Mothers of children aged 2–12 years completed an exhaustive questionnaire assessing feeding and eating behaviors for both
themselves and their children with autism, and typically developing siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (where
available), or typically developing children with no sibling with a disability. Results indicate that children with autism
were only marginally more likely to exhibit picky eating behavior (overall style) than their siblings or matched typically
developing children. Rates of ritualistic feeding behaviors were equivalent in all groups of children although children with
autism were more likely to be currently exhibiting problematic eating and feeding behaviors. The implications of these results
for the treatment of feeding difficulties exhibited by children with autism will be discussed.
Keywords Children - Autism - Eating - Feeding
Parts of this paper were presented at the 2006 World Autism Congress and Exhibition held in Capetown, South Africa.