Table 1.

Recent Advances in the Behavior Analytic Feeding Literature and Suggestions for Clinicians and Future Researchers.

Feeding Problem	Recent Advances in the literature	Suggestions for clinicians and future researchers
Food Selectivity	Increasing empirical support for antecedent-based interventions and alternatives to escape extinction More studies being conducted to treat selective eating in those with ARFID Recent comparison studies add to empirical support for behavior analytic feeding interventions.	1. Consider the potential benefits of observational learning strategies as part of food selectivity interventions. 2. Explore the use of antecedent-based interventions such as high-probability instructional sequence, simultaneous presentation, and stimulus fading on acceptance of novel foods. 3. Further examine shaping procedures and differential reinforcement to increase acceptance of novel foods without escape extinction. 4. Determine the effects of behavior analytic feeding interventions in various formats (e.g., weekly outpatient vs. day treatment) to treat ARFID and compare behavioral interventions to cognitive-behavioral interventions for ARFID. 5. Continue comparison studies which examine the effectiveness of behavior analytic and non-behavior analytic interventions. Consider branching out from traditional single-subject research designs.
Chewing	Recent studies have used novel interventions to teach the skill	1. It is important to consider the individual skills (e.g., tongue lateralizing, biting down) that may need to be targeted in order to teach this complex skill.
Packing	A range of interventions to address packing have been documented in the literature (e.g., redistribution, a chaser, texture fading).	1. In order to determine the type of intervention to use, one must consider the client’s oral motor skills and level of food refusal with familiar foods and liquids. 2. More studies directly comparing different packing interventions should be conducted.
Food refusal/tube weaning	Recent studies have shown interventions that use primarily appetite manipulation, behavioral intervention combined with appetite manipulation, and behavioral interventions without appetite manipulation to successfully reduce tube feeds	1. Studies comparing these various approaches to tube weaning should be conducted. 2. Client characteristics must be considered when developing a tube weaning intervention. 3. Clinicians should be mindful of the role of appetite when designing behavior analytic feeding interventions. The use of appetite manipulation may reduce the need for more intrusive intervention components such as escape extinction.