Approaches for Children with a Disability Who Are Restricted Eaters: A Scoping Review

Abstract

This scoping review explored the interventions available for children with disabilities who are restricted eaters. The review will further identify aspects of parent coaching within these interventions. Initial journal searches were completed in July 2020 and updated in July 2022 with 13 articles included in the final review, which were thematically analysed. Three major themes were identified as follows: (1) a wide range of interventions ranging from nonresponsive practices to responsive approaches to mealtimes, (2) meaningful outcomes, and (3) varying degrees of parent involvement. No articles stated they were using parent coaching as a stand-alone intervention; however, features of parent coaching were evident in some of the studies. There is no overarching framework incorporating explicit aspects of coaching approaches to support clinicians’ work with children with restricted eating and their families.