Re: OT ideas for strengthening arms

[Guest guest]

PT would be the category for arm strengthening--PT is the large motor

stuff--OT is fine motor for hand work. I have lots of PT ideas- we

started PT at 3mos old! Looking back 5-6 years to EI and than Special

Ed Preschool==here are a couple that I can remember off the top of my

head.

Therapy ball- easy to use in home and cheap enough. Have him lay on

top and roll forward and back and bounce off the floor with his hands.

We did the therapy ball almost every time we had PT for EI. She had to

pick things up and bounce back up. It was the times she had to work

the hardest that she got the most frustrated. If it was just me- I may

have let her give up. An outside therapist who has to accomplish

goals- will be able to get past the crying and make her work- so be ready.

One more idea from preschool= the carts. They're crawl carts with

wheels and no sides but cushioned. Lay on their stomach and put toys

close and than further and further away that they have to use hands on

the floor to crawl to. There may be loan closets in your county that

you may be able to try. Or ask a special preschool to at least try one

out.I wish I could think of a cheaper version--oohh- the cart my

husband has for crawling under the car!! I got it at Sears 10years

ago--that would work too!

-- In , " debjward " <debjward@...>

wrote:

>

Any ideas on strengthening them?

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi,

First of all I want to caution you beating hypotonia takes a long time...

years.... so get ready to dig in for the long haul. Because my son is older and

we 'didn't' do daily therapy until he was 11.... he did not 'grow' out of this

problem; in fact, it just became more noticeable with age. The only thing that

has improved it has been daily home therapy.

So... daily work is definately needed. I don't know how old your child is but

for any age (yes, even small one) can hang.

Get a chin up bar and put it on to the door frame of your childs' room. When

you pass through, make it a game.... how long can you hang? Every one in the

family can do this competition. Make this fun and uplifting and just a hanging

'game'. As your child ages, raise the bar, as he/she gets stronger and older,

he can use them for chin-ups. It is cheap and easy to incorporate this into

your every day life. You can get hanging bars in the exercise section of

Walmart for about $40. Make sure you put it on a door that your child passes

through all of the time. It is easy to hide it away in the basement but.... out

of sight, out of mind. You will find that if your child has easy access, he

will even play this game on his own while leaving his room after a while. He'll

start to 'hang' and work his body on his own. Hanging works cortical grasp of

the hands and upper arm strength very efficiently. When you go to the

playground always try to get your child traipsing across the monkey bars and

climbing apparatuses for not only does this work upper body strength, it also

works binocular vision and tracking.

If you ever get the money or have a handy hubby to put up 'brachiation bars'

(monkey bars) in the back yard.... well, this is a great investment because

you'll use them for " years " doing this type of therapy. It is the fastest, most

expedient method to get strength in the hands and arms.

We used a 10 lb medicine ball for squats and lifts; but your child may be too

young for this; think you can get them in 8 lb weights for elementary age but

don't start this too young. You could also have your child lift a 5 pound sack

of potatoes if he is ready.

Incorporate heavy lifting into your life as much as possible; it works both the

arms and the legs.

Heavy lifting of all types; helping mom carry in groceries from the car;

learning how to shovel snow from the sidewalk; vaccuming is good too; Any time

you see an opportunity to incorporate weight bearing activities into your

childs' life.... do it! They desparately need this work for hypotonia. Not only

that, you teach your child valuable life lessons at a young age. We tend to be

over-protective of our hypo kids (I certainly was at least!) and we should not

be.... we should be pushing them and their muscles at every opportunity.

Hope this gives you a few ideas to work that pesky hypotonia.

Janice

Mother of Mark, 13

[sPAM][ ] OT ideas for strengthening arms

Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at home. My

son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his arms

are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

(http://www.masoncorporation.com/sprv_flyingturtle.html). I talked to

an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms more

than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon.com/PlasmaCar-

Purple/dp/B000LJEKME) (they have both where my son goes so he got to

try both out!).

Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas present! My

5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to get? (The

one at therapy has no tag.)

*Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something " soaking in "

and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary it's just

since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does not have

a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating for him

not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

[Guest guest]

what sort of hand defect? my daughter kate was born with hand defects

in both hands as well and spent a lot of time in casts, resulting in

weak arms...i can give you more information on how we strengthened her

arms if i know the level of use with his hands...kate has really good

use of her hands, not perfect but she compensates very well!

kris justice

>

> Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at home. My

> son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his arms

> are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

>

> For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> (http://www.masoncorporation.com/sprv_flyingturtle.html). I talked to

> an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms more

> than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon.com/PlasmaCar-

> Purple/dp/B000LJEKME) (they have both where my son goes so he got to

> try both out!).

>

> Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

> speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas present! My

> 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to get? (The

> one at therapy has no tag.)

