Difficulties in hand therapy in CP

Helen85

Hi Everyone,

My name is Helen and I'm a third year occupational therapy student. I'm writing an assignment where I have to think of a gap in a service and then write a patient pathway to fill that gap.

I've chosen to write about cerebral palsy and I was wondering if any of you would be kind enough to give me some feedback on what you think is lacking in the UK, with regard to hand therapy and CP? The reason I'm asking you is because you have first hand experience of what's lacking in the NHS and you'll see the services provided differently from a clinician.

Thank you very much in advance for any insight you can give me
Helen

Helen85

Hi,

Thanks for your reply

Unfortunately I'm constrained to hand related issues by the terms of the assignment It's interesting to hear the scanning issues though so thank you for that

Having done a bit of research it seems as though OT focus on things like washing, dressing and classroom activities but to me a key part of being a child is the opportunity to play. Has anyone ever had OT help focussed on play?

Sorry I realise I'm probably being overly specific with my query but I really do appreciate any advice you can give.

mollymoobarnes

Hiya

My son is two and a half and his OT is focussing entirely on play - mostly in joint sessions with the physio, where they encourage him to open his hands, reach out and isolate his index finger using toys and puzzles. I would actually like to have more focus from the OT on things like dressing, brushing teeth, holding pens etc as he is now of the age where he should be encouraged to do some things for himself, or at least try. Also I would like them to challenge him a little by doing work on going from sitting to standing using a standing ladder, more work on sitting balance and even work on walking - all things he does weekly at Conductive Education sessions but things his physio and OT have never tried to do with him.

Maria x

forgoodnesssake

Hi, interesting and there probably is a gap re hand use...but I think more of a gap is in eye tracking work, which i believe is the domain of OT. My son has athetoid CP and is 14, at mainstream school, uses a communication aid mostly by spelling and word prediction and even now I can see that when he looks for letters his eyes scan all oer the place to find what he wants, even though he's been doing this for years!
Work on his eye control has never been offered to us, but work on holding a pencil (ha ha) and isolating a finger for poitnign on keyboard etc (sometimes with the aid of a hand splint) was done.

LilyW

hI,iim 15 annd wwith miixedre cp, i canant rreally coontrol my hand s thehu y flop oin the keyss on mmy compptuer keyboardd anmnnd fi iri t iis srekally FFRUSTRADTINGG!! i habve had help from myyyy OT in conttrrolinnghg mmmmmmy habnd movvements bbut nonthing mmuch cammmmme ffrom iti. I woulld love tooooooooooooo ahsve solmebiody8 whwo miiiiight actutslay heelp mme; ii live with the knoowledddge ththat nobody knknow =s wwhat oonn etafrth inm typing! i hate iit! annnnyway the OT got mee dpoing tthings ;ike hollding buttongs betwen my fingers but ii drooopped theem sttraaighht aawaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Annd baklancing thing s on myy han ds.

Jimm_Scope

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