Going into first grade with new skills, thanks to 'right hand camp' at Blythedale
Nancy Cutler
VALHALLA - Ora Goldgrab spent time this summer at what she called "right hand camp." And from the looks of things during a recent visit to Blythedale Children's Hospital, the 6-year-old loved it.
The Wesley Hills girl was participating in the hospital's Intensive Upper Extremity Summer Program. The occupational therapy program runs six weeks, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It helps children ages 5-10 who have weakness or decreased use of one arm, which can be the result of cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke or other diagnoses. It draws children from throughout the Northeast and as far south as Virginia.
Ora had suffered a stroke before birth, her mom Netta Goldgrab explained. The result was weakness on her right side. Not that much slows her down. "It will take her longer than her friends but she'll do it," Netta Goldgrab said. "That's the beauty of her personality. She'll keep trying."
This was Ora's second year in the program. So she knew that the therapists would work toward mobility goals. Ora wanted to set her own. She asked to learn to tie her shoes, fasten a car seat belt, cut with scissors, do the buttons on her uniform as she readies for first grade at Yeshiva of Spring Valley, and wash her own face.
She's mastered them all — and not just in the therapy setting. On a recent outing with one of her friends, Ora jumped into the back seat and when offered help with her seat belt, said "No, I can do it," her mom recalled. And even though the booster seat was on the opposite side of the car than what Ora had practiced in her therapy sessions, the little girl reached over her shoulder, brought the belt around and clicked it. "I was crying," Netta Goldgrab said. "She was so proud of herself."
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The strength and coordination building has expanded Ora's abilities in other ways. Netta Goldgrab recalled a recent family outing to a Boulders game at Palisades Credit Union Park in Ramapo. "She was eating french fries," Netta Goldgrab said. "She's holding a french fry up smiling at me, then I realize she's holding it with her right hand. It's so exciting."
Ora also has also told her mom that "right hand camp" helped her during the school year. "I have lunch without any help," Ora explained last year about how she could open her lunchbox, open her milk carton and put in the straw. Because there was no aide having to help, Ora told her mom, "more people will sit at my table."
Those may seem like small steps, but Netta Goldgrab said, "that independence that most kids take for granted by the time their in elementary school, it's empowering."
Julie Knitter, Blythedale's director of occupational therapy, said the intensity of the program, with a focus on hand and arm coordination, is proven effective. For much of each day, the child's stronger hand is covered with a mitt, so the child has to rely on the weaker side. Then, they work on tasks that require coordinating both sides. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, the children were playing mini-golf on a makeshift course.
Blythedale partners with Burke Rehabilitation Hospital for research. The program provides data as well as benefits from the best practices developed from their work. "The intensity of our program makes it very efficient," Knitter said. But the kids still have fun. The children work in groups and "they celebrate each other's progress."
Netta Goldgrab admits she and her husband Joe were scared about the future when Ora was a baby. The mother of four girls — her oldest daughter is 19 and she has twin 15-year-olds — researched herself into a black hole of worst possible outcomes. But Ora has thrived.
Ora's "right hand camp" finishes on Friday, and she spent the last couple of days reviewing all the new tasks she mastered. She even practiced a skill she learned last year — putting a ponytail in her doll's hair. "Hold with righty," occupational therapist Tara Sullivan said after some brushing. After two tries, Dara the doll was wearing her hair just like Ora's.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for the USA Today Network Northeast. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com. Twitter: @nancyrockland