No pictures from today. : ( Vollen had occupational therapy at ProCare 3. We have some things to work on/towards. I just thought it would be interesting to list what he is working on.
He needs to start feeding himself more. I need to just bite the bullet and let him make messes and learn. At therapy today she had him eat applesauce. Surprisingly, he did really, really well. He held the spoon properly and didn't spill too much. He LOVED it. We also need to put the spoon down and have him pick it back up and orientated it properly again by himself. It gave me hope that we are on our way to complete feeding Independence soon!
He needs to start helping wash his hands. I usually just do it for him. That is why I like him going to therapy. On the outside it looks like Vollen is doing so great (which he is), but there is so many little things that need work or refinement and things I need to be reminded of to just let him do it by himself and expect more of him.
He needs to start learning how to take his clothes off by himself, specifically his pants. He needs to pull them down, sit down and pull them off. Balancing on one leg to take the pants off standing up is a very advanced skill and that comes way later for all kids. So, sitting down is how you first learn to do it. She said socks are first (which he has been able to do that for a long time now), then pants, then shirts off. I told her on Christmas he took his sweater off several times, so that is good! So, we need to work on pants now.
He needs to work on throwing a smaller ball overhand consistently. He can do it, but not every time, all the time. He sometimes will throw it down to the ground and not out at a person. Especially with bigger balls he likes throwing those down like a touchdown.
He needs to refine his pincer grasp (using ONLY the index finger and thumb). He does a lot of grabbing with all of his fingers (it's called raking). We need to isolate just the finger and thumb and make it habit for him to use just those when picking up small objects like peas or kernels of corn, etc... You have to hold back his last three fingers and just let him use the other two until he starts doing it on his own all the time out of habit.
He is still on track with a TYPICAL 20 month old kid, which is amazing. She said there was nothing she was concerned about or he is falling behind on. So that was good to hear. Like every child they excel in some things and are ahead in some areas and need a little work in others, it's kind of like a pendulum how it ebbs and flows. Now if we can just get him to quit climbing up on everything.....