>

> *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something " soaking in "

> and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary it's just

> since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does not have

> a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating for him

> not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

>

[Guest guest]

GREAT POST!!!!

i am going to incorporate some of your suggestions despite kate having

gained a lot of strength already...

you are soooo right, we can't be afraid we'll hurt them...i just

sucked it up and made her do things that i would expect from my other

child (non-apraxic, normal muscled toned son), and she toughened up

real quick! it instilled a lot of self confidence in her!

thanks!

kris justice

>

> Hi,

>

> First of all I want to caution you beating hypotonia takes a long

time... years.... so get ready to dig in for the long haul. Because

my son is older and we 'didn't' do daily therapy until he was 11....

he did not 'grow' out of this problem; in fact, it just became more

noticeable with age. The only thing that has improved it has been

daily home therapy.

>

> So... daily work is definately needed. I don't know how old your

child is but for any age (yes, even small one) can hang.

>

> Get a chin up bar and put it on to the door frame of your childs'

room. When you pass through, make it a game.... how long can you

hang? Every one in the family can do this competition. Make this fun

and uplifting and just a hanging 'game'. As your child ages, raise

the bar, as he/she gets stronger and older, he can use them for

chin-ups. It is cheap and easy to incorporate this into your every

day life. You can get hanging bars in the exercise section of Walmart

for about $40. Make sure you put it on a door that your child passes

through all of the time. It is easy to hide it away in the basement

but.... out of sight, out of mind. You will find that if your child

has easy access, he will even play this game on his own while leaving

his room after a while. He'll start to 'hang' and work his body on

his own. Hanging works cortical grasp of the hands and upper arm

strength very efficiently. When you go to the playground always try

to get your child traipsing across the monkey bars and climbing

apparatuses for not only does this work upper body strength, it also

works binocular vision and tracking.

>

> If you ever get the money or have a handy hubby to put up

'brachiation bars' (monkey bars) in the back yard.... well, this is a

great investment because you'll use them for " years " doing this type

of therapy. It is the fastest, most expedient method to get strength

in the hands and arms.

>

> We used a 10 lb medicine ball for squats and lifts; but your child

may be too young for this; think you can get them in 8 lb weights for

elementary age but don't start this too young. You could also have

your child lift a 5 pound sack of potatoes if he is ready.

>

> Incorporate heavy lifting into your life as much as possible; it

works both the arms and the legs.

>

> Heavy lifting of all types; helping mom carry in groceries from the

car; learning how to shovel snow from the sidewalk; vaccuming is good

too; Any time you see an opportunity to incorporate weight bearing

activities into your childs' life.... do it! They desparately need

this work for hypotonia. Not only that, you teach your child valuable

life lessons at a young age. We tend to be over-protective of our

hypo kids (I certainly was at least!) and we should not be.... we

should be pushing them and their muscles at every opportunity.

>

> Hope this gives you a few ideas to work that pesky hypotonia.

>

> Janice

> Mother of Mark, 13

>

>

> [sPAM][ ] OT ideas for strengthening arms

>

>

> Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at

home. My

> son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his arms

> are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

>

> For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> (http://www.masoncorporation.com/sprv_flyingturtle.html). I talked to

> an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms more

> than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon.com/PlasmaCar-

> Purple/dp/B000LJEKME) (they have both where my son goes so he got to

> try both out!).

>

> Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

> speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas present! My

> 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to get? (The

> one at therapy has no tag.)

>

> *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something " soaking

in "

> and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary it's

just

> since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does not

have

> a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating for

him

> not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kris,

You did pique my curiosity.... what did they have you doing with Kate's hands?

We did a lot of other 'stuff' that I didn't mention for hand-strengthening but

I'd certainly love to hear what you did for it as well....

Janice

[sPAM][ ] Re: OT ideas for strengthening arms

GREAT POST!!!!

i am going to incorporate some of your suggestions despite kate having

gained a lot of strength already...

you are soooo right, we can't be afraid we'll hurt them...i just

sucked it up and made her do things that i would expect from my other

child (non-apraxic, normal muscled toned son), and she toughened up

real quick! it instilled a lot of self confidence in her!

thanks!

kris justice

[Guest guest]

My child cannot hang. He only has 4 fingers and 2 thumbs. One thumb has no

knuckle and doesn't bend. Also the palms of his hands are narrower.

After a year of home therapy he can now climb up a bunk bed ladder or the short

ladders at the playground!

I know it takes a long time. With regards to the hypotonia in his tongue it

took 18 mos for him to be able to move his tongue from side to side. We're

still working on moving it upwards.

My youngest is now 5 1/2 years old. We started therapy when he was 2 1/2 years

old.

