[blindkid] Suggestions for utensil use and verbal descriptions

[Susan Harper]

Like all things, practise makes perfect.  My son is almost 4 and still
slightly delayed.  He uses a spoon just fine.  I use a couple of forks and
spear food and he picks the forks up to feed himself.  That was how I
started self feeding with a spoon.  My son has no vision, so no struggles to
compensate for low vision.  Think hard about what your son has to do.  Then
break it down into small bites (couldn't resist a bad pun), then start with
the first task and progress on to the next step until eventually he does the
whole thing independently.

I am doing the same thing with potty training.  We started with me pulling
down pants, putting him on the potty, then getting him off, putting on the
pull up, then putting on the shorts/pants and then pulling up the pants.
One of the two is able to complete the whole task independently and the
other is able to sit independently on the toilet.  I get him down and he
helps put his feet in the pull ups and pants, then he pulls up his pants.
He is slower, but getting to the same place, picking up the parts he gets
and adding on to that.

I think if you have the spoon down, you are almost where you want to be.  I
think a fork takes more time and concentration.  It will come.  It is a
great question and I am hoping someone comes up with a better answer because
we have the loaded fork, but not the Independence yet.  Keep us appraised of
your progress.
Blessings,
Sue H.

On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 12:45 PM, Marie <empwrn at bellsouth.net> 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!
> This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from
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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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