United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Can it be related to BPI even if the affect arm isn't the dominate/writing side.
Thanks,
Kristie

We are struggling with something like this with Joshua, and yes, I believe even BPI on the non-dominant arm can impact. Joshua has mixed cross dominance that doesn't appear to be stable (yet - at 8 years old) and it's doing a number on many things. Whatever you learn/learned I would be grateful to hear about it.

Kate

We were told 2 years ago through an IEP that Hannah's non-injured hand and arm were affected/suffered consequences from her BPI. She was assigned an OT in a school setting to help her improve her fine motor skills to her "good" hand. It was presumed by a few different therapists that her injured side is her dominant side. I would suggest finding a strong OT who specializes in hands to take a look. Maybe I'm on the wrong track, but look up "converting handedness". Perhaps it has something to do with this, perhaps not. Here is a snippet of what I found:

The Primary and Secondary Consequences of Converting Handedness

The fact that the converting of inborn handedness which has been and is being carried out on the basis of societal prejudices (i.e. a mechanical adherence to traditionalism; would-be reasons of practicality; laziness; ignorance; and often even reasons with a religious-ideological background) has massive consequences, especially if one is using the non-dominant hand to write with. This converting is contrary to the natural state of the human being. Converting handedness does not result in a converting of brain dominance. Instead, it results in an over-loading of the non-dominant half of the brain and an under-loading of the other half. Accordingly, there are also resulting difficulties in transference in the corpus callosum which in turn could probably result in the appearance of the widest range of primary consequences.

Writing is a process of the greatest complexity. Moreover, because it involves many different brain functions, it is also one of the most difficult tasks; one which only human beings have developed and come to grips with. The pre-dominant use of the non-dominant hand leads to complex functional disturbances, inhibitions, blockages, and an over-burdening of the entire brain. During writing, the greatest variety of cerebral skills are included here. Examples are the fine motor skills, speech, the pictorial representation of imagination of the series of letters as well as the simultaneous chain of thoughts, associations, graphic representations, memories, and recall of previously learned material which also run throughout. Scarcely any other human undertaking is comparable to writing in its multifaceted connections between the most differing brain functions. Accordingly, it is understandable why the overburdening that comes from converting handedness can lead to tremendous disturbances.

The possible primary consequences of converting handedness are as follows:

memory disorders (especially in the recall of learned material)
disturbances in concentration (being easily tired)
legasthenic problems or dyslexia (i.e. problems in reading and writing)
spatial disorientation (uncertainty concerning the left and right)
disorders in fine motor skills that manifest themselves in handwriting
disturbances in speech (ranging from stammering through stuttering)