[Guest guest]

There is no name for it. My son was missing a bone in every finger so they are

all short. His right hand has a finger like thumb that does not have a knuckle

and isn't opposable. The index finger on his right hand was never there so all

he has is a pinky and a thumb on his right hand. On his left hand after surgery

he has had his middle nubbin removed and the bone put in his left hand ring

finger to make the finger grow. All his digits are short. The palms of his

hands are narrow. He has some webbing. He can't open a soda bottle but he can

open a barbeque sauce and get the foil seal opened! He can open child proof

bottles if given time but he can't pull the tab from a gallon of milk. He can

hold a pencil correctly in his left hand!

> >

> > Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at home. My

> > son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his arms

> > are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

> >

> > For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> > (http://www.masoncorporation.com/sprv_flyingturtle.html). I talked to

> > an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms more

> > than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon.com/PlasmaCar-

> > Purple/dp/B000LJEKME) (they have both where my son goes so he got to

> > try both out!).

> >

> > Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

> > speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas present! My

> > 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to get? (The

> > one at therapy has no tag.)

> >

> > *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something " soaking in "

> > and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary it's just

> > since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does not have

> > a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating for him

> > not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Whoever posted the original question gets a thanks from me. I have never

heard of nor have I ever seen a flying turtle or plasma car.  I loved them -

great ideas for Christmas!  I always say  " tools, not toys " for

christmas!  These are great " tools. "   Also thanks to Janice for her ideas.  I

have one of those chin up bars in the garage (hanging from the ceiling - now

that is helpful (hubby's idea) - nobody can reach it.)  I've asked him to take

it down and put it in the doorframe of the boys' room and he doesn't want to

ruin the doorframe.  So I printed out Janice's post and am going to have

wonderful hubby read it (and hopefully be convinced) to go ahead and drill a few

holes in the door frame (for our boys' sake!!!!!!)

Thanks again!!!!

 

Blessings to You,

 

********************************************************************************\

***********************************************************************

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world giveth give

I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

14:27

 

________________________________

From: kristinakate1213 <kris.justice@...>

Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 8:13:45 AM

Subject: [ ] Re: OT ideas for strengthening arms

what sort of hand defect? my daughter kate was born with hand defects

in both hands as well and spent a lot of time in casts, resulting in

weak arms...i can give you more information on how we strengthened her

arms if i know the level of use with his hands...kate has really good

use of her hands, not perfect but she compensates very well!

kris justice

>

> Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at home. My

> son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his arms

> are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

>

> For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> (http://www.masoncor poration. com/sprv_ flyingturtle. html). I talked to

> an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms more

> than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon. com/PlasmaCar-

> Purple/dp/B000LJEKM E) (they have both where my son goes so he got to

> try both out!).

>

> Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

> speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas present! My

> 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to get? (The

> one at therapy has no tag.)

>

> *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something " soaking in "

> and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary it's just

> since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does not have

> a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating for him

> not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

>

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

some great suggestions here and loved them. Thx.

Just wanted to second the Flying Turtle . We love ours and our OT uses in

therapy as well.

We, like many have exhausted resource after resource in search of help for our

children. I just wanted to share one therapy that has been awesome for my dd (on

Spectrum, speech issues, and tone issues). She's been doing therapeutic riding

for 2 years now and we've seen such an increase overall in both tone (and it's

only once a week - granted we do other things as well, including OT, covered by

school) and receptive language abillities. Feel free to PM me if you'd like more

info or to see a photo montage. My dd is now vaulting... doing stretches and

almost push-up like moves on the back of the horse. That plus reign work has

been great... Good luck

Leigh

[Guest guest]

,

I didn't want to ruin my doorframe either! So.... get where your hubby is

coming from. Finally I bit the bullet and did it. We actually have some great

fun playing with this chin up bar and I wish I had done this years ago..... it

gets the kids 'wanting' to work their hands once you make it a fun game.

I think that you can just use some wood filler to 'heal' the frame once your

done.... hope so, at least!

Janice

Mother of Mark, 13

[ ] Re: OT ideas for strengthening arms

what sort of hand defect? my daughter kate was born with hand defects

in both hands as well and spent a lot of time in casts, resulting in

weak arms...i can give you more information on how we strengthened her

arms if i know the level of use with his hands...kate has really good

use of her hands, not perfect but she compensates very well!

kris justice

>

> Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at home. My

> son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his arms

> are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

>

> For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> (http://www.masoncor poration. com/sprv_ flyingturtle. html). I talked to

> an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms more

> than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon. com/PlasmaCar-

> Purple/dp/B000LJEKM E) (they have both where my son goes so he got to

> try both out!).

>

> Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

> speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas present! My

> 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to get? (The

> one at therapy has no tag.)

>

> *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something " soaking in "

> and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary it's just

> since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does not have

> a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating for him

> not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

>

[Guest guest]

Any connective tissue disorder?

