How much work would you require from a 9dd with a broken wrist on her writing hand?

[Kim in SouthGa]

My 9dd fell off a horse last week and broke her left wrist (she's left-handed). I have been doing her writing for her for grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. She does SOS science on the computer, and I'm just having her work on drilling math facts on the computer. She is doing a lot of reading for history (TOG) and I will fill in the worksheets for her, or just discuss the questions. Memory work and Bible are done orally. Is this enough for a few weeks? I don't want her to get too behind, but with 4 kids I can't just sit with her all day and be her scribe;).

Of course she would like nothing more than to just lay on the couch, read, and have the rest of us wait on her hand and foot.

And what about chores? She is tending to say she can't do much of anything, but surely you can unload a dishwasher with one hand?

Am I being heartless? A pushover? I don't want to go to either extreme. She'll be in a full arm cast with a sling for 3 weeks, then either have the whole thing removed or a partial cast put on.

TIA

[Ali in OR]

I think what you're doing sounds about like what I would do--still has to work and learn, but not by writing. When all is healed I would step up the writing pace and make up for lost time in that area.

[love2read]

Do you have a tape recorder? Have her tape some of her answers. This summer one of our dc cut her hand and it was heavily bandaged. I made her do all of her chores that could be done with one hand. Does that sound mean? She eventually did it without complaining. They say it's good for the brain to do things with the less favored hand :001_smile:

[8filltheheart]

My 12 yos is just recovering from a broken hand (4 broken metacarpels with 2 of them displaced; it was a serious crush injury). Absolutely they can do chores like unloading a dishwasher, putting away laundry, vacuuming. ;)

 

As far as school work, he has done most of it orally. I am lucky in that he is doing the same math as his older sister and she has been his scribe for math. We put English writing assignments on hold for a few weeks.

 

Ds is out his cast this week, but he is having difficulty with "frozen" joints and we are having to work on finger flexibility. I would suggest taking it in stride. Have her do lots of reading. Skip writing. Have her dictate for spelling and math. But don't let her get away with not doing the things she doesn't enjoy to only see her making her broken wrist "ok" for things she wants to participate in. ;)

[LunaLee]

This happened to us a while back. DD had broken her wrist in January and had it casted for 4 weeks and then a month later she broke her thumb and had her whole hand casted again for another 4 weeks.

 

We did pretty much the same thing: lots of oral work, reading, me scribing some of her work, and computer stuff. For science I had her do a lot of PowerPoint presentations. I also bought her those big FAT preschool pencils and she was able to write a little bit on her own.

 

I also made her do most of her chores, I don't think there wasn't one thing she couldn't do with those casts on. Except shower. Good thing it didn't happen over the summer.

[JudyJudyJudy]

For me I'd probably be overly sympathetic. I broke my elbow this past February, and while I did still have to do many things with one arm, I wouldn't wish it on anybody; I was in a lot of pain. I can't even imagine if I had broken my right arm (I'm right-handed, and I broