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Food Refusal and Avoidant Eating in Children, including those with Autism Spectrum Conditions
Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have a restricted dietary range, and this book provides parents with advice and training on how to deal with this condition and achieve a healthier and more balanced diet. Now described as Avoidant or Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), it is due to sensory hypersensitivity, and it can impact upon the health of the child, upon the family, and upon social integration. Based upon successful training packages the authors provide for parents and professionals, this book enables the reader to understand the condition and work with it, gradually increasing the range of food a child is able to eat. It includes 'box outs' with case studies, points of interest and action points to make this an accessible and resourceful read.
232 pages, Paperback
Published July 19, 2018
About the author
Gillian Harris
23 books3 followersGillian Harris is a designer who teaches feltmaking workshops and sells a range of innovative felted bags from her website. Gillian lives in Surrey, England with her husband and two daughters
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 17, 2022
A very useful, informative guide for parents of "picky eaters". Sometimes there is way more to it than fussiness; avoiding certain foods is perceived as a matter of survival for these kids and should be taken seriously. The interventions are helpful and make sense, but I don't see how ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) can be managed or improved without professional help as well.
August 5, 2021
I chose to read this book due to the topic being one that currently is much on my mind. I hoped to gain some insights and increased understanding as to why my 6-year-old seem to be restricting her diet more and more no matter what I try. I hoped to gain a greater understanding to potential reasons behind it, as well as some ideas how to counter it. I was not disappointed.
The first part of the book was mostly concerned with explaining different reasons behind why some children have or develop difficulties eating. These ranging from those with problems from the start to those who eat well at first, but then for some reason stop – as my child has done. After reading this part, I had a much clearer picture of what I in a way already knew – it helped me find the words for the observations I had already done about my child’s eating habits.
The author also introduced me to the new concepts of “neophobic” – the fear of anything new, and a natural stage in a child’s development regarding eating that starts around the age of 2 – and “interoception” – a suggestion for an eight sense – identified as the awareness of internal states such as hunger and pain.
The second part of the book deals with strategies to try out, and most important strategies NOT to try. I think the part of what won’t work and why was the most important to read. As a parent with a child who doesn’t eat “properly”, you’re surrounded with people telling you that you should do this and that, that they did and their child eats well – not knowing that I mostly have tried what they are talking about, and it just doesn’t work because my child is not theirs. Children are different and respond differently, especially if one of them has sensory issues.
The only negative comment I have about the book is the parts that talk about specific things/traits being “more common in boys” or “more common in girls”. Although I can see that this is probably done tracked due to some statistical value, as it usually is, it is also something I see as a danger. Not only might it give a sense of shame in someone who sees themselves as a boy to be diagnosed with something he might know “mostly girls” have, but more importantly is that professionals more easily seem to overlook or misdiagnose conditions when the general consensus is that one gender are more likely to exhibit it than the other – and this does not even take into account nonbinary people. For an example to what I mean I can point to ADHD that was commonly thought to be something “only boys” have, leading to countless girls going undiagnosed and thus without help or support. This is what I fear is the major downside of tying a specific gender to a diagnosis.
Other than that, I found the book easy to digest even for a non-professional like myself. I recommend it as a read for parents with kids that struggle with eating and professionals working with children – especially those that might not be specialized in eating per say, but who are more regularly in contact with children, as they are most commonly those who advice parents at the stage where the first problems regarding eating appears.
I'd give it 4,5/5 stars, rounded up to 5.
If you are interested in reading an even longer review that is supplemented with more of my own thoughts and comments, please visit my blog at https://iansphere.wordpress.com/
The first part of the book was mostly concerned with explaining different reasons behind why some children have or develop difficulties eating. These ranging from those with problems from the start to those who eat well at first, but then for some reason stop – as my child has done. After reading this part, I had a much clearer picture of what I in a way already knew – it helped me find the words for the observations I had already done about my child’s eating habits.
The author also introduced me to the new concepts of “neophobic” – the fear of anything new, and a natural stage in a child’s development regarding eating that starts around the age of 2 – and “interoception” – a suggestion for an eight sense – identified as the awareness of internal states such as hunger and pain.
The second part of the book deals with strategies to try out, and most important strategies NOT to try. I think the part of what won’t work and why was the most important to read. As a parent with a child who doesn’t eat “properly”, you’re surrounded with people telling you that you should do this and that, that they did and their child eats well – not knowing that I mostly have tried what they are talking about, and it just doesn’t work because my child is not theirs. Children are different and respond differently, especially if one of them has sensory issues.
The only negative comment I have about the book is the parts that talk about specific things/traits being “more common in boys” or “more common in girls”. Although I can see that this is probably done tracked due to some statistical value, as it usually is, it is also something I see as a danger. Not only might it give a sense of shame in someone who sees themselves as a boy to be diagnosed with something he might know “mostly girls” have, but more importantly is that professionals more easily seem to overlook or misdiagnose conditions when the general consensus is that one gender are more likely to exhibit it than the other – and this does not even take into account nonbinary people. For an example to what I mean I can point to ADHD that was commonly thought to be something “only boys” have, leading to countless girls going undiagnosed and thus without help or support. This is what I fear is the major downside of tying a specific gender to a diagnosis.
Other than that, I found the book easy to digest even for a non-professional like myself. I recommend it as a read for parents with kids that struggle with eating and professionals working with children – especially those that might not be specialized in eating per say, but who are more regularly in contact with children, as they are most commonly those who advice parents at the stage where the first problems regarding eating appears.
I'd give it 4,5/5 stars, rounded up to 5.
If you are interested in reading an even longer review that is supplemented with more of my own thoughts and comments, please visit my blog at https://iansphere.wordpress.com/
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews