Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Special Needs Kids; Utilizing a Feeding Device to Assist with Eating

This article comes from the 'Independent Eating and Drinking Newsletter by Mealtimes Partners, Inc.'


The Use of Prosthetics for Eating
Independent eating is a complicated function involving many parts of the body and a good deal of coordination. Contemplate just what takes place when a cracker is picked up and placed into someone’s mouth. First the eyes have to judge where the cracker is and send a message to the brain to move the hand to the location of the cracker. Once the hand arrives at the location, the brain must instruct the fingers to assume the appropriate positioning to grasp the cracker. The appropriate pressure of the fingers must be included in this instruction set, otherwise the cracker will shatter and all that will be left is crumbs.

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