![]() The term is derived from "pica-pica," the Latin word for the magpie bird, because of the bird's indiscriminate gathering and eating a variety of objects for the sake of curiosity. The Pica Toolkit for Parents and Professionals(brought to you by Autism Speaks) is also a nice resource.The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) defines pica as eating nonnutritive, nonfood substances over a period of at least one month. Finally, minimize your emotional reaction (but do attend to it) to your child’s pica to decrease the chance that pica is reinforced by your attention. ![]() Educate all of the people your child interacts with (teachers, child care providers, extended family members) so that they can help supervise and prevent items from being ingested that might cause harm. For example, you can remove preferred non-food items from the home. If you’re waiting to see an ABA provider, there are some preventative strategies you can use to minimize harm. Something to note: If a child or individual has received medical attention (e.g., trip the emergency room) or has health issues potentially due to pica, more immediate assessment and treatment will be called for. ![]() Subsequent treatment plans may include things like behavioral replacement (like chewing gum or “chewies”) which it sounds like you’ve tried, environmental enrichment (offering the child other items or activities and reducing the availability of non-food items in the environment), and/or reinforcement (rewarding the child when they engage in OTHER, more appropriate behaviors). Thus, a functional analysis (FA) needs to be conducted by a trained behavioral expert (such as a BCBA). The next step (and the first step in creating an effective behavioral treatment plan) will be to determine the reason the pica behavior is occurring the behavioral treatment will vary based on the purpose of the behavior for your child. However, before you start behavioral treatment, it’s important to consult with your pediatrician to rule out any nutritional deficiencies as the root cause. Regarding treatment, the literature tells us that interventions using applied behavioral analysis (ABA) techniques are most effective for treating pica. Pica can also be a self-soothing strategy (like when stressed) or can be driven by social reinforcers (like attention from parents/teachers/peers). The function of pica varies from individual to individual the literature tells us that the most common explanation for pica is that it serves a sensory purpose-simply put, it feels and/or tastes good. Pica is not uncommon in children with developmental disabilities, such as autism, but the precise prevalence is not known. Any suggestions?Ī: “Pica” (pronounced “pie-cuh”) is described as an individual “eating non-food items,” such as dirt, hair, paint/glue, rocks, lint, or paperclips. Unsure where to go from here as have tried chewing gum, sensory chew items and scented play doh? Unsure where to go from here. He does it when he is stressed, over excited and has even done it whilst he appears relaxed. Send your questions to My child engages in Pica and I had him tested for iron & other deficiencies which came back clear. Rastall will do her best to answer them each month. We welcome you to send us your questions and Dr. Emily Rastall, a clinical psychologist at Seattle Children’s Autism Center, will share insights in a question and answer format. Emily! We often receive questions that we want to share with all our readers. Welcome to the December edition of Ask Dr.
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