Give Him a Hand

In addition to making great progress in oral eating, Zane has recently started holding a spoon. This is huge feat considering his wrist contractures! At times, he will grasp a toddler veggie stick and feed himself. The crunchy food, of course, requires a lot of monitoring. Zane always bites off more than he’s supposed to, and aspiration still looms as a potential threat.

While most of the credit goes to Zane for his tremendous determination, a couple of others cannot be overlooked. Mary—Zane’s hand therapist—deserves the most kudos for creating hand splints for him since he was an infant. Without them, he would not be this far. Also, Zane’s OT—Sarah—has been working with him for the past couple of months on holding crayons, toys, and utensils. He’s come a long way since she started.

While Zane demonstrates his abilities in the video, no one can accuse him of being a neat freak!

(The link to the San Juan Kids brochure is in the left-hand column. Zane is the star of the brochure thanks to my friend, Rachel).