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Your Therapy Source, Inc.
Your online resource for school based therapy and special
needs publications for professional, home and school use.
Your online resource for school based therapy and special
needs publications for professional, home and school use.
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my own. I ultimately decided to offer EasieEaters with and without a safety shield. I had a
student with spastic cerebral palsy and he sometimes placed the utensil too far back in his
mouth. The shield prevented him from doing so. I didn't realize at the time just how
involved the process was, which probably was a good thing. I used clay to make
prototypes and had several spoons and forks as a guide for how deep I wanted the spoon
bowl, how thick I wanted the handle, etc...I had prototypes made and got a United States
patent in April, 1999. That was a very exasperating and expensive process. Finally, I got
a contact name in China to manufacture my product. I met with several tool and die
places here in NC and was quoted around $30,000 to make my molds. My husband and I
lived in an apartment with a 2 year old son and could not afford that. The lady in China
that I ultimately used charged me $4,800 for the molds. I still deal with her today and she
has been the most honest, straight forward contact. It took me approximately 18-24
months to go from my idea to having my product in hand.
Four years ago I had my second son and he has Down Syndrome. I got to see first-hand
how well my angled utensils work and it was a great feeling knowing that I produced a
product that is beneficial and did not cost the consumer too much. Twenty months ago I
had my third son and got to see how typically developing children also benefit from
EasieEaters. He still uses them and I'm trying to get my product mainstreamed and made
available to the general public.
EasieEaters are presently sold in many catalogs that parents and therapists order from as
well as on many web sites that sell similar products. I maintain a web site,
www.easieeaters.com , giving parents the opportunity to purchase EasieEaters at a
reasonable price with minimal shipping costs; however, the bulk of my business is through
the catalogs. I believe that many school therapists order EasieEaters as the business is
slower in the summer.
I'm happy to report that my business, Milestones LLC, is growing every year and expected
to increase this year by 20 percent. I have recently resigned as a school occupational
therapist and plan to focus more time on my children as well as my business. I have a few
other product ideas I'd like to work on.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to tell you my story. If I can help anyone
interested in going through this process, I'd be happy to. I stumbled through it, but the
right doors were open and the contacts were there when I needed them. When I look
back on how naive I was when going about things, with very little guidance or knowledge,
I'm amazed how far I've come. For example, I shipped my $1,500 prototypes to China via
the post office without insurance (they wouldn't insure them and I didn't realize I could go
FedEx).
For more information on the EasieEaters
visit www.easieeaters.com
student with spastic cerebral palsy and he sometimes placed the utensil too far back in his
mouth. The shield prevented him from doing so. I didn't realize at the time just how
involved the process was, which probably was a good thing. I used clay to make
prototypes and had several spoons and forks as a guide for how deep I wanted the spoon
bowl, how thick I wanted the handle, etc...I had prototypes made and got a United States
patent in April, 1999. That was a very exasperating and expensive process. Finally, I got
a contact name in China to manufacture my product. I met with several tool and die
places here in NC and was quoted around $30,000 to make my molds. My husband and I
lived in an apartment with a 2 year old son and could not afford that. The lady in China
that I ultimately used charged me $4,800 for the molds. I still deal with her today and she
has been the most honest, straight forward contact. It took me approximately 18-24
months to go from my idea to having my product in hand.
Four years ago I had my second son and he has Down Syndrome. I got to see first-hand
how well my angled utensils work and it was a great feeling knowing that I produced a
product that is beneficial and did not cost the consumer too much. Twenty months ago I
had my third son and got to see how typically developing children also benefit from
EasieEaters. He still uses them and I'm trying to get my product mainstreamed and made
available to the general public.
EasieEaters are presently sold in many catalogs that parents and therapists order from as
well as on many web sites that sell similar products. I maintain a web site,
www.easieeaters.com , giving parents the opportunity to purchase EasieEaters at a
reasonable price with minimal shipping costs; however, the bulk of my business is through
the catalogs. I believe that many school therapists order EasieEaters as the business is
slower in the summer.
I'm happy to report that my business, Milestones LLC, is growing every year and expected
to increase this year by 20 percent. I have recently resigned as a school occupational
therapist and plan to focus more time on my children as well as my business. I have a few
other product ideas I'd like to work on.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to tell you my story. If I can help anyone
interested in going through this process, I'd be happy to. I stumbled through it, but the
right doors were open and the contacts were there when I needed them. When I look
back on how naive I was when going about things, with very little guidance or knowledge,
I'm amazed how far I've come. For example, I shipped my $1,500 prototypes to China via
the post office without insurance (they wouldn't insure them and I didn't realize I could go
FedEx).
For more information on the EasieEaters
visit www.easieeaters.com
| OT PRODUCT FOCUS EasieEaters by: Kelly Klemmer OT |
About 10 years ago I was working in the schools
as an occupational therapist and became
frustrated with the limited choices for feeding
utensils, especially for my left-handed students.
Many of the children I was serving had cerebral
palsy or motor deficits making it difficult to feed
themselves and there was a higher occurrence of
lefties. I could not find an appropriately sized
utensil that was angled just right, enabling the
student with limited wrist movement to accurately
place the spoon or fork in his/her mouth. I began
adapting utensils and basically decided to design
as an occupational therapist and became
frustrated with the limited choices for feeding
utensils, especially for my left-handed students.
Many of the children I was serving had cerebral
palsy or motor deficits making it difficult to feed
themselves and there was a higher occurrence of
lefties. I could not find an appropriately sized
utensil that was angled just right, enabling the
student with limited wrist movement to accurately
place the spoon or fork in his/her mouth. I began
adapting utensils and basically decided to design
| EasieeatersTM - right handed with safety shield |