Witz said earlier, "It can be overstretched tendons. Dancers and gymnasts get it sometimes."
Dancers & gymnasts sometimes BECOME dancers & gymnasts BECAUSE they are hypermobile and can do things other people can't (such as the splits).
OK TM, I'll try not to rabbit on for too long. But this is a hot topic in our house, especially in the last few weeks.
First - we were told it's called hypermobility; it does lead to osteoarthritis at a much younger age; it's due to loose ligaments so strengthening exercises do zilch.
easy child 2/difficult child 2 & difficult child 3 seem to have it the worst. difficult child 1 comes in close behind.
easy child 2/difficult child 2 was complaining of joint pain from her early teens. difficult child 3 has been complaining of joint pain for a couple of years now. Both find they do better when the offending joint gets strapped (ankles, wrists). Both had trouble handwriting. difficult child 3 and difficult child 1 have both formally had permission to use a computer/keyboard for writing tasks for school. To get this permission (I think it's similar in the US) they needed an Occupational Therapist (OT) assessment - to determine the extent of the problem; to see if they could type appreciably faster and with less pain than they could write; to see if there was anything else that could be done to make it easier; to see if they would also benefit from extra time in writing tasks and exams.
The keyboard assigned to them for schoolwork varied. In difficult child 1's day it was initially a school-based computer. Then it was changed to what difficult child 3 uses - an Alphasmart Neo. The one he uses belongs to the state education department. This apparatus is not much more than a keyboard with a small window at the top. It has 8 or 9 memory file possibilities. For an exam, all must be empty. The kid types in what he wants to write and he can check the text by scrolling through it in the little window (which shows about three or four lines of it at a time). difficult child 3 has had some quite long documents in there and could move the cursor freely anywhere in the document.
The text goes in as text only and downloads via USB cable to either a Mac or a easy child. The computer picks it up as text only, you then format it on the larger computer (often the teacher does this) putting in student name, headings etc.
The Alphasmart is very robust. When difficult child 3 left mainstream to begin Distance Education he kept the Alphasmart because Distance Ed is still state education. It travels in a briefcase or a document case usually with other schoolwork pages. If we're on the move (on holidays, for example) he can use it in the car to keep a diary, or to write his notes.
Now, to connections - the three kids of mine with hypermobile joints are also my three Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) kids. And yes, all three have sensory issues, but I think the connection is to Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) rather than sensory. difficult child 3's best friend who is also high-functioning autistic also has hypermobile joints. So does a good friend of difficult child 1's - Aspie, with hypermobile joints.
I was talking about this to the mother of a drama classmate of difficult child 3's, about two weeks ago while our boys were in class (the parents sit and chat over coffee, in the next room). This woman is also a doctor. We were talking about things our boys have in common and I mentioned how I've noticed that a lot of kids with high-functioning autism and Asperger's also seem to be hypermobile but I haven't found anything about any connections.
She then mentioned a couple of names (I didn't have a pen to write it down) and said, "Yes, it is being researched; yes, there IS a connection."
So, what do you do?
First, don't try to strengthen ligaments. It can't be done. But some things can strengthen attached muscles as well as get the child into good habits. But don't expect miracles.
We enrolled difficult child 3 in piano lessons. This taught him to bring his fingertips inward and not let them bend back.
We also learned that the problem with handwriting was connected to the difficulty of maintaining control over the pen with fingertips that were 'floppy' and tended to bend backwards instead of pull in and grip firmly. This meant that to maintain a firm enough grip to control the pen, he had to exert more force. This forced his fingertips back a bit more, so he exerted even more force, and so on.
So anything that increases the effectiveness of the grip is a good thing. For example, pens/pencils with squishy foam or similar that makes grip easier. Or those push-on pencil grips. Just about all the pens we buy now have silicone around the lower half so the fingertips make better contact. But his hand still hurts a lot after only a very short period writing.
Now to something else we've seen - ring splints.
http://www.silverringsplint.com/
On someone else's post I saw a mention of a girl's website which I followed and found this concept - I love it. Never heard of it before, neither had easy child (and as an Occupational Therapist (OT) I thought she would have).
easy child did say there are ring splints made of plastic but they look very functional, rather than decorative. She thought the silver ones were a great idea. easy child 2/difficult child 2 said she wishes they'd been around when she was at school, she could have used them then. Now she said there's not much point because she uses her laptop computer all the time. I am going to investigate this for difficult child 3.
Here is the link I found earlier on CD (I had copied it to easy child, which is why I could find it now).
http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=529
On this site there is a quote from Tony Attwood in which he claims that there is a link between autism and hypermobility.
If Duckie is hypermobile, and it is her ligaments, then "handwriting camp" will do nothing to make it better. Hopefully though, they will notice the degree of the problem and the level of fatigue and will be able to make recommendations for her to use a keyboard, if the fatigue is causing too many problems. If part of their brief is to also train her to use a keyboard, then I'd send her. But if the entire aim of the camp is to help her write more neatly, I'd be asking the Occupational Therapist (OT)'s opinion of the value of the camp.
Instead of going to camp, Duckie may benefit from a referral to a hand specialist for assessment for ring splints or some other option as a specialist determines. I would be nervous if the camp is the school's idea of solving the problem - because it probably won't, if all they do is work on their handwriting. Talk to people about their agenda, their expectations and just how much they can adapt depending on Duckie's specific issues with handwriting.
Marg
