same win.
Sheppard et al. (2026) later tested the plan across more kids and saw mixed results.
This warns us the trick may not work for every learner.
Davis et al. (2023) swapped the order: one bite of nonpreferred first, then a preferred bite.
They still saw gains in a classroom, showing timing can bend.
Why it matters
You can try three quick bites of a safe food before offering a new one.
Watch data each session; if acceptance drops, pause and probe again.
Pair the plan with other antecedent tricks like sequential presentation.
Always have a back-up in case the high-pro sequence fades out.
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Join Free →Start lunch with three tiny bites of the child’s top food, then immediately present one piece of the target veggie and record accept or reject.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Studies have evaluated a range of interventions to treat food selectivity in children with autism and related developmental disabilities. The high-probability instructional sequence is one intervention with variable results in this area. We evaluated the effectiveness of a high-probability sequence using 3 presentations of a preferred food on increasing acceptance in a child with autism who refused a few specific foods. The high-probability sequence increased acceptance of 3 foods. We then systematically faded the intervention for 2 foods.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2012 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2012.45-149