Using utensils | Autism PDD

thanks for your help!  I know what you mean, same here, he can do it, its alittle awkward for lack of not making him do it, but he mainly prefers not to.  I'm going to really work w/ him and bring it up as a priority w/ his o/t...

So sad about your friends child, hopefully they'll be able to deal and do what is best for their child....I find myself doing the same thing, its hard not to when we are faced w/ it day in and day out, and its only because we do know the earlier the help the better for the child.

thanks again hon!

hugs,

ali

Ali -

Does your son get OT? Have they worked on this with him? For my son, it turned out that he didn't want to eat with a fork because he didn't want to make a mess - the food was always falling off. The OT worked long and hard with him (as did we) on getting the proper grip on the fork and keeping it flat and straight. Now, there is still usually food underneath his chair, but it is a lot less. He is much more confident about eating with a fork. I also didn't let him stop eating with a fork (now I know that is easier said than done with most of our kids!). If I did that, I knew that it would be very difficult to get him back to eating with it. So, I just insisted that we eat with a fork/spoon not our fingers. We have friends who have a child (2 years older than my son) who we are positive is on the spectrum, and he went through a phase like this for a LONG time. They wished they had nipped it in the bud right away. So, when my son did this, I tried to do just that - nip it in the bud immediately. He is doing much better now as a result

Hi Snoopywoman,

My son does get OT in the regular school year, and he, after he stopped eating baby food, never ate foods that required eating w/ a spoon or fork, so its really not that he did it and stopped its more he never did it and now he eats rice and spaghetti and other foods he could eat w/ utensils and he is iffy about it, he'll do it occasionally, but he'd prefer to feed me w/ it or I feed him w/ it... and its awkward for him so that's the part we are working on.  Sometimes if I leave blueberry yogurt ( a new food he seems to like (yipee!)) on the table w/ a spoon in it he will try to do it himself, but if I push the issue he balks and doesn't want to...again something we are working on...thanks for the advice though, once he gets the hang of it we will definately make him do it all the time, just like we did w/ potty training etc...thanks again & great job w/ your son!

I don't have the toothbrush issue. My son has been doing his own teeth with help (a lot in the beginning and now almost none at age 4) since he was 11 months old. He really likes brushing his teeth. He occasionally bites on the toothbrush to suck the toothpaste off (I still use non-fluoride stuff), but when he does that I take over. He does not like me to take over, so he doesn't do that very often anymore. I generally just help him finish up once a day, to make sure he gets a really good brushing - but he brushes his teeth for a long time with a spinbrush and I think he does a pretty good job. He brushes after every meal and before bed (but we sometimes forget so it usually ends up being 2-3 times a day).

I do think that OT will help with that, though. I think most of our kids would benefit from OT, so I would get that eval as soon as possible! I know that schools often give you a hard time, but fight for what your son needs!

Hey Screech, at least he puts it in his mouth bless his heart, my guy is like nothing doing! and will fight it all the way...I just like a month ago got him to put the brush up to his mouth an even sweep it against is front teeth, that is huge for NIcholas! I usually hold him down and do it and try to do it while he's playing w/ water w/ a face cloth, he'll let me use that and get all this teeth, front, back and everywhere, but not a brush??? Definate mouth sensory issues, and we have the o/t working w/ that too.  Best of luck!

hugs,

Ali

Ali,

This was a VERY hard issue for us. We started working on this long before we ever knew that he had PDD-NOS. He just did not want to use a spoon or a fork - he would occasionally, but not by choice. I just kept on him consistently and I have probably said 100,000 times (not sure I'm exaggerating here) "We eat with a spoon (fork) - not with our fingers." Now I would have meals in between where it was okay to eat with your hands to kind of give him a break. In other words, I didn't push it 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. But, breakfast was always cereal or oatmeal followed by some kind of fruit (he could then eat with his fingers). Now that I'm writing this, I realize that this could be confusing to some kids to say we eat with spoon/fork not with our fingers - because sometimes it's okay to do so. Maybe I would say - we eat oatmeal with a spoon, not with our fingers. My son is very verbal and also very bright, so he is pretty good at differentiating.

