Many children with cerebral palsy have vision issues. Some are caused by damage to the visual cortex, some optic nerve damage, and still others just struggle to get all of their muscles working in unison. Even if vision is impaired, it's important to help our children learn to use what they have to the best of their ability. Here's a fun activity to help with that.
- Place your child in their high chair or feeding seat. This is going to get messy, so take any precautions you need to. I left my son in just a diaper so I wouldn't have to wash extra clothes afterward. I also made sure that the area around his high chair was easily wiped down with a wet rag.
- Pour or place a small amount of a high-contrast food on the tray of the high chair. Chocolate pudding, marinara, and BBQ sauce are all good options for a white tray – depending on your child's age.
- Carefully guide your child's hand through the substance.
- If you child is able, let them explore the food themselves – smear it, taste it, bang it, etc.
- If your child is not able, guide them through the process.
- Have fun! Take pictures!
You may have to do this activity several times before your child looks at the tray, but the goal is to entice them with interesting flavors/textures of the food. We've tried this activity at my house, and not only was it a big hit, but my son was also working very hard to look at his tray.
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Excellent suggestion, Katy. LOVE the photos – yes, the one of you, too!
Other food suggestions: jello, jelly and ice cream.
We used a mat under the high chair – no, it was a plastic table cloth with felt underside. It was especially easy to gather and shake the crumbs outside.
This is very similar to what we used to do with Erin. She doesn't have CP, but she was born 14 weeks early and had/has oral aversion which caused her to need tube feeding. Anyway, in the very early stages of feeding therapy we started letting her play with her food. She still hates to have food on her hands and requires us to wipe them clean frequently, sometimes even during her feeds, she's MUCH, MUCH better.