United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My son is 9 years old and has a right OBPI. He's been in PT and OT since he was a baby. I find now that he's getting older, he notices his differences more and gets angry about it. I'm thinking it's time for him to go talk to a therapist about it. Does anyone have experience with this? What type of therapist to take him to? Thanks. I haven't been on the message board for a long while. Sometimes it just gets to be too much.

Melissa,
If you belong to a church I would call your Pastor and see if they might know someone that would be good for your son to see. If you don't have a church (or something like it) maybe contact your school... sometimes they have counsolers in the district.
Blessings,
Kristie

I would think that you might want to find a counselor that has experience with those who have physical differences. You may want to call a place like Easter Seals or a children's hospital, etc.

Good luck - we are searching for this person, too.

-francine

You came to the right place I have a 10 year old son with a ltobbpi- and no male role models like him- he also can have a great deal of anger and frustration. He does see a ot pt , psychologist, and our ot does sensory, and cranial therapy to help Michael intergrate his sensory world.....would lve to speak email us please! We are starting growth spurts and all heck has broke loose.

We too are looking for someone. Our daughter is pretty young still (under 2) so we are looking for someone to help give us advice as parents. I was going to get a referral from my pediatrician. Also, there is a good article in the national bracial plexus/erb's palsy assoc. website under "mental health."

In response to this question, I have another - do any of the specialist bpi centres have a therapist on staff? It might be worth calling them to ask.
In the UK, Simon Kay, who is one of our leading bpi specialists, has a Doctor attached to his team. She is a qualified Clincal Psychologist and her services are available to both parents and children affected by bpi.
We have spoken to her many times with our son Gavin, and indeed Gavin has been to see Maggie ( as she prefers to be called) by himself to discuss his concerns about his injury.
It is doubly beneficial as she understands the condition extremely well and is able to deal with any unrealistic expectations the child/parent may have about recovery, surgery etc. etc.
Also, I think we shouldn't underestimate the support a child can get from knowing other people with the same injury - a chance for them to talk about themselves to someone who truly understands what they are going through and how they feel.
If you are unable to locate a specialist counsellor, it might be worth considering trying to meet up with another family if there are any in your locality.
I think your son is lucky to have parents who are keen to address his problems, and I wish you every success in your search.

I think one of the the most eventful meeting in my life took place the day I met Nancy B and Judy T. It was the first time I ever met someone who share this injury and truly understood it. While I enjoyed meeting ryan and Dave... it was not the same... sorry guys... even if both are handsome young men....
It was so healing and so good to share stories compare arm and giggle at ourselves -
Support networks are so important for the children even if the parents must travel. I cannot wait to attend Camp... to meet more of our community both obpi and tbpi.....

There are many issues a bpi child must face concerning our arms. Some we share with our parents and sometimes we protect our parents... we do not want to upset them...

I am sure that some of your childs frustration need to be addressed. I believe that frustration is the constant companion of the bpi child.... and adult also face many frustrations but we have the maturity to cope with it. Well sometime I do... LOL...

This is a good question to ask on the General Board. I wonder if many of the children are seeing Psychologists.

This week I attended EI session with one of the babies in my area. She met with EI case worker, OT, PT, and a Special Ed Behavior specialist to help her with her frustrations. She is being taught to Sign. This will help her to express herself.
Early Intervention is available until 3 years of age.
It is amazing to see how well they come into to the home and work with the children.

It is hard to answer the question on this board as this is an adult/obpi board and most here have never had surgery nor have they had any support while growing up. Each of us believing that we had rare birth injuries...

KathM

Hi.

I understand what everyone is sayin but do bpi children really need therapists bcos they are different?

I cant understand that. I get frustrated a lot but iv never thought of myself being that frustrated that i need to see a phycologist. I think that jst talking to someone WITH bpi would help more. Can you get your son in contact with another bpi kid? It helped me a lot bcos i asked them questions that they had the answer to bcos they are goin the same thing as me whereas a therapist cant relate to your injury.

I dont get frustrated all the time only when i try to do somethin that is jst impossible for me. Dont you think if your children arent frustrated and angry all the time and they go to see a therapist, let say once a week, they will come home and spend time thinkin about wot s/he has said and they will begin to dwell on it.

I have saw a therapist bcos i was abused when i was younger. I decided to go this yr bcos it had been 9years and i still got scared goin out and when i went to see her, my boyfriend came with me, and i thought that him bein there was so much easier bcos i looked and spoke to him instead of this lady. I really felt like i had wasted her time. I didnt want to go bac but decided to give it time and went for 2 month and never went back bcos i thot about it more, i woke up with nightmares of it, i couldnt go out unless i was with someone, i didnt go to school incase this man was there, It made me so much worse.

So i think if your children go to a therapist and dont like wot she's sayin it will make them a little worse than they are feelin jst now. I definately think that jst talkin to someone with BPI woudl be better!

Michelle