Research Support

The first version of MEAL Plan was developed and tested through two randomized clinical trials. The first pilot study compared 10 families receiving MEAL Plan to 9 families on a waitlist. Results indicated high caregiver satisfaction with parent training as a method to deliver a feeding intervention. Parents also reported improvement in their child’s eating behavior following treatment. In an NIH-funded study (HD083729, Sharp PI), we subsequently compared MEAL Plan to Parent Education (PEP) in a randomized trial of 38 children (age 3 to 8 years; 32 boys, 6 girls) with ASD and moderate food selectivity. Children were randomly assigned to MEAL Plan (n = 19) or PEP (n = 19) for 16 weeks. MEAL Plan was delivered to parents in a group format (4 parents per group). In the MEAL Plan group attrition was <10%, attendance was >80%, therapist fidelity was >90%. At Week 16, the positive response rate on the Clinical Global Impression- Improvement scale (rated by a blinded Independent Evaluator) was 47.4% for MEAL Plan compared to 5.3% in PEP (p < .05). 

The mean difference on the parent-rated Brief Autism Mealtime Behaviors Inventory (BAMBI) at Week 16 was 7.04 (+2.71) points (P = .01) in favor of MEAL Plan. Post-intervention ratings suggest a high degree of satisfaction with this model of treatment, with an overall rating of 5.66 (of possible 6.0). All caregivers reported that they would recommend the intervention to others (net promotor score = 100%). All caregivers also reported that they planned to continue to use the behavioral techniques from this program and 94% indicated that the treatment improved their child’s mealtime behaviors!

References

Sharp, W.G., Burrell, L., & Jaquess, D.L. (2014). The Autism MEAL Plan: A Parent Training Curriculum to Manage Eating Aversions and Low Intake among Children with Autism. Autism, 18(6), 712-722. 

Sharp, W.G., Burrell, T.L., Berry, R.C., Stubbs, K.H., McCracken, C.E., Gillespie, S.E., Scahill, L. (2019). The Autism MEAL plan vs. Parent Education: A Randomized Clinical Trial. J Pediatr, 21: 185-192.