The child with ASD struggles with many aspects of life, including feeding difficulties. Many caregivers and professionals are overwhelmed by the child who eats only a handful of foods and accepts only particular brands of foods. This presentation focuses on uncovering the root of the problem by examining the medical and developmental history as well as the nutritional and feeding history of the child with ASD.

Alicia J. Hart, B.A, is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and has been a Master’s candidate in Child Development and Family Services at Eastern Illinois University. She is the author of Brains, Trains & Video Games: Living The Autism Life. Alicia lives in Merritt Island, Florida with her husband and three children where she is currently finishing her second book, Foods, Moods & Isms: Living The Eosinophilic Life. Currently, Alicia is working with the Autism Center of Excellence at Virginia Commonwealth University as the Autism Spectrum Disorder Coordinator. Previously, Alicia was a Regional Provider Liaison for Florida’s Early Steps program and a Family and Community Resource Coordinator with The Autism Program in Illinois. She was the coordinator of the East Central Illinois Autism Support Group and although she is no longer in Illinois, she continues to volunteer her time to those families and children needing augmentative and alternative communication help or feeding difficulties. She has presented to students and faculty at Eastern Illinois University on topics such as autism spectrum disorder, eosinophilic disorder, NICU and the high risk newborn, infants and toddlers with disabilities, financial implications for families raising a child with autism, and typical toddler development. She has presented programs to the community on neurobiological advances in autism research, the child with autism in the medical environment, co-morbidity and the child with autism, and bridging the gap between therapy at home and in the clinic. She was previously a faculty member with the Illinois Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics and the Enhancing Developmentally Oriented Primary Care’s Autism and Early Detection Project. Alicia has also provided trainings regarding early intervention and autism, early warning signs of autism, emergency responders and autism, child care providers and autism, new diagnosis orientations for families, as well as, providing social skills and recreational programming for young children with autism spectrum disorder in social skills and recreation groups.