Making food is a fun and meaningful task many of our client’s engage well with, which makes it a great task to use to help build cognitive skills such as short-term memory and executive function.
In this image our client has learnt how to prepare different vegetables independently using both hands in the task. With few verbal prompts and encouragement, he has assigned them into different bowls.
He is learning to use an ingredients list and recipe provided by the occupational therapist. These are single listed instructions that help him to understand in an easier manner, allowing him to focus his attention on one task at a time.
Working through the process step-by-step is a skill that supports his short-term memory, it’s a point of reference for him to know what he has done and what is coming next. Learning to tick off each individual task as it is completed is a method that, with practice, he will be able to transfer to other elements of his daily life.