Abstract
Our critically appraised topic aimed to investigate, “What is the effectiveness of sensory interventions to promote occupational performance at mealtime in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?” Furthermore, research articles indicate 46 to 89% of children diagnosed with ASD experience food selectivity and hypersensitivity that can result in negative mealtime behaviors (Tanner & Andreone, 2015). Not only does food selectivity and hypersensitivity result in negative mealtime behaviors, but this can also negatively impact the children with ASD’s nutritional physical growth, maturation, and development, and put them at risk for developing other health disorders such as obesity compared to children without ASD (Curtin, et al., 2010). We found that individualized and client-centered sensory-based interventions have been linked to be a successful method to promoting a child’s occupational performance and engagement in mealtime as sensory processing difficulties are proven to result in mealtime behaviors (Smith, 2016).