Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Olivia's brace

As most of y0u reading this know, Olivia has been having some struggles with her left side since she was placed with us, which the doctors call hemiplegia. She has been getting therapy, but she's been struggling with her little left thumb. So, now she gets a brace on it to help stretch her thumb out and strengthen the muscles on that hand. She still can't do a pincer grasp because she folds her thumb up and under her hand, instead of it going out like we do (for example making an L). So, she will wear it at night to stretch, then hopefully work the muscles during the day. They told her it is her "bracelet" in hopes she will keep it on. So far so good today. She has to wear it a bit today just to make sure it fits well and doesn't leave any marks. Here are so pictures of her wearing it so you can see what it does. It is small so it doesn't restrict movement of her wrist and other fingers, thus making them weaker.

2 comments:

Michele said...

Good luck with the brace! Erin's getting a new accessory as well. She will soon be getting a helmet to wear 23 hours a day for a flat head and tight neck muscle. Oh what fun!

Jaime said...

Yes, good luck with that. I hope it will help:)

Glad things are going well with the toddler bed, too. It takes some time and patience, but with a good routine, you will have her sleeping and napping without any problems.