The relationship between food refusal and self-injurious behavior: a case study.

Food refusal and self-injurious behavior often co-occur in children with developmental disabilities and mental retardation. The subject of the case study was a 3-yr-old boy with food refusal, self-injurious behavior and developmental delay. Using an alternating treatment design, positive reinforcement for acceptance combined with either nonremoval of the spoon or guidance for refusal increased food acceptance and resulted in a decrease in self-injurious behavior despite not being targeted.

An alternating treatments comparison of two intensive interventions for food refusal.

We compared two treatment packages involving negative reinforcement contingencies for 3 children with chronic food refusal. One involved physically guiding the child to accept food contingent on noncompliance, whereas the other involved nonremoval of the spoon until the child accepted the presented food. Subsequent to baseline, an alternating treatments comparison was implemented in a multiple baseline design across subjects.