How can I use Active Hands with my child outdoors?

Case Study: Yemina

Yemina is an active, fun and smart twelve year old from Canada who loves to read or hang out with friends. She also has cerebral palsy which affects all of her movement and her level of independence. Her mum, Shoshana, explains that Yemina’s cerebral palsy makes any activity involving movement a challenge, but particularly those involving hand control. “She has a lot of extra movement through her arms and hands when she tries to use them.” This extra movement means that pushing buttons, grasping items or maintaining a grip of them can be really challenging for Yemina. For years, Yemina and her family experimented with different gripping aids, buying from companies and even inventing their own, but with little success. Then they came across Active Hands gripping aids and had “immediate positive impressions.” Shoshana explains that the Active Hands gripping aids produced instant success where the other aids had struggled. Initially, Yemina tried them out on her bike and walker and once she realised she could trust these aids to hold her safely, she rapidly became “more confident.” Now she could take part in activities that were previously such a struggle, and not only was she enjoying them, she could take part without help and with far better posture and alignment. A few years on and Yemina is now the proud owner of several pairs of our small pink general purpose aids which she leaves with various pieces of equipment; ready for action. She continues to use them to hold onto her bike and walker handle bars and also uses them to grip the bar of her treadmill and various pieces of gym equipment at her school. These aids have become a “life saver”, enabling Yemina to exercise independently. Her mum explains, “[Yemina] uses her walker all day every day at school, so the fact that she can be in there on her own and using her legs is huge.”