An evaluation of negative reinforcement to increase self-feeding and self-drinking for children with feeding disorders

Self-feeding with utensils represents an important step in a child's progression toward age-typical eating and emerges in the absence of intervention for most children. In contrast, children with feeding disorders may lack the skill or motivation to self-feed, which impedes progress toward age-typical eating. In the current study, experimenters used a multielement design to evaluate negative reinforcement in the form of meal termination to transition six participants with a feeding disorder from caregiver-fed to self-fed bites and drinks. Caregivers conducted meals in which they fed the participant or prompted them to self-feed. During self-fed meal-termination sessions, participants had the opportunity to end the meal contingent on self-feeding the presented bite(s) or drink(s). Self-feeding increased during meal-termination sessions for all participants. The experimenters discuss these results relative to their potential to inform interventions for children with feeding disorders that progress the child toward age-typical eating.