SOLUTIONS TO CHILDREN’S SENSORY-BASED FEEDING DIFFICULTIES: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Feeding is a complex, learned skill that impacts children’s development and school
performance. Sensory-based feeding difficulties may be misconstrued as picky-eating or
defiant behavior. Caregivers of the child may be tempted to provide extreme
accommodations for the child or rely on harmful practices such as force feeding. Children
with sensory-based feeding difficulties can improve from rehabilitation services provided
by pediatric feeding experts. Currently, parents and teachers are often tasked with
identifying children with sensory-based feeding difficulties and pediatric feeding therapists
must rely on their clinical expertise to assess and treat these children. Therefore, there is
a need for a sensory-based feeding assessment that can help identify these children. This
report outlines the preliminary, two-phased development of the Environment, Attitudes,
Temperament, and Sensory (EATS) Feeding Assessment. Phase one consisted of a
mixed-methods survey of pediatric feeding experts to establish content validity. Phase
two surveyed caregivers of children who were typically developing aged 1-10 years to
determine if questions were answerable and appropriate for all ages. Data from both
phases were utilized to enhance the content of the assessment. The assessment can
now be utilized as an evaluation tool while it undergoes future studies to determine if the
assessment can be used as an outcome measure.

Keywords: pediatrics, education, rehabilitation, school-based, evaluation