self feeding toddler with Down syndrome

Kamdyn and feeding have been a bit tricky for me.  Because certain things have just always been, so I think I have almost accepted them as "normal", because it's how it's been.  But there are some issues that we are definitely working on, and I think we will be going back to the feeding clinic at Hershey Medical Center soon.

What are the issues?:

1. Minimal lip closure when using a fork or spoon
2. Taking bites has also improved, but as soon as the food is small enough to fit into her mouth, she crams it all in (CHOKING HAZARD!)
3. Tongue protrusion when using a spoon or fork (Not using her lips aka lip closure)
4. A little bit of aspiration (worse with a straw cup)
5. Fork and spoon skills also need improvement (It's so much faster to eat our apple sauce with our hands)

What improvements?

For a long time, Kamdyn would basically swallow her food whole.  She is much better about chewing.  Here she's eating some pretty crunchy cereal.

She can also eat potato chips (I know, so healthy, right?  They are a treat or a bribe to do PT. Don't judge. Desperate times call for desperate measures, or potato chips in this case.)

I put lip closure above, because she does still have a lot of tongue protrusion.

  But as you can see,

she CAN do it.  She can get those little lips around that spoon.

When we went to the feeding clinic before, it was a big struggle to get Kamdyn to drink.  We had to insist that she take a drink before she got another bite of food.  She also threw her cup all. the. time.  I'm happy to say that, she loves to drink now!  She still throws sometimes (she's still a toddler, ya know), but she also likes to put her cup in the cup holder of her tray when she is not drinking.

You may have noticed new bowl and fork and spoon. 

Scoop bowl:

At this point, she is dipping in her fork/spoon and not really scooping it, but when she starts scooping, the lip on this bowl will help push the food onto the fork/spoon.

It has a suction cup, but it's not toddler proof suction.  It's more for just keeping the bowl still so it's not pushing all over the tray, while she tries to eat.

Bendable fork and spoon:

It can be bent either way for a right or left hander.  Kamdyn is a "switch hitter" at this point.  The bending is a nice feature, and it has helped Kamdyn to be able to get it to her mouth head on.

Sometimes she gets frustrated and wants me to help, or she will ditch the fork and use her hands as soon as I turn my back.

But she also likes the independence of feeding herself.