Constraint Induced Therapy

Some of you followed along with our last two castings. Twink is now doing round three of CIT. As you can see from above she is not very happy. She is more aware this time of what is going on and she is not pleased. In fact when they were done placing the cast she held her arm up to show me what they did. When I didn't say anything she stood really close and put her cast two inches from my nose. She started mumbling and I could tell she was confused as to why we put it back on.

Every time we place the cast on we notice a huge difference in her speech. In fact we actually took "inventory" of what sounds she makes and what words she says/has said to see what happens during and after casting. The thing is just this last week she has done a wonderful job with her ST.

We are praying that her right hand becomes stronger with each casting. She had her second round of botox to relax the muscles in her arm and in her thumb. It usually takes a couple of weeks for it to fully kick in.

Below explains what CIT is and how it works. We have tried a few different techniques but Twink was either way too smart and able to work the constraint off or way too strong. This has worked great so far.

What is Constraint-Induced Therapy (CIT)?

Constraint-Induced Therapy, or CIT, is a family of treatments that teach the brain to “rewire” itself following a major injury such as stroke or head injury. Patients can “learn” to improve the ability to move the weaker parts of their bodies and therefore not rely primarily on the stronger extremities. These therapies have significantly improved quality of movement and substantially increased the amount of use of the more-affected extremities in the activities of daily living for a large majority of children who have received the treatment. It is the only rehabilitation technique shown to produce a marked change in brain organization and function.

What does Constraint- Induced Therapy consist of?

Occupational therapists and our family will be conducting CIT treatments with Twink. Therapy consists of 3 major factors: (1) the stronger arm must be completely restrained for up to 3 weeks using a lightweight fiberglass cast extending from the upper arm to the fingertips, (2) the weaker arm must be trained using shaping techniques in a play situation that is appropriate to the child’s stage of development, (3) the therapy will be administered for 3-4 hours per weekday for 2 or 3 weeks, totaling 10 or15 days of treatment (depending on the severity of the symptoms). Home practice is an integral part of CI therapy. Caretakers will be given home practice activities to carry out with each child both during and after the program in order to assure optimum skill retention.

Please keep us in your prayers as the frustration level seems to be much higher than with the last two.

**If anyone can tell me how to make paragraphs again that would make my day. For whatever reason I can not put spaces between my paragraphs and it is making me crazy!