Does he get any OT or PT?? If he does then bring this up to the therapist and she or he will be able to work on those motor skills needed to get this skill down. The speech therapist may be able to help too. Until then I would just take some time out each day using the spoon to practice. What I did with Adam was I would get out the spoon and a bowl and I would help him hand over hand for every "pretend" bite. I made a pretend play out of it with him and his spiderman doll. We would give him a bite..."your turn....yummy pudding".....Spiderman's turn......Oh that is good pudding...etc. I always made him hold the spoon when it was his turn and spidermans. All I did was hand over hand direct him physically. If he doesn't have a doll that he likes then you can be the other person in the game. Just a suggestion,
Karrie
My three-year-old on the mild end of the AS is having major problems using a spoon. His speech therapist has worked on it with him and I have as well, but he is continues to have difficulties. I plan to bring it up to his teacher so that maybe the speech therapist can work with him, but in the meantime, I could really use some tips or advice.
Basically what he does is scoops the food just fine, but then either flips the spoon over once he gets it to his mouth, or (if I'm helping him) he'll put the spoon in his mouth right side up, but scrapes the food off with his teeth avoiding using his lips altogether. He'll use his lips if the spoon is upside down, but won't close them when holding the spoon correctly in his mouth.
He likes pudding, yogurt, yellow rice (LOVES that), and applesauce sometimes so you can see where this is really a problem.
Thanks!
Jen
really silly question i know but have you had his adenoids checked?it could be that he can't breath too well when he closes his mouth jack has been much better since he had is out (at the time it major trauma,and took a good few months to thin we did the right thing) i hadn't realised how bad it was for him until after he had the op
on the plus side at least your little man is eating however he is doing it
Dee
My son is three and still eats baby food or anything "liquidy". I think it is purely a texture thing. Atleast he is making an attempt to use his spoon.You could have been describing my son!! Luke does EXACTLY the same things! We found out that he DOES have enlarged adenoids and he breathes through his mouth all the time due to congestion. (Turns out he has multiple food allergies, which we're hoping is what is causing his congestion.) He's getting tubes in his ears tomorrow, but we opted NOT to get his adenoids removed. We want to wait and see if taking care of his allergies will diminish the size of his adenoids.My son jonthan is I guess lucking he has my feeding issues such as not chewing his food fully or chokinf on hard food . He does not like soft or mashy food. Here in philadelphia at the Children hospital of philadelphia I go to the Feeding Center .At the Feeding center they help me with all kinds of issue. They are the best.
Jessi is working on this in OT as well, she's 28 months.
We have to completely help her pick up the spoon, scoop the food, and put it into her mouth. If you let her try she bangs the spoon on the tray and then abandons it for her fingers.
Sarah
We worked for over a month with Owen in OT and he has it mastered pretty well..he is still quite messy..but it really took a month straight of 3 meals a day..me doing hand over hand with him. That is the only real advise the OT gave me, was that he need to practice because of his motor planning issues to get it co ordinated right.