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Is it ARFID or Picky Eating?

A 2-Minute Parent Screener 

If every single mealtime feels like a high-stakes battleground, you are likely exhausted.

Maybe you’ve been told, "Don’t worry, they’ll eat when they get hungry enough." Or perhaps you’ve tried every reward system, boundary, and hidden-veggie recipe in the book—only to find your child’s world of "safe foods" shrinking smaller by the week.

If this sounds familiar, your child isn't being "stubborn" or "difficult." They may be dealing with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).

Take the Short ARFID Screen (SAS-P)

This brief, 7-question screening tool was developed by leading clinical researchers to help parents identify whether a child’s restrictive eating patterns warrant a professional evaluation.

  • Time to complete: Under 2 minutes
  • Who it’s for: Parents or caregivers of children/teens aged 2+
  • What you’ll get: Clear, immediate feedback and a direct path to support
  • 100% Confidential: Your responses are private and secure
1 Baseline
2 Differential
3 Weight
4 Nutrition
5 Dependency
6 Individual
7 Family

Baseline

1 Does your child have difficulties with eating—involving avoidance or restriction of certain foods or of the overall amount eaten—that are NOT explained by a diagnosed medical condition?

Differential

2 Are your child's eating habits related to them thinking that they are too big or too heavy?

Weight

3 Over the past 3 months, has your child's eating led to difficulty maintaining a healthy weight, OR if they are still growing, difficulty gaining enough weight to grow as expected?

Nutrition

4 Does your child have any nutritional deficiencies or inadequacies as a result of limited eating (e.g., low iron, low vitamin B12, low vitamin C, etc.)?

Dependency

5 Does your child depend on tube feeding or nutritional supplements (like Ensure, Pediasure, or prescribed shakes) to maintain their nutrition, weight, or growth? (i.e., without these, they would lose weight or have nutritional deficiencies)

Individual

6 Does your child's eating have a negative effect on their day-to-day life or their ability to participate in a full range of age-appropriate activities? (e.g., birthday parties, school lunches, sleepovers)

Family

7 Does your child's eating have a negative effect on your family relationships or other aspects of your family life (e.g., cooking family meals, going out to restaurants, holidays)?
Important Note: This screener is an educational tool designed to help you identify warning signs. It is not a diagnostic tool and does not replace a clinical evaluation by a medical or mental health professional. Adapted from “Short ARFID Screen – parent/carer (SAS-P)”, by R. Bryant-Waugh, 2019. Copyright 2019 by Rachel Bryant-Waugh.