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
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
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 |
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| Online resource for special education, pediatric occupational therapy and pediatric physical therapy |
| Your Therapy Source |
