I have heard scooping up the food is actually really tricky at this age
this
It's much easier for them if you load the spoon as the wrist doesn't need to rotate, they can grip the spoon in the right direction to get it to their mouth.
I gave DS a loaded fork, introduced at 6 months. i then used a plastic fork and although I wasn't feeding him I kind of kept hold a little as a 6 month old doesn’t have full control and I didn't want him to poke his eye out (the fork was plastic and not overly sharp). He's always self fed (BLW) and self fed from loaded forks and sometimes spoons. He mastered use of the fork himself a long time before the spoon because it is easier, food doesn't fall off a fork the same as it does with a spoon. He's great with a fork although will sometimes choose to use fingers or ask for help if something is hard to stab. he can use a spoon now too but again will sometimes ask for help (peas still go on the floor because of that twisting action that is needed after scooping to get it to the mouth the right way around). He also knows how to use a knife and has a knife at his table setting but can only cut food if I do 'hand over hand' with him which i do at the beginning of a meal so that I can eat my own meal. He's just turned 2yrs.
One, thing I'd suggest if you decide to offer a fork instead is to look for a stainless steal set like adult cutlery but smaller rather than the big chunky kids cutlery. The prongs need to be functional to stab the food which chunky plastic is not so good at. My DS also loves that he has the 'same' as us although e realises they are small for his smaller hands.
Ours are something like this
http://thecookskitchen.com/browse_15508
