Neophobia in children with special needs: Selective eating and its treatment

In this chapter, we describe selective eaters or persons at risk for adverse health complications from their limited diets. We suggest that selective eaters exhibit neophobia both consistently and persistently. Selective eaters, unlike picky eaters, do not increase their diet variety across the course of development without intervention. In reviewing the research on nutritional deficiencies secondary to limited diets, we found that most children described in these studies had special needs, most often, autism spectrum disorders. While selective eating often does not resolve without intervention, this chapter reviews the growing research on interventions designed to increase diet variety among children with special needs.