Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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? > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 21, 2008 Report Share Posted November 21, 2008 , 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. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 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. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Debra: What is the purpose of the body sock? What does it do? Liz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 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. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.