Prosthesis

Why is it that children with CdLS do not seem to adapt to wearing prosthesis? Our little girl has upper limb differences. Her arm stops at the elbow and she has a proximal thumb. We have read about orthopedic arms and hands and were considering fitting her at a very early age with myoelectric prosthetic arms and hands. Our idea is to hopefully get her used to using such tools as a prosthetic arm and hand and also letting her use her own arm and thumb.

This is an excellent question and a difficult one to answer. My experience has been that even when attempted to fit the individual from an early age and with a very intense training, the child usually ends up not preferring the orthotics. To add to all the possibilities identified by the parents, we have to add that many of the children have tactile systems that are too sensitive and on ‘alert’, making it very difficult to have the child trained to accept the orthotics. I hope that parents have a chance to give it some serious thought.

MC/ TK 7-13-10

Children with CdLS seem to use a single digital (and often the feet) very adeptly and may not perceive the benefit for anything additional.

TK 7-13-10