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Read the report carefully, asking yourself the following questions:
What is the research problem?
How was the study conducted?
What were the results?
What conclusions does the report imply?
Are the conclusions warranted by the research described?
You may find that you cannot answer one or more of the questions listed above. Do not be overly concerned about this. The most central questions to be answered are:
What questions would you like to have answered before you accept the conclusions implied in the media report?
Were there any distortions in reporting? If so, what were they?
If the original source of research is indicated in the media report, you may wish to locate the original report or journal article and use it to help you assess the accuracy of the media report. You are not, however, expected to do so. Most media reports fail to cite the source in enough detail to allow one to locate the original report.
Directions for Writing the Essay
Your finished essay is to be 500 to 800 words long, and is to be divided into 3 sections as indicated below. Remember that the goal of the assignment is to critique the media report itself and not to critique the research itself.
Section 1: Describe briefly the research problem, the method used, the results, and the conclusions reported, as described by the journalist.
Section 2: Describe any essential information that is missing, that is, information that you, as a student taking a research methods course, would want to see but is not mentioned by the journalist. Discuss how different outcomes of the missing information may affect the validity of conclusions claimed.
Section 3: Draw your conclusions about the usefulness of this media report in disseminating information. Given all of the missing information, would you consider the media report useful for educating the reader? Would you need to read the original report before you trust the conclusion presented by the journalist?
Unusual eating behaviors may be a new diagnostic indicator for autism
Date:
July 9, 2019
Source:
Penn State
Summary:
Atypical eating behaviors may be a sign a child should be screened for autism, according to researchers who found that atypical eating behaviors were present in 70 percent of children with autism, which is 15 times more common than in neurotypical children.
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Atypical eating behaviors may be a sign a child should be screened for autism, according to a new study from Penn State College of Medicine.
Research by Susan Mayes, professor of psychiatry, found that atypical eating behaviors were present in 70% of children with autism, which is 15 times more common than in neurotypical children.
Atypical eating behaviors may include severely limited food preferences, hypersensitivity to food textures or temperatures, and pocketing food without swallowing.
According to Mayes, these behaviors are present in many 1-year-olds with autism and could signal to doctors and parents that a child may have autism.
“If a primary care provider hears about these behaviors from parents, they should consider referring the child for an autism screening,” Mayes said.
Mayes said that the earlier autism is diagnosed, the sooner the child can begin treatment with a behavior analyst. Previous studies have shown applied behavior analysis to be most effective if implemented during the preschool years. Behavior analysts use a number of interventions, including rewards, to make positive changes in the children’s behavior and teach a range of needed skills.
Keith Williams, director of the Feeding Program at Penn State Children’s Hospital, uses this therapy to help a variety of individuals with unusual eating behaviors. He said that identifying and correcting these behaviors can help ensure children are eating a proper diet.
“I once treated a child who ate nothing but bacon and drank only iced tea,” Williams said. “Unusual diets like these don’t sustain children.”
Williams also noted that there is a distinct difference between worrisome eating behaviors and the typical picky eating habits of young children. He explained that most children without special needs will slowly add foods to their diets during the course of development, but children with autism spectrum disorders, without intervention, will often remain selective eaters.
“We see children who continue to eat baby food or who won’t try different textures,” Williams said. “We even see children who fail to transition from bottle feeding.”
Mayes said that many children with autism eat a narrow diet consisting primarily of grain products, like pasta and bread, and chicken nuggets. She said that because children with autism have sensory hypersensitivities and dislike change, they may not want to try new foods and will be sensitive to certain textures. They often eat only foods of a particular brand, color or shape.
The research also showed that most children with autism who had atypical eating behaviors had two or more types — almost a quarter had three or more. Yet, none of the children with other developmental disorders who did not have autism had three or more. According to Williams, this is a common, clinical phenomenon — and it has prompted him and his colleagues to recommend some children for further evaluation.
“When we evaluate young children with multiple eating problems, we start to wonder if these children might also have the diagnosis of autism,” Williams said. “In many cases, they eventually do receive this diagnosis.”
The researchers evaluated the eating behaviors described in parent interviews of more than 2,000 children from two studies. They investigated the difference in the frequency of unusual eating behaviors between typical children and those with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disorders.
Williams said the study data shows that atypical eating behaviors may help diagnostically distinguish autism from other disorders. Even though children from both groups have unusual eating habits, they are seven times more common in autism than in other disorders, according to the study data.
“This study provided further evidence that these unusual feeding behaviors are the rule and not the exception for children with autism,” Williams said.
Hana Zickgraf, University of Chicago, also contributed to this research.
Journal Reference:
Susan Dickerson Mayes, Hana Zickgraf. Atypical eating behaviors in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD, other disorders, and typical development. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2019; 64: 76 DOI: 10.1016/j.rasd.2019.04.002
Penn State. “Unusual eating behaviors may be a new diagnostic indicator for autism.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 July 2019. .
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