Children and Young People with needs that may be best met by our service
ARFID is a behavioural diagnosis and does not address medical, developmental or skill-based issues ARFID and PFD - Feeding Matters . The following list summarises who our treatment pathway is designed to support:
- Age 6 and over (in line with current evidence base for treatment approaches for ARFID in our mental health pathway – Family Based Treatment-ARFID and -ARFID).
- Lack of interest in eating (lack of recognition of hung Cognitive Behavioural Treatment er signals or finds eating a chore). Experience compromises the persons quality of life or ability to access things that they would like to.
- Sensory Sensitivity (extreme limited range of food intake due to difficulties around texture/taste of foods), which can later lead to a lack of interest around eating. Sensory difficulties go beyond what may be seen typically in populations where preference for beige diet (as seen in Autism) and is seen as problematic for the young person as well as their family.
- Fear of adverse consequences (this might include fear choking or vomiting)where significant changes have been made to food intake.
Avoidant or restrictive eating may be a recent change in behaviour or may be a longstanding difficulty, however the young person should have been successfully weaned onto a solid diet as part of a developmental milestone, even if diet range and intake is limited, as this may indicate Paediatric Feeding Disorder or a medical condition that would require a different treatment approach.
Children and Young People with needs that may be best met by other services (such as Paediatricians, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Community Dietetics).
- Age 5 and under
- Exclusively tube fed
- Meets criteria for Paediatric Feeding Disorder or other developmental or medical feeding difficulty
- Disturbance in oral intake of nutrients, is primarily associated with one or more of the following: medical, feeding skills, learning disability and/or functional or oral motor skills dysfunction.
- The young person never successfully weaned (never established a diet with solid foods or a range of foods at the point of weaning). This would require a referral to a paediatric team or other local services that offer this skills-based support.
- Food and eating limits, as a result, of swallowing difficulties, that are not being managed by other services (investigations not yet completed or not receiving support for dysphagia).
- Children who have persistent physical symptoms (e.g. reflux, constipation, vomiting, chronic pain) which are not well managed and are likely to be an alternative explanation for restricted eating.
- Children with developmental delay in which the food intake is in line with their developmental stage who require time and support from local professionals to acquire developmental skills pertinent to feeding.
- Restriction or avoidance explained by another eating disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder.
- There is no current treatment offer for individuals with symptoms of Pica or Rumination Disorder.
A decision will be made on the clinical suitability of offering ARFID consultation or signposting to partner agencies with the above co-occurring conditions or diagnoses. Requests for input will be considered within the context of whether the severity of the eating disturbance exceeds that routinely associated with the comorbid condition.
Comorbid medical conditions must be investigated prior to referral, as a direct cause of the limited intake (e.g., vomiting, constipation, reflux, swallowing difficulties, pain).
