Apraxia and self-help skills

Twitter (via https://twitter.com/#!/YTherapySource) alerted me to a survey on self-help skills for special needs kids, being collected by an OT. I decided to give it a whirl. As I took it, I realized that this was a nice list to start working on. (Reminder: Nea is almost 8, and has apraxia of speech and also limb apraxia, affecting her fine motor skills.)

It was also a nice list to see things we’ve made progress on:

• Manages safety belt independently in vehicles
• Can receive and make phone calls (to her dad at work)

And then there were some items I’m going to give a pass for now:

• Knows the difference between putting out paper fires from grease fires
• Cleans up broken glass safely

Here’s the list, with my comments.

DRESSING SKILLS QUESTIONS

• Puts on and fastens a button up shirt  – We don’t do a lot of buttony clothing, but we should make sure she can do a button.
• Puts on and fastens tie shoes  – Forget it. When she’s older.

HYGIENE AND GROOMING SKILLS

• Washes, rinses, and dries hands well  – Key word being “well” – a comment that applies to this whole section
• Completes nose care well (blows nose)
• Brushes hair and manages tangles
• Brushes teeth well
• Flosses teeth well – OK, who am I kidding. Should work on.
• Obtains soap and hygiene products for bath/shower

FEEDING SKILLS

• Uses a knife to spread foods (butter)
• Uses a knife to cut foods

TOILETING SKILLS

OTHER FUNCTIONAL MOBILITY

PERSONAL CARE DEVICES

HOUSEWORK/CHORES

• Those sections she is age-appropriate on, or don’t apply

MANAGING MONEY AND SHOPPING

• Identifies the value of coins and bills  – working on
• Makes a simple purchase from a store or vending machine using cash with assistance

MEAL PREPARATION

• Prepares a cold snack (chips, fruit) or meal (cereal, sandwich) independently – Sounds like a really great idea!

PERSONAL SAFETY

• Can dial 911 in case of an emergency – We’ve spent so much time on learning our phone number that I’m not sure whether she can do this. Need to check.
• Follows safety rules when talking with strangers – working on
• Has stranger awareness when asked to leave a location with an unfamiliar person – working on
• Follows fire safety rules and knows family fire safety plan – should work on

TRAVELING

• Uses a key to unlock doors to enter house – should work on
• Follows basic road safety skills (crosses street safely) – working on

SCHOOL RELATED SKILLS

• Brings all necessary materials to school (homework, lunch, permission slips) – This section I’m willing to take the blame on. I’ve been taking papers out of her backpack and putting them back in. I need to stop enabling. It’s her responsibility.
• Brings all necessary supplies home to complete homework assignments or projects
• Completes homework and returns it on time

Also, I talked to our old babysitter, who is off getting a degree in special education (!), and she’s willing to work on getting Nea to ride her bike this summer. We’ve pretty much failed at this. Maybe she will be the lucky charm!