[blindkid] Suggestions for utensil use and verbal descriptions

[Carol Castellano]

Hi Marie,

So does Jack hold the spoon between his thumb and hand below his 
index finger?  I am thinking that if he can handle a spoon, he will 
probably be able to handle a fork.

For starting a fork, you can use easy sticky foods like mashed 
potatoes and then for practice you can move along to play dough food 
lumps.  These are also good for learning to cut with a knife.  Maybe 
these ideas will help.

Carol

At 12:45 PM 6/6/2010, you wrote:
>Hey guys,
>I could use tips for teaching utensil usage (see blog post below).
>Also, I have only recently realized (I'm slow sometimes) that we 
>need to do A LOT more verbal describing for Jack in EVERYTHING 
>(outdoors, indoors, reading books, etc.) BUT I'm worried about 
>overwhelming him with too much language. He is also a late talker 
>and his language has greatly improved since we stopped having verbal 
>diarrhea and giving him time to talk a little. Any tips?
>Marie
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
>Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 09:31:35
>To: <empwrn at bellsouth.net>
>Subject: [All Access Pass to Jack] Even Breakfast is Therapy
>
>Jack is great with independently feeding himself finger foods. Utensil
>use, however, has been a challenge with the exception of his morning
>oatmeal. At least part of it has to do with his fine motor
>challenges--small hands with fingers that don't bend.
>However, it also recently occurred to us (DOH!) that it is also a
>visual challenge. Jack has not yet learned to completely accomodate for
>his lack of depth perception. He often does not use his vision in fine
>motor tasks--kind of like his brain decided it was too difficult so it
>took the path of least resistance--and instead feels for things rather
>than looking.
>It occurred to me that he does absolutely fine scooping his oatmeal so
>perhaps we should try making all of his food spoonable and putting it
>into a bowl. This worked pretty well for foods that were okay to get
>mixed up like your meat and veggies. But not so well when things like
>oatmeal and scrambled eggs with cheese, mushrooms, peppers, and onions
>got mixed together. Jack wouldn't eat that. (Who blames him?)
>Enter the divided plate. We have a bunch of these from taking lunches
>to work. They are great because they have high sides for ease of
>scooping and they keep foods seperated.
>So far, so good.
>If you've got any tips for teaching utensil use to a child with fine
>motor issues or a visual impairment or both, I'd love to hear them!
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>--
>Posted By Marie to All Access Pass to Jack at 6/06/2010 11:31:00 AM
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Carol Castellano, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
973-377-0976
carol_castellano at verizon.net
www.nopbc.org