I shared a hand sensory input program with one of my co-workers to try out with her clients. She tried the hand stimulation once on a client with Cerebral Palsy (CP) who is quite severely involved. He's got very high tone in his arms and hands and usually hold his wrists with a lot of wrist flexion and can't hold onto to something independently. Well after the program, his hands were relaxed and open and they put something in his hand and he held it..and was able to continue to hold it while they completed a w/c transfer with him!..his educational assistant was absolutely blown away and said she will do the program every day with him! :o) I have another client with hemiplegic CP who's EA asked me if they can do the hand input more than once per day because they were noticing that the input really relaxes her hand! They noted they had been timing how long the input lasted!
One of my other more involved little girls with hemiplegic CP, had quite high tone in her affected arm and leg. I noticed that after about a month or so of engaging in the RMT movements every other day, there was a very noticeable decrease in her muscle tone in her affected hand. Instead of being very tight and fisted it was relaxed most of the time! This is a similar effect to what BOTOX does to a muscle to relax it. So we worked on targeting specific muscles to strengthen them!
Also, I've been noticing, I have shown the program to some parents to complete with their child. Well I have noticed changes in the way the kid's hands look (more muscle tone and look more "normal") and how they are able to use their hands in functional activities! I commented to one mom about this and she said she notices the same thing! She said her son is now doing things such as opening bottes, something he's never been able to do! Pretty COOL!
One of my other more involved little girls with hemiplegic CP, had quite high tone in her affected arm and leg. I noticed that after about a month or so of engaging in the RMT movements every other day, there was a very noticeable decrease in her muscle tone in her affected hand. Instead of being very tight and fisted it was relaxed most of the time! This is a similar effect to what BOTOX does to a muscle to relax it. So we worked on targeting specific muscles to strengthen them!
Also, I've been noticing, I have shown the program to some parents to complete with their child. Well I have noticed changes in the way the kid's hands look (more muscle tone and look more "normal") and how they are able to use their hands in functional activities! I commented to one mom about this and she said she notices the same thing! She said her son is now doing things such as opening bottes, something he's never been able to do! Pretty COOL!
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