Hand Splints Update Sept. 1

It's the beginning of a new month (already!!) and so it's time to update/document Sadie's progress with her hand splints.  Here are the previous pictures, so you can compare...

June 1 - after wearing them for one day

June 9

July 1 - after wearing hand splints for 1 month

Check out that left hand!!!  (July 8)

July 31

July 31



Aug. 31



Sept. 1

  The biggest change we've seen this month is that Sadie doesn't clench her fists when she gets stressed out.  You can see in the picture where she's standing with Sam the PT man, she is obviously working hard, but her hands aren't squeezed like they would be in the past.  The other development we've noticed is that she is wanting to USE her hands more.  It's like she's discovered a whole new world by learning to open her fingers...and now she doesn't want to wear the splints.  In fact, we don't wear them everyday anymore, because I feel like they 1. have sort of reached their potential and aren't able to help much more with opening up her hands, and 2. inhibit her when she's trying to reach for her toys, or the ipad, or we want her to bear weight on her arms.  So, she probably wears them 4 days a week, maybe 5.  We see Dr. Kwasnica (the doctor who prescribed these) at the end of this month, so I fully plan on talking to her about what the next step is.

We've been working in the bathtub on getting her hands in her mouth and sucking on her fingers (in hopes that she'll learn to self-soothe when she's teething...although that last tooth finally came through, so I'm not sure there's much need left for that), but then she wants to bite...and she doesn't like that at all!! haha.  When she sleeps, she lays on her side, and she can scrunch herself up into a little ball and she is actually able to get her hands in her mouth in that position.  So, when she's awake in the night and upset, I've actually found her able to figure this out.  However, I think we're done with teething (hallelujah!!), so there may not be much need for hands-in-mouth-to-suck.  But, it's a start to hands-in-mouth-to-eat.  Oh, and I also successfully had Sadie pick her own nose.  Her finger fits so much better up in there, I wish she'd learn to take care of that on her own so I don't have to!!