Today I met Jake’s new occupation therapist. I am every excited to have her start working with Jake next week because it seems like she may just be the person who can help us to get Jake to be more independent in term of his daily living skills. I may be overly optimistic since she hasn’t worked with Jake, so exactly how affective will she be is yet to be determined. Nonetheless, I can not stop thinking about some of the things she suggested and I strongly feel if nothing else, she has given me a new sense of direction and the push that I need to help Jake in 2010.
What she said was we need to get Jake out of his therapy room during therapy and start doing things in the kitchen, such as wash plastic cups/plates, put away groceries, sort utensils; he can do things in the bathroom such as wash his hands, brush his teeth; he can spray some windex and clean the windows; he can go to his room and strip off his bed sheets. Then following her lead, I said he can load and upload the washer! How brilliant is that? I know this isn’t the first time a therapist suggested or that I have thought about teaching Jake to do these things, but somehow in the end, learning to do puzzles, arts and crafts, numbers and letter… you get the idea - always came on top of the list of things for him to learn. And let’s be honest, it is much quicker that I put away the utensils, and it is way quicker if I load and unload the washer, heck, it is much quicker and if I did everything for him. But in the process, I am taking away his potential to be independent.
The OT said we should establish household responsibilities for Jake - Yes, that is my goal for Jake in 2010, to be more precise following the style of his IEP goals, Jake needs to master at least three household chore with minimum assistance 85% of the times.
