The Role of Occupational Therapy in Treating Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in Children and Adolescents

Course overview

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a diagnosis which is being seen more widely in the populations served by occupational therapy practitioners. Preliminary estimates show the prevalence of ARFID to be between 0.5-5% of the global population but over 10% of autistic individuals. ARFID as a referring diagnosis is becoming more frequent, and families are looking for more occupational therapy interventions and support for their loved ones with this diagnosis. Occupational therapy practitioners are uniquely positioned to provide a "whole person" approach to treatment strategies to support those individuals with ARFID to continue to strive toward meaningful occupations including eating and mealtime engagement. This workshop will review what ARFID is, how it compares to Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD), as well as the overlap between ARFID and PFD. In addition, this workshop will provide assessment tools and immediate treatment strategies and recommendations to use during therapeutic interventions with clients with the diagnosis of ARFID within the pediatric population.