An ABAC Comparison of Two Intensive Interventions for Food Refusal

An ABAC comparison of two treatment packages for food refusal, physical guidance and nonremoval of the spoon, was conducted with two children with limited food acceptance. Both of these treatment packages included prevention of escape from presented food. Subsequent to baseline, one of the two treatment packages was implemented for each child. The treatment packages were implemented ABAC for one child and ACAB for the other child. Once the percentage of bites accepted had increased to at least 75% with the initial exposure to a treatment package, that treatment was withdrawn with a subsequent exposure to the second treatment package. The results indicated that both treatment packages were effective in establishing food acceptance. Also, initial exposure to either of the two treatment packages facilitated acquisition of food acceptance during the second exposure. Parental preference of the treatment package may have been influenced by the order of exposure to the treatment conditions.