Impact of Play in Wet Food Items Versus Wet Nonfood Items on Pediatric Food Aversions

The purpose of this research is to compare the oral acceptance of aversive wet foods in children that play with wet non-food items versus children that play with wet food items. It asks, ‘Would engaging in tactile play with wet food items or wet non-food items elicit better oral acceptance of aversive wet foods in children with food aversions?’ This research will allow practitioners to take the most informed, effective approach to feeding interventions. This is a retrospective analysis measuring oral acceptance of non-preferred wet foods using the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) hierarchy. Participants included children between the ages of two and 18 years old who had food aversions and had completed one of Dr. Hawkins-Pokabla’s food aversion studies between the years 2019-2022. Participants were excluded if they had allergies, a history of aspiration or penetration of wet foods, or did not fully complete one of Dr. Hawkins-Pokabla’s studies. Participants were recruited using flyers posted in the community. The SOS Hierarchy was used to collect data for this study via caregiver and administrator reports before, during, and after intervention. Each child’s highest scores were used to assess acceptance of non-preferred foods. Demographic information was collected from caregivers and became the descriptive information for this study. The research team used the Mann-Whitney test to analyze the data by comparing the two groups and determining differences and significance. The results indicated that the average highest score achieved during play in non-food (n = 23) was higher than the average highest score achieved during play in food (n = 19.33). Play with wet non-food items elicited higher scores on the SOS hierarchy, suggesting that it could be the more effective intervention option. Our study aims to increase awareness and inspire further research on a larger scale to determine the most effective interventions in treating children with feeding disorders.

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