United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello everyone! I guess my question is for those who are older and have gone through this. My son LOBPI is 7 years old (just turned 7). His father and I decided to give him a "break" from therapy. Demare was going three times a week for an hour, and that's not including all of the hours at home. We found him not wanting to cooperate with the therapists and he was getting really frustrated. I know that it's probably hard on him going three days out of the week for over a year. We are going to eventually put him back into therapy, but my question was do you think that it was a good idea to give him a break in the first place? We are still doing exercises with him at home.

YES, especially if he is no longer cooperating. Kids need to take a break once in a while, and if you are doing some therapy at home still it's all good.
Does he participate in any sports? After school or weekends? Maybe he'd like to, and it would be good "therapy" that wouldn't lookt like therapy!

Just my opinion.
Marieke (31 yrs old, LOBPI)

Are there other exercises that could help keep his interest level? I seem to recall that swimming was added to my regular PT program at about that age. I looked forward to the swimming exercises as part of my therapy sessions.

John P.

Yes my son does participate in sports. He's currently playing soccer and takes karate. He was doing aquatherapy every Monday, but seemed to get tired of that as well. He likes to swim, but recreational.

Everybody needs a break. Let him just do sports. Seven is tough age...they really start to see their differences. He might just want to play with other kids instead of doing therapy. That's important too.

claudia

Recreational swimming is great! Sports are great! Everything counts. Kids need breaks. Can you imagine what you would be like if you were in therapy 3X a week for 7 years? These kids need to be kids. My child completely changed once I got her out of center-based therapy and into LIFE!

We now have a therapist come to the house once a month to check progress and update our "home plan". We still do the good stuff (estim and bracing, etc.) and exercises but we just do them at home independently. One thing I've learned is that you can't forget about the arm (shift happens) but you can certainly change how and where you are addressing it.

I am all for taking a break and using home therapy that most children consider play.
When I was young all of the therapy was "play" and at home.
I never realized until I had children how much was therapy and not "normal" play time.

I get tired of formal therapy and have stopped going just because I did not want my personal space invaded anymore.
If an adult needs a break imagine how much a child needs one.
Sometimes children just need time to daydream and play the way they want to.
You can encourage sports, and play therapy.

Kath (robpi/adult)

I think it's fine to take a break from formal therapy. You know your child and can evaluate how long a break to take and when it's time to go back. PT can be tiring and painful at times so I can't blame the little guy for needing a break!

My daughter alyssa is 6ys and reached the point of no more about a year ago. She now get therapy once a week at school (we were driving an hour each way twice a week) for 1 hour, we do exercises at home, she is in soccar and girl scouts. We go yearly to a specialist in Albuquerque for an evaluation and he has told us that doing everything one our own has been ok.