Anyone with advise on helping kids with motor dyspraxia cook

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CrouchingOwl
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17 Oct 2021, 2:27 pm

So my autism symptom/comorbidity salad did not include serious issues with coordination so I'm less prepared to pass on good tips to my son as he's learning to cook. I'm nothing special with my coordination but I never really struggled either. Watching my 11 year old try to help with cooking and well a few ingredients ended up just as much on the table as in the bowl and he struggled to keep track of little things like keeping a measuring cup over the tub of flour while leveling off the measuring cup etc. Granted some of this is just a learning curve but I think he's old enough and been trying to help with cooking for long enough that if not for the motor dyspraxia he'd probably be able to do most of this by now without so many problems. Anyone have suggestions on how to best teach skills, adapt normal techniques, or find alternative tools that would be appropriate to his needs?



timf
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18 Oct 2021, 6:40 am

At that age, you might ask him to stick with one dish (perhaps scrambled eggs) and as he becomes familiar with it and develops confidence, he can then move on to another dish.

Attempting to learn general kitchen principles and then apply them might be better suited for adult education, but might not work well with someone the age of your son. At that age the apprentice model can be a better fit. Take one thing at a time until it is learned well.



Ettina
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25 Oct 2021, 2:25 pm

Maybe try out some adaptive cooking equipment?

https://accessiblechef.com/project/adap ... ing-tools/



HeroOfHyrule
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26 Oct 2021, 5:44 pm

I have dyspraxia and find it hard to cook (though I do it successfully and it's actually one of my best skills now, albeit with a lot of mess every time I do it lol). I found that sticking to certain dishes with specific tasks was helpful at first, like just having cut a couple types of vegetables, flipping meat, etc., and was useful for developing my coordination. Also, the less steps there are and the less dishes that are cooked at once, the better. Things in the kitchen can get overwhelming and disorienting really quickly when you have ASD and motor issues, and while I can handle doing multiple things while cooking now I used to find it borderline meltdown-inducing, which made me do poorly while trying to execute tasks.