Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Using that fork and spoon sure is hard work!

We are currently working on getting Austin to use a spoon and a fork regularly. He knows what the fork is for and can do it but it has been difficult to get him to use it consistently b/c he is so used to using his hands to eat anything and everything. He is also going through a phase where most of the time he tantrums if we even put a fork near his food :( Other times when he is in a patient mood, he will let us help him eat his entire meal with utensils. Tonight, for instance, he let me help him eat spaghetti with a fork and then he had a small pudding cup with a spoon! The pudding is supposed to help him b/c it is so thick, it just sticks to the spoon automatically. I can see how frustrating it is though when food doesn't always just stay on his fork!! Slow and steady....we will keep on making progress :)

8 comments:

Cyndi said...

We're still having probs with this...I figure he'll get it eventually so I've stopped harassing him (for now)!

Unknown said...

LOL I want to just leave him alone but DH is insisting that he knows how to do it and will never learn b/c we never make him do anything. I'm torn b/c I know I need to teach him but I feel awful when I know that he is just so frustrated when he can't get the food to stick to the spoon :(

GFCF Mommy said...

I know it is frustrating. But we still struggle with this too. We did "hand over hand" for a long time until we felt he was capable of doing it. Now, though he is capable, he still "forgets" or resists. At some point you just want to enjoy a meal. For the brief time we had ABA, she really helped with this. Maybe you can enlist your therapist and try for only one meal a day, or for a short time (say, eating mashed potatoes only, or something) so meals do not become a battlefield? That's what happened to us, it was to the point we all hated meals. So we backed off and like Cyndi, figure he'll use the utensils when he wants to impress a cute girl, or some other motivating factor. Still it is really hard. But it's all part of the fine motor troubles our kiddos seem to have, but you know that.

Hang in there!

Katherine

Casdok said...

We are also struggling with this one!

Cyndi said...

Have you moved yet???

tcd said...

J,

How did the move go?

With Helena, we really didn't force her to do it. Like Cyndi and Katherine, eventually you just want to enjoy a meal, and they do figure it out eventually.

What really helps is to sit down with them when they eat, and do it yourself. They will watch you and mimic you, and pick it up eventually.

Hang in there!

Thomas

Unknown said...

Thanks for all the comments knowing I'm not alone!

We are halfway done moving if that makes sense LOL. We drove from VA to TX and are here for a few days visiting family then we are heading to CA next week! Can't wait to get started with new services :)

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