Parent Teleconsultation to Increase Bites Consumed: A Demonstration Across Foods for a Child With ARFID and ASD
A parent can double as your feeding therapist on Zoom and still hit every bite goal.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Bloomfield et al. (2021) coached one parent to run a feeding program at home through Zoom.
The child had autism and ARFID, so he refused most foods.
Sessions happened on-screen; the parent took all the bites data and kept the plan going alone.
What they found
Bites of non-preferred foods went up during the calls and stayed up later.
The parent followed every step correctly, showing telehealth can keep fidelity high.
How this fits with other research
Patel et al. (2023) later showed the same model can work for many families and last a full year.
TVEmerson et al. (2023) looks like it clashes: their app-based feeding program barely moved the numbers.
The difference is engagement—Bloomfield’s parent got live coaching, while most app users clicked less.
Williams et al. (2023) count both studies in their big 2023 review and call telehealth the new standard.
Why it matters
You no longer need a clinic room to treat severe food refusal.
Give the parent a short task analysis, model it on video, and watch them do it.
Start with one food, one bite, and nightly Zoom check-ins—then let the data tell you when to add new foods.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience feeding dysfunction at a substantially higher proportion than their neurotypical peers. Feeding concerns can provide considerable challenges for parents, and as such, helping parents of children with ASD provide effective mealtime interventions for interfering behavior is critical, especially if parents have individual circumstances that affect their ability to effectively implement these feeding interventions. This study contributes to the parent-implemented feeding-intervention literature by demonstrating that a parent with ASD can implement a pediatric feeding intervention in the home with their child with ASD, despite contributing mental health factors. To address family needs, we developed a socially valid and individualized intervention, which we delivered over telehealth. The intervention resulted in an increase in the consumption of previously nonpreferred foods, while the caregiver maintained adequate levels of procedural fidelity. Practical considerations and implications are discussed.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2021 · doi:10.1007/s40617-021-00586-4