About this course

Feeding support should prioritize medical screening, environmental accommodations, assent, and compassionate multidisciplinary care over coercive intake goals. Core Approach Rule out medical causes and collaborate with OTs, SLPs, dietitians, nutritionists, and pediatricians before or alongside behavioral programming. Assess what the learner is escaping or avoiding specifically, including food characteristics, sensory experiences, seating, lighting, noise, timing, and social context. Honor assent withdrawal, model without pressure, and use preferred activities and gradual exposure to create psychological safety. Programming Focus Begin with environmental arrangements and prerequisite skills, such as comfortable seating, core support, movement options, and access to preferred items Use shaping, stimulus fading, response-effort adjustments, and small achievable goals rather than rigid targets such as eating a fixed number of new foods. Open questions: What specific variables maintain each learner’s refusal, and which measurable replacement behaviors should guide future feeding programs?