> > >

> > > Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at

home. My

> > > son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his

arms

> > > are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

> > >

> > > For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> > > (http://www.masoncorporation.com/sprv_flyingturtle.html). I

talked to

> > > an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms

more

> > > than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon.com/PlasmaCar-

> > > Purple/dp/B000LJEKME) (they have both where my son goes so he

got to

> > > try both out!).

> > >

> > > Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is

in

> > > speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas

present! My

> > > 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to

get? (The

> > > one at therapy has no tag.)

> > >

> > > *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about

something " soaking in "

> > > and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary

it's just

> > > since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does

not have

> > > a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating

for him

> > > not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can

read.

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Debra:

What is the purpose of the body sock? What does it do?

Liz

[Guest guest]

kate has a complete complex syndactyly of her left hand, (her pinky,

ring, and middle finger were connected by the bone), that has been

fixed, but there is scarring and some contracture of her ring finger.

her right hand has her middle and ring finger webbed, this has not

been corrected yet.

she is working on holding a pencil, and instead of a pincer grasp on

her right hand, she uses the joined fingers and her thumb to pick

things up. her left hand works well...she has had trouble isolating

her pointer finger to point, but is steadily improving...(practices by

picking her nose!)

i strengthened her arms by sitting across from her arm holding hers

hands then pulling her back and forth while singing...then she started

to pull me towards her, and then finally i used resistance when she

pulled me. another thing i did was the wheelbarrow walking...she has

her hands on the floor, i lift her legs, and she " walks " on her hands.

i would pick her up by her hands, and she slowly started to pull

up...she can now pull up on her own when i grab her hands.

we developed her hand strength by letting her hang off the shower

curtain rod while holding, then let go and " catch " her until she

realized the need to hang on.

she needs help with eating with a spoon or fork, because she has

trouble manipulating them.

hope this helps!

kris justice

p.s.- oops, almost forgot, the toy called sit and spin, uses arm

strength to make herself spin around....she has a BIG motivation

because she loves spinning.

> > >

> > > Long story short we have inadequate insurance and we do OT at

home. My

> > > son was born with birth defects on his hands. Consequently his

arms

> > > are weak. Any ideas on strengthening them?

> > >

> > > For Christmas I bought him a Flying Turtle

> > > (http://www.masoncorporation.com/sprv_flyingturtle.html). I

talked to

> > > an OT where I take my son for ST and she said it works the arms

more

> > > than the Plasma Car (http://www.amazon.com/PlasmaCar-

> > > Purple/dp/B000LJEKME) (they have both where my son goes so he

got to

> > > try both out!).

> > >

> > > Also does anyone have a Body Sock? We use one while my son is in

> > > speech therapy. I thought it might make a nice Christmas

present! My

> > > 5 1/2to ds is 44-45 inches tall. How do I know what size to

get? (The

> > > one at therapy has no tag.)

> > >

> > > *Last night on the dog walk my son talked about something

" soaking in "

> > > and I was thinking how he really does have a large vocabulary

it's just

> > > since he is hard to understand your perception is that he does

not have

> > > a large vocabulary. He can read and it's got to be frustrating

for him

> > > not to be able to speak with the same ease with which he can read.

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

i strengthened her arms by sitting across from her arm holding hers

hands then pulling her back and forth while singing...then she started

to pull me towards her, and then finally i used resistance when she

pulled me. another thing i did was the wheelbarrow walking...she has

her hands on the floor, i lift her legs, and she " walks " on her hands.

i would pick her up by her hands, and she slowly started to pull

up...she can now pull up on her own when i grab her hands.

we developed her hand strength by letting her hang off the shower

curtain rod while holding, then let go and " catch " her until she

realized the need to hang on. she can now hang from a monkey bar and

pull her legs up parallel to the ground...she amazes people with that

little trick...and it is funny because all the other " normal " kids

can't do that and maintain the position for several minutes. she is

quite the little gymnast, given that low toned kids are also VERY

flexible. it was just a question of developing the muscle and thereby

strength.

she needs help with eating with a spoon or fork, because she has

trouble manipulating them.

after her surgery, the orthopedist recommended the best therapy is

" play and exploration " in a young child (she was 7 months old for her

first surgery and 10 months for her second.) but i just tried to let

her feel things, squeeze things, and the walking on her hands put a

lot of weight on her fingers, thereby strengthening them...i came up

with that one on my own...she has an IRON grip with her hands

now...she can hang on thing like her life depends on it...our big

issue now is not strength per se but the need to isolate her fine

motor skills for pencil holding and eating with utensils...

here is a funny...she loves ballons, but her pastime is showing up how

strong she is by popping them with her bare hands!!! she is still a

low tone kid in other areas, just barely....but her hands are weapons now!

it just takes a lot of time, work, and creativity...and most

importantly great intestinal fortitude on mom's part because the

therapists had all but thrown in the towel with her and given up!

but not me! and kate is definitely not a quitter either!

hope this helps!

kris justice