Camp Righty...Extended!

Today was supposed to be the final day of Camp Righty. Supposed to be. Our CIT therapist, Rob and myself, all agreed that now is not the time to end the party. I would have never imagined saying this 4 weeks ago. However, Oia has made tremendous progress on so many levels that we decided to give this one more week of full constraint. After this additional week is over, her cast will be removed and cut below the elbow and turned into a splint for easy removal. The splint will become part of our home program post-CIT. The goal is that Oia will wear the splint a couple hours each day and for all of future OT sessions. We need to continue the right handed and bilateral play long after CIT is over or else the gains she worked so hard on during the casting period could very easily be lost.

Also today, we met our CIT therapist off site from KCRC to have a session at Virginia's Discovery Museum. The activities must be new and engaging enough for Oia to be interested in right handed-play so a different environment was just the thing. She used Righty to play numerous musical instruments, climb steps, roll balls, touch various textures, push buttons and carry small, lightweight objects to place into baskets.

This video shows Oia grasping foam letters and carrying them to the baskets for release. Her grasp now is accurate and she has built up the endurance to do this several times in one activity. She is also able to release the letters with control and accuracy. In times past, prior to CIT, objects generally needed to be placed into her right hand by an adult and then she would either pull it out with her left hand or her grasp would be so weak that her object would just fall out after a few seconds. What a difference 4 weeks has made and look how proud she is.



Another reason to continue Camp Righty...

She has finally, for the first time ever, voluntarily chose to use two hands to hold an object. In the past, if an object was too large for her to pick up with one hand, she generally would leave it and go to another toy. Here she is trying to put the ball into a hole with both hands.


Lefty is holding the guitar and Righty is playing. Again, two-handed play.


We are tickled with her progress, not to mention her patience. She continues to amaze us.