Occupational Therapy

This is the only 'main' therapy that Ruby does not receive. While her PT incorporates some fine motor training into her therapy, and I read up on activities that will help her with OT, she's never had a professional in that area work with her. It was my thought initially to get her mobile as quickly as possible by hitting PT hard, and then once she could handle more, pull in speech to get her talking. Not that OT is not important, because it is, but I felt that walking and talking would help her more socially than holding a fork, or buttoning her clothes.

Because of that, there are many things I wish Ruby could do better when it comes to fine motor skills. She does not hold a crayon with proper technique, she cannot lace beads onto a string without assistance, she still struggles to pick up small objects due to inconsistently using her pincer. One area Ruby is starting to show improvement in, however, is her self-feeding with a utensil. Ruby's been using a fork for select foods (ones that are easy to 'stick' like Gardenburgers or some casseroles) with success for almost a year. We've been letting her use a spoon for cereal or oatmeal for about a year, and for the last 4-6 months, she's done pretty well to get that spoon loaded and then into her mouth, unassisted. However, she still would flip the spoon once it was inside of her mouth. During this last stay at home, she's corrected that and has had much better 'correct' form with the spoon.

As usually happens, that means I let her eat unassisted a bit more, which means she gets more curious without me hovering over her, so she's also used her fingers in the bottom of the yogurt or applesauce bowl if I'm not paying enough attention. So less mess from the spoon eating, but more (mommy's fault) finger eating.