Summer Fruit Leads to New Skills

Day to day living can provide new skills for all children. For a child who was neglected and abused, day-to-day skills are often behind where they need to be. Considering that Katya has two significantly dislocated elbows, some skills are hard for her to pick up. However, especially when it comes to the kitchen, Katya is always an eager student it seems!

Please note the awkward bent to Katya's arm/wrist here as she attempts to cut watermelon.
 


After a brief discussion, Charity and I came up with a plan that was better for Katya. A low stool helped give Katya better leverage, plus we helped re-position her arm/wrist to help her compensate for the odd angle she has to use due to the dislocation, and yet protect the wrist as much as we could from damage.

With the improvements, Katya happily sliced away at watermelon. Her slices were fairly even and neat, and she was happy working--especially when she realized she could take "Cook's Privileges" and taste watermelon all she pleased!

We continue to look for new ways to help Katya move toward one of our our long term goals for her--adult independence to the level she is able to achieve it.