CIMT - Day 7

As Mighty Man is nearing 6 years old, it is becoming more noticeable that the left arm has a smaller appearance than the right arm.  We try all kinds of things to build up some strength in his muscles.  Wrist weights seem like they should be helpful, but he just tucks the arm up and uses it even less.

I've had this idea for a weighted bracelet for a while.  Something I could add weight to and he could wear all day long.

But I hadn't been able to convince him to wear it.  Now that he HAS to use Lefty, it seemed like a good time to introduce the idea again.

To make it more appealing, I dug in my fabric pile and found a favorite character in there.

I still met with resistance.

So, I negotiated a Cape AND the "Super Power Arm Band".

For the win!

It shall not be called a bracelet.

Right now, the Super-Power-Arm-Band is fastened with a safety pin until I can figure out another method.

Want to know what's inside?

Three 1 oz Sinkers (non-lead) from the fishing department at the sporting goods store.

Wrapped in a 4" x 30" (+/-) strip of fabric and knotted between each sinker and at the ends.

Voila!

Seriously, the cape made it all better.

He IS Mighty Man, after all.

Now, we'll see if it makes a difference.

Other activities today included holding the toy phone for a pretend conversation with Daddy.  We also worked on stacking, removing, replacing, and lacing the pegs from the Giant Pegboard.  It's such a versatile toy!  Another one I'm glad I hung on to!

We've made it a WHOLE WEEK!

Wahoo!

CIMT - Day 6

Sunday.  The first day we've been out in a public place where people love us enough to ask questions.  I love our church family, and I love the opportunity to educate people on what we are doing.

"What happened to his arm?"

"Bull riding accident."

That's my husband's answer.

I try to keep it short.  "It's Constraint Therapy.  We're holding Righty back so Lefty can show us what he can do."  If there's more time, I might add a few more details.

I liked one friend's response today, "Oooh...I bet Lefty is getting so strong! Let me see how strong he is!"  Mighty Man responded with a big grin and a tough guy muscle flex.  Perfect encouragement!

He has lots of fans at our church.  They are probably hatching a plot to rescue him from this torture.

Even as we speak.

His sweet Sunday School teachers helped him color and play with Lefty.  I just realized that I dropped him off in their capable hands this morning without even an explanation or apology for the extra attention he'd need.  I'm grateful for the people God already had in place to help us during this time!

He and Sis were invited to a Birthday party at a local indoor waterpark today.

So glad we got the waterproof cast!

I stood on the edge of the pool and Lefty tried to splash me.  He made a good effort!

It's always fun to dunk Daddy!  Go Lefty!

Tonight we had the bean-bag toss game out for a little family competition. 

Dad won the game AND gets the credit for pulling this game out to play tonight.

Have you thought about all the motor skills used in the bean bag toss?

6 days down...

CIMT - Day 5

Mighty Man worked on basic skills today.  We found a cup in the cupboard with a handle that he could grasp.  We helped him a little today, but he'll get the hang of this one.  This cup is pretty much perfect because the handle and the straw are so close to each other. If the handle were on the side, it would be difficult for him to control.  Though a long-term goal would be to drink from a typical cup, at this point we are just looking for ANY success with Lefty in control.

Arms stretched out like an airplane...this is Lefty stretched out as far as he can do it himself.

Goodness, he's cute!

Can't afford to spill the seizure meds, so we'll be helping with this task for a while!

He needs some help with positioning and motion for toothbrushing, but he can do a little bit.

I have to share what he said tonight as we were getting ready for bed.  We were talking about school and after he numbered off all 12 grades--somewhere around college time--he is "going to live in a house with kids who don't have moms & dads."

Huh?

I asked if he meant he was going to live there AS A KID or if he meant that he was going to TAKE CARE of the kids when he was grown up.  He said that he and "Sissy and I are going to take care of the kids who don't have moms and dads."

Goodness.

How many days left?  How can I care about that? Apparently he's gonna go all Katie-in-Uganda, caring for orphans someday.  Way to put mom in her place, Dude.

CIMT - Day 4

Mighty Man is awesome.  He has THE BEST attitude.

He had been using the cast to turn on light switches, but today my husband observed him reach up and purposefully use Lefty to flip the switch.  He gets SO EXCITED for himself when he accomplishes something new with Lefty.

What an honor to be his mom.

We have figured out that food-on-a-fork works best. Even if it's food typically eaten without a fork, like cinnamon rolls or pizza.  He can get finger food to his mouth, but it's hard to release it, and he has chomped on his finger a few times.  Poor dude.

You can see the natural position of the left hand here, the ulnar deviation, that we are trying to help by using the red Benik splint.

He helped me put the wooden building blocks away, I think he managed to pick up and place 10 in the bag all on his own. 

It was a challenge.

As we were putting those blocks in the bag, I had an idea for a triceps extension exercise.  The wooden building blocks were too heavy, but I grabbed a smaller bag that had 20 alphabet blocks.  It weighed 11.6 ounces.  We got 2 sets of 5 reps in!

 

I'm glad I hadn't cleaned all the toddler toys out of the house!  I have kept several that are favorites, or that I could imagine would be helpful to encourage Lefty.  He had a great time putting these cars on the track and pushing the button to make them go.

Even with this, he needed a little help pushing the button and getting the cars lined up in the right way.

17 days to go...

CIMT - Day 3

Today we worked on hammering with the IKEA workbench.  We figured out that it was easiest to just have one post sticking up, so the others weren't in the way.

He made contact a few times with the post today, but not enough to make it move.  Those guys are stuck.in.there.tight! 

He had fun thumping the hammer and saying "BOOM!" wherever it landed.

We also worked on putting Mr. Potato Head together.  He was able to get the pieces lined up, but needed help with enough force to make them stick in.

He was pretty proud of himself!  It's fun to see his determination kick in and lead to success!

And, of course we had fun talking about America's Birthday today, which led to this:

We'll take that flag waving with Lefty any day!  Happy Independence Day!

CIMT - Day 2

Our neighbors hung out with us today.

It was great to have extra friends to encourage Lefty!

We visited the library where Mighty Man wanted to do a puzzle. Lefty pushed the pieces around and Miss A helped with the fine tuning.

She is a fabulous Babysitter-in-Training!

We went to the local Pizza Buffet restaurant for lunch.  We tried the day without the Benik splint to see how he did naturally.  He managed to get a few bites of food all by himself! 

He tried out a game in the arcade.

He turned the steering wheel and pushed buttons with Lefty.

It's a waterproof cast!  We can still enjoy the ultimate summertime activity! 

Miss A and Mighty Man had the most fun FALLING OFF the alligator!

We've already noticed the absence of this typical positioning of the left arm and hand:

This was May 2013. 

It is likely to come back once Mr. Blue comes off, but it's interesting how his hand relaxed almost immediately after casting.

2 days down...

CIMT - Day 1

Today, Mighty Man got a non-removable cast placed on Righty.  Now that the stronger arm has Mr. Blue holding him back, we hope that Lefty will have a chance to show us what he can do.

At the recommendation of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon and Occupational Therapist we are jumping with both feet into 14-21 days of Constraint Induced Movement Therapy.   It's sink-or-swim time!

Lefty has a red Benik Splint.  This one is removable! It helps his hand and wrist stay in a neutral position.

Here we go...