“One way very young children explore their world is by putting things in their mouths,” he says. Call says his team found that for the children in the study, pica was an “automatically maintained” behavior, not attention seeking or manipulative, and did not stop after proper nutrition supplementation was provided. Pica behavior in other populations has been linked to nutritional deficiencies, such as low iron levels. “We thought stickers were similar enough to bandages, and the final test was that we sent him home on the bus with stickers all over his clothes, and he still had them when he got home.” “As you can imagine, his parents had to be super-vigilant,” he says. The researchers did not have follow-up data for some of the study participants who came from outside the United States.Ĭall describes treating one individual, who had been hospitalized on several occasions for eating objects such as a chlorine tablet from a swimming pool, buttons off his shirt or bandages on his body. Six months of follow-up services were provided whenever possible. The research team’s standard practice was to train parents or caregivers in how to maintain the treatment and follow up at home. Less than 90 percent reduction was achieved in only one case. The number of sessions required to achieve these results sometimes took weeks. One hundred percent reduction was reached in three cases. The average reduction in pica from baseline to final treatment, in this clinical setting, was 96 percent. The treatment’s effectiveness was tested by bringing the children to rooms baited with items that would be tempting for them to consume. “It can take weeks to figure out the right combination.”
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