I probably wouldn't have focused on this issue quite so much if the Follow-Along program (a developmental screening program for all infants/toddlers in our county - if you choose to participate they send you questionnaires every 4 months) hadn't called me about it. He wasn't eating with a fork by 20 months of age and they were concerned. That is when I started focusing on it - I knew he COULD do it, but he just preferred not to.

I also focused on it because of our friends' child and how many problems they had with him not eating with his fork/spoon. He actually went through a phase where he wouldn't eat with his hands either - he would just try to put his face in the plate and eat like a dog/cat. He has lots of eating issues - pretty much won't eat anything but junk food and a few baby carrots. Almost all of his nutrition comes from Carnation Instant Breakfast put into some chocolate milk. We are pretty certain that he falls somewhere on the spectrum (he has articulation issues, some delayed echolalia that I've noticed, meltdowns, needing things to be lined up, an obsession with Harry Potter, and extremely good building skills with things like Legos). He is 6 and the parents are in complete denial that he is anything but NT and feel the same about my son, who is (in most ways) less severe than their son. I try not to diagnose other kids, but this one is pretty obvious to me and I just wish they would get him help sooner rather than later. I have tried to talk about what is going on with my son a lot, but they still think that we are exaggerating things and that we shouldn't be seeking help for him. I know that this is because if they admit that my son has PDD, then they will have to admit to themselves that their son has it as well. They were shocked that we recently got a diagnosis. Their son just started kindergarten yesterday, and I think that school will be a big wake-up call for them. He has been in pre-school-like programs but those are more playtime than school and I think that the stress of school will most likely bring out more behaviors.

Okay, I should have started a different thread on this - sorry! I hope that things get better for you and your son soon - I thought it would never get better for mine and it has! Good luck to you and your family!

Sensory Integrative related feeding probs

Functional Feeding Issues in Autism

 Sensory Integration - Must Read

Sensory Defensiveness & Sensory Diet

Sensory Integration & Teaching Strategies

From   How to know if its sensory / What to do

ORAL MOTOR:  Oral motor skills are used to regulate state of arousal. Infant and toddlers use sucking as a way to fall asleep or calm down; children and adults may use the oral motor area to concentrate (chew gum, suck through straw or bite nails), and comfort (foods).

Considerations: Oral motor activities must be constantly and consistently monitored for safety. Be aware of food and non-food allergies when considering oral motor activities.

HOW TO KNOW WHEN IT IS APPROPRIATE TO GIVE ORAL MOTOR INPUT:

As previously mentioned, oral motor activities help children and adults to calm, focus, and concentrate, and can be utilized either immediately before fine motor task or during fine mo1or tasks to help the child come to midline and concentrate.

Experience has taught that oral motor activities (like lollipops) may also become a distraction (as the child pulls the lollipop in and out of mouth usually with dominant hand and therefore stops the fine motor activity). If food is the oral motor activity of choice, choose foods that remain in the mouth to help decrease distractions

ORAL MOTOR ACTIVITIES (O)

0-1 Blowing bubbles

0-2 Blow Ping-Pong or cotton ba11 across table with straw.

0-3 Tugging/biting washcloth, therapy tubing.

0-4 Crunchy snacks.

0-5 Blow toys, i.e. windmills, Kazoos, whistles

0-6 Blow up balloons

0-7 Chewing gum

0-8 Vibrating toothbrushes

0-9 Resistive sucking- i.e. sports bottle, drink boxes, straw, crazy-straws, thicker liquids

0-10 Foods: popcorn, crackers, bagel, beef jerky, fruit rollups, tootsie rolls, starburst fruit chews, and pretzels

0-11 Chewing crushed ice, fruit (non-sugar) Popsicles, frozen bananas

0-12 Chew on coffee swizzle sticks

0-13 Suck on sugarless hard candy

0-14 Suck on sugarless gummy candy

0-15 Suck on sugarless jawbreakers

I have a 2 1/2  year old autistic son. For the past 4 months he has not been holding his own sipper cup. Prior to that, he used to hold his own sipper cup and drink from that. I'm not sure how to go about reteaching him to hold his own sipper cup. Any ideas? Thanks.