Clever Kids

Improve your child's hand strength by letting them do these exercises 🖐🖖✊

GREAT WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD'S HAND STRENGTH

If your child is struggling with handwriting or pencil grip, here are some great exercises you can do to strengthen your child's fine motor skills.

https://www.flintrehab.com/hand-therapy-putty-exercises/

Some perspective on autism 💚

It is widely understood that a lot of people with autism struggle with certain foods. Sometimes it is the overpowering smell of food on the plate, the smell of the food cooking, the taste, the texture to name a few reasons. For me it can also be the item that the food is in.

For example have some mugs in my cupboard which I can’t drink from, the patterns on them make the drink taste different. My son loves train and he has one mug which is a retro station master mug and I can’t drink from it, I have tried but even my favourite tea or coffee is undrinkable in that mug. It may sound irrational but my brain smells steam trains and the drinks are automatically flavoured with the smell of a bygone era.

Pasta and risotto served in a bowl taste much better than served on a plate. I think some of the reason for this is that it is easier to eat these dishes in a bowl where as I find with pasta it can fly around a plate and this becomes so stressful I would often give up eating that dish. Other foods I would not tolerate in a bowl because they would touch each other and would need to be separate when served on a plate.

Cutlery can also be difficult to process from a sensory perspective. The way a fork or spoon feel in my mouth alters the flavour of the food I am eating. If they are too thick then it can make me gag. The handles of cutlery also effect if I can use them. If they are too thin I don’t get enough proprioceptive input from the but if they are too heavy it can cause hand pain and fatigue.

All of these can make eating and drinking additionally challenging but particularly when eating in restaurants, friends or school. If your child is struggling with food, don’t only look at the food itself.