Day 3 of CIMT: Starting to Get the Hang of Things

This post is part of a mini blog series documenting four weeks of Constraint-induced Movement Therapy (CIMT).

My daughter is clearly using her left arm and hand more frequently in the short while she’s had the cast on. Last night, I placed the pacifier in her hand and she was able to lift her left arm up and down while lying on her back. She seemed quite pleased with herself. Once I helped guide the pacifier to her mouth, she used her cast to keep it from falling—she’s resourceful!

Cause-and-effect activities for CIMT

In today’s Constraint-induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) session, her physiotherapist, Ruth, has a neat idea to help teach my daughter cause-and-effect while at the same time encouraging her to use her hand and vision. She pulls out a mini red dog house with toy bones which we adapt with shiny stickers for my daughter’s Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) accessibility needs.

First we show her one of the toy bones. Once she looks at it, we place it between her hand and the doggy door. We help her push it through the opening and as it falls in we make doggy noises and praise her great work.

Using Dr. Christine Roman’s recommendations, Ruth is able to effectively incorporate my daughter’s senses during this activity: visual, tactile and auditory. It’s not always easy to think of creative ways to teach a baby with a visual impairment cause-and-effect!

Setting our intentions for the week

We try several other activities and my daughter soon tires out. I can’t blame her—she’s working so hard! We move on to setting goals and one of them is to encourage my daughter to do with her left hand whatever it is she’s trying to do with the one in a cast. If she’s banging her cast against a surface, I can help her do it with her left. And so on.

Later, I notice my daughter playing with the shiny red Mardi Gras beads I’ve hung from her stroller. I’m thrilled because she’s using her full hand and fingers to explore and feel the textures. She’s the best.

Different ways to see the world

As we walk home, we come across more of the beautiful birds I saw yesterday. I sit still quietly next to her stroller and the birds start to make noises. I say, “Listen, do you hear the birds?” and she gives a little chuckle. I can see she’s listening intently and I wonder how on earth I could have missed doing this the day before.

Click here for day 4 of the Constraint-induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) mini blog series.