Autisms Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by core symptoms (social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors) and related comorbidities, including sensory anomalies, feeding issues, and challenging behaviors. Children with ASD experience significantly more feeding problems than their peers. In fact, parents and clinicians have to manage daily the burden of various dysfunctional behaviors of children at mealtimes (food refusal, limited variety of food, single food intake, or liquid diet). These dysfunctional behaviors at mealtime depend on different factors that are either medical/sensorial or behavioral. Consequently, a correct assessment is necessary in order to program an effective clinical intervention. The aim of this study is to provide clinicians with a guideline regarding food selectivity concerning possible explanations of the phenomenon, along with a direct/indirect assessment gathering detailed and useful information about target feeding behaviors. Finally, a description of evidence-based sensorial and behavioral strategies useful also for parent-mediated intervention is reported addressing food selectivity in children with ASD.

Background/Objectives: Food selectivity is a prevalent and challenging issue in childhood, particularly in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which may result in restricted dietary patterns and nutrient deficiencies. This study aimed to identify high-risk subgroups of children by combining food selectivity, diet, BMI, gastrointestinal symptoms, sensory processing, and parental feeding practices in children with ASD and in typically developing children (TDC). Methods: To achieve this aim, we ran a cross-sectional, survey-based study, including 408 children (aged 3 to 12.11 years), with gender-matched groups. Both parents completed a survey on children’s diet, anthropometric curves, gastrointestinal symptoms, and the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory (BAMBI), Short Sensory Profile (SSP), and Caregiver’s Feeding Style Questionnaire (CFSQ). Data analysis included comparative tests, correlations, and k-means cluster analysis. Results: Children with ASD exhibited significantly greater sensory processing difficulties, higher food refusal, limited food variety in the diet, and autism-related mealtime characteristics compared with TDC across all age groups. Caregivers of children with ASD reported higher controlling and contingency management feeding practices compared to the parents of the TDC. We found a strong correlation between sensory sensitivities and feeding issues. Notably, Body Mass Index (BMI) was not significantly associated with dietary restriction or gastrointestinal symptoms. Cluster analysis revealed a high-risk sub-phenotype in both groups of children with some differences, characterized by high food selectivity, taste, tactile, and smell sensitivity, gastrointestinal symptoms, and overactive parental practices. Conclusions: The early identification of this subgroup might foster more tailored, multidisciplinary, and effective assessment and clinical intervention.

Most Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) must cover uninterrupted work shifts for 24 h a day, seven days a week. The proper planning of a shift schedule requires consideration of at least three elements: the specific characteristics of the controller task, the physiological needs of the operator, and the definition of rest periods within rostering. We reviewed the literature for providing comprehensive guidance on the main requirements for the construction of a shift schedule for ATCOs. Our considerations are organized according to a rationale reflecting the most important criteria for the construction of the schedule: namely, the organization of rest periods conceptualized as intervals between cycles of shifts, intervals between individual shifts, and breaks within the shift. The suggested parameters could be used to construct shift schedules within a variation margin that depends on individual contexts of application.

Social-communicative abilities and theory of mind (ToM) are crucial for successful social interactions. The developmental trajectories of social and communicative skills characterizing individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are rather complex and multidimensional, including components related to theory of mind. Due to its mentalistic nature, theory of mind has been rarely addressed as an outcome for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) intervention in children and adolescents with ASD. However, there is evidence that ABA intervention might be effective in promoting social abilities in individuals with ASD. Thus, this topic is worth investigating. We present a systematic review to explore the Ins and Outs of an ABA approach to promote social and communicative abilities and ToM in children and adolescents with ASD. We applied a PRISMA checklist to consider studies published up to December 2024. The keywords that we used were ToM, perspective-taking, false belief, social cognition, and mental states, in combination with ABA intervention and ASD (up to age 18). We searched for studies using Scopus, Google Scholar, and Medline. We included twenty studies on perspective-taking, identifying emotions, helping, detecting eye gazing, and social engagement, reviewing fifteen dedicated to teaching the interpretation of mental states (involving 49 children and 10 adolescents). The ToM was addressed with a multiple baseline design on target behaviors associated with ToM components such as identifying emotion, helping behaviors, and mental states. The intervention included a behavioral package consisting of Behavioral Skill Training, Derived Relations, video modeling, and role playing. The results indicated a significant number of participants who followed ABA intervention to promote social abilities and mastered the target behavior in ToM tasks; however, they showed maintenance and generalization issues across trials and settings. The role of predictors was highlighted. However, the studies are still rare and exhibit specific methodological limitations, as well as some clinical and ethical considerations. More research is needed to define best practices in ABA intervention to promote social abilities in individuals with ASD.