DD doesn't open her palm

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Jan 31 2016, 4:15 pm

I have a question and not sure who to ask. My DD is 16 months and doesn't turn her hand over to open her palm. Im not quite sure how to explain it. Picture when you were little and you asked your friend to share her snack and said, "can I please have?" {turning over your hand and opening you palm.}

I also noticed her hands turn in a lot. When she says bye her hand is turned inward.

Edit to add: maybe a better explaination would be turn her palm up. But she does clap normally.

Tia

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Jan 31 2016, 6:05 pm

otsrock wrote:

Sounds like she doesn't supinate.
Perhaps she has a retained grasp reflex.

I'm sorry, I don't understand what that means.

I know that during the evaluation they mentioned she doesn't have a good pincer grasp. And when she was a baby she never really held my finger when I put it in her palm. When I mentioned it to our pediatrician he said he's not worried because when he pressed into the center she did close her hands mostly.

I'm not sure if all of this is connected.

Leahh

Sun, Jan 31 2016, 8:25 pm

It's 4 months since your eval. You can request another one and the percentage of the delay will be greater because she is 4 months older.
Much of the evaluation at this age is based on what the mom says child does or doesn't do. Without lying, answer the questions to make it sound like your DD is lower functioning than she is. It's not the time to show off and say what she does do; milestone wise. It's the time to say what she doesn't do and how what she does do is not done correctly.
Concentrate on the negative. Leave the positive out.

chani8

Mon, Feb 01 2016, 2:52 am

amother wrote:

She was evaluated 4 months ago and wasn't eligible. At the evaluation was also a pt. Wouldn't they have noticed this and considered it, even though I didn't notice it then?

You'd think, but no. Go back and ask for another eval. You are concerned and you have a right to get services if you need it. Push and advocate. It definitely sounds problematic.

In the meantime, you can try doing fun things, like standing her on her hands and opening her hand up while she puts her body weight on her hand. If it doesn't hurt her, of course.

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Feb 01 2016, 4:35 am

This is something new I noticed because she started wanting to help with bath time but would give me a fist, with only her thumb open, to pour some soap into. I pry open her hands and pour it but then she can happily lather it together with both hands.

I've noticed many things and by the evaluation they said it wasn't enough. Even though I felt like it was a lot of things. I guess I also don't know what they are suppose to be doing, so I wouldn't know what to look out for or mention. This took time for me to notice but I always noticed she Doesn't wave, but maybe that comes later?

chani8

Mon, Feb 01 2016, 4:55 am

amother wrote:

You can push now or wait a bit. Nothing will happen if you wait. She is very young and one appt a week of physio isn't life changing. What can help, is you encouraging her to use that hand more often, on a daily basis. You are her best physiotherapist. But it would be nice if you could speak with a PT to get ideas of what to do with her.

Let her play with sand and rice and bubbles and hand walking. And instead of prying her hand open, touch her hand and ask her to open it and give her time to do it herself. If she cannot, then gently pry it open, think of it like you are massaging her hand open. The fact that she opens her hand later is good.

Anyway, I keep going to practical advice, when what you probably want is to be reassured that everything is fine with her. But you intuit that there is a problem. You are worried. I am sorry you are going through this. It is scary when there are problems with our kids. I have a child with mild CP as an adult and yet she was very very 'involved' as they say, at the age your DD is now, so while I dont want to minimize your child's struggles, it doesn't sound so alarming just now. You can deal with the medical people as you have the strength to do, as long as you are doing practical things to help your daughter. That's my two cents.

amother

Goldenrod

Mon, Feb 01 2016, 5:27 am

Thank you that was very helpful and reassuring.

Thank you to all the replies.

I'm going to start working on it with her. Last night before I posted I was trying to see if she could keep it open if I open it. I opened her hand and put little croutons in her palm than I played a game that I ate it from her hand. She thought it was so funny and wanted more and more. After a few times she was able to hold the croutons almost flat that they wouldn't fall out of her hand. This morning I played pattie-cake and there was a bit less resistance to turning her hand and opening her palm. Very Happy