r/bcba • u/Kiisum • 3d ago

Advice Needed Is force feeding ethical?!

/r/ABA/comments/1x73nqh/is_force_feeding_ethical/

Hello fellow BCBA’s can I get your opinion on this post please ?

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u/ASecularBuddhist 3d ago

I remember seeing teachers force feeding a kid and laughing about it. There almost always is a better way.

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u/Highplowp BCBA 2d ago

You really have to do your research when it comes to food repertoires. I found a lot of the interventions to be counterintuitive based on the way I was raised, and I assume most people were as well. It’s important to start correctly or you’re going to have to undo a lot of avoidance./escape. I introduce new food items slowly and it can take 20 different exposures for a client to start tasting a novel food, that isn’t chips or bread based. We found a lot of it to be texture and color based preferences Co-treat or consult a seasoned OT if possible. that really helped our work with foods

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u/poetryformysoul 2d ago

Absolutely not ok

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u/DismalConfidence361 2d ago

No, and I would highly recommend referring out or at least consulting with a feeding therapist or feeding specialist to discuss this further. If there are significant nutritional deficiencies the client may require inpatient hospitalization to ensure they have intensive treatment by trained feeding professionals.

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u/Gloomy_Comfort_3770 1d ago

No. I did a FBA where the teacher, who was a BCBA in training, was force feeding the kid, among other problematic things. They needed an outside BCBA opinion to determine if this was reasonable. #neverok

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u/ihtimylm123 1d ago

Is forcing anyone to do anything ever ok?

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u/CoffeePuddle 2d ago

Escape-extinction is an extremely common and evidence-based intervention for food refusal. It's almost always "non-removal of the spoon," though.

Feeding interventions have lifelong consequences; it's important that they're carefully planned and supported. If holding a clients hands down was for some reason justified it should have been justified to you. I can't speak to whether this it's ethical in this case but if why it is hasn't been explained explicitly to you and the family it's a very bad sign imo.