Beaudry-Bellefeuille, Isabelle, Pomoni, Maria, Welch, Angharad, Moriyón-Iglesias, Tania, Suárez-González, Marta and Ramos-Polo, Eduardo (2021) Multidisciplinary approach to assessment and intervention of feeding problems in children with autism spectrum disorders: a clinical perspective. Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy, 49 (2). pp. 77-83. ISSN 2398-8819 (doi:10.1108/IJOT-12-2020-0019)

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Abstract

Purpose:
The aim of this paper is to share the details of a multidisciplinary approach, which includes occupational therapy, and to review the factors that should be considered in the evaluation and treatment of children with ASD who are excessively selective in their food choices. Issues in this area are complex and often related to several complementary domains (medical, nutritional, psychosocial, sensorimotor, etc.). However, feeding disorders are frequently assessed and treated from a single discipline and important issues are missed or confounded.

Approach:
A team of experienced clinicians in the field of paediatric feeding disorders gathered the knowledge and experience they acquired from working with individuals with ASD as well as with individuals with other neurodevelopmental diagnosis. A review of current literature in paediatric feeding disorders was used to document and explicate the multifactorial nature of feeding disorders in children with ASD and justify the need for a multidisciplinary approach to issues in this area.

Findings:
Feeding disorders in children with ASD are linked to multiple sensory, motor, behavioural, nutritional, and gastrointestinal comorbidities. A multidisciplinary approach is needed and increasingly recommended. However, multidisciplinary teams specialized in the care of children with ASD and feeding issues, continue to be difficult to locate and access for families. We sought to highlight the signs of feeding problems in children with ASD from different domains and share a model of a multidisciplinary approach which can lead to more successful interventions.

Originality:
The detailed description of the domains linked to feeding issues and the clinical descriptions provided throughout the paper create a roadmap for other clinicians aiming to set up similar teams.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© Isabelle Beaudry-Bellefeuille, Maria Pomoni, Angharad Welch, Tania Moriyón-Iglesias, Marta Suárez-González and Eduardo Ramos-Polo. Published in Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Uncontrolled Keywords:	autism, feeding, multidisciplinary, occupational therapy
Subjects:	R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Health Sciences (HEA)
Last Modified:	21 Dec 2021 09:47
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/33599

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