Junior has no use of his hands so things like coloring are very difficult. He can stiffen his arms to make his hands move across the paper while coloring but then cannot hold onto crayon or marker.
We discovered that finger crayons work really well for him. They have a large circular top which fits in his palm and the pressure against the paper holds it in place. I purchased these at Target but haven't seen them there lately, I did find plenty on Amazon.
Regular crayons and markers will not stay in his hands so we made some elastic bands to keep them in place. I sewed velcro to the ends of a wide piece of elastic. Being sure to sew the rough side of the velcro on one side and the smooth on the other so you can fasten them and make a loop. Be sure when attaching the strap to your childs hand that the rough side of the velcro is up.I know this is not the best hand position but this is how Junior rotates his hands when he colors. We may stretch and use hand splints at other times but when he is coloring I want him to be successful and do as much as he can by himself .
Here is a picture with the marker correctly positioned, it just doesn't work for Junior.
2 comments:
Hey you do what ya gotta do, Heidi! I think you did a great job with it. We are exploring options for Faith when she gets her Ipad as she has NO finger isolation. Whad did you guys do for Junior when he tested the Ipad?
What a great adaptation! You can also use pipe insulation to build up things like utensils instead of spending big bucks on specialized ones.
Hang in there-looks like you're a fantastic and creative parent!
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