United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO GET A 3 YEAR OLD TO DRESS HIMSELF. MY SON HAS BP IN HIS RIGHT ARM & IS AT THE STAGE WHERE HE IS LEARNING HOW TO DRESS. HE HAS ABOUT 80% USE IN HIS ARM & CAN PUT ON HIS PANTS & SHOES, BUT WE ARE HAVING A PROBLEM WITH HIS SHIRT & COAT. HIS PRE-SCHOOL IS CURRENTLY TEACHING HIM HOW, BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE WORKING & I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL THEM. HE NO LONGER SEES A PRIVATE OT, SO I REALLY DON'T HAVE ANY HELP IN THAT DEPARTMENT. ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. THANKS

For a coat...

you put the coat on the floor - completely open and upside down - meaning that when you are looking down you see the collar of the coat and the inside of the coat staring at you.

You put both arms in the sleeves and inch the arms into the sleeves until they are at the end of the sleeve - then in one big motion you flip the coat over your head.

It's the upside down coat trick. Your child's teacher will probably know how to do this and will help your child with it.

For shirts we learned (we can't do it yet though)... to have them use big sizes...and first put the affected arm in and pull the sleeve all the way on so that the sleeve is up to the shoulder - then you put the unaffected arm in it's sleeve and inch all the way into the sleeve. Then by using the unaffected arm - pull the head through and use the unaffected arm to pull the shirt down.

These directions are hard to write! I'm sorry if they don't make sense. Maybe someone else can translate this better.

-francine

My daughter is six and has rbp as well, she finds it quite easy to get dressed by putting her bad arm in first and using the good arm to adjust everything later. Good luck!

My daughter is six and has rbp as well, she finds it quite easy to get dressed by putting her bad arm in first and using the good arm to adjust everything later. Good luck!

Sorry, I don't know what happened!

Hi - I never heard of Fran's suggestions on putting on a coat - sounds like fun though:) What worked for us was to always remember the "tag goes in back" rule. To put on a coat or jacket it is easiest on my child to always put her injured arm in the sleeve first. If you need to you could even sew a fun patch on the right sleeve to help him remember to put his arm in the "Mike from Monster's Inc" (or whatever he likes) side first. With shirts Brittney usually pulls the whole shirt over her head by grabbing it any way that works. Once her head is through the hole she makes sure the tag is in back and then her uninjured arm helps her injured arm get through the arm sleeve hole first, followed by her other arm in the other sleeve. Anyway - "tag goes in back" and "injured arm first" were the easiest for my child but I bet your child will eventually come up with a clever way that works best for him. I hope this helps, Christy

can you believe that I remembered this from when my eldest daughter was little? And then when I was room mom in Maia's classroom one day I saw a whole bunch of kids doing it and it reminded me of it. I taught Maia that day and she's been doing it since...until caps splint of course... it's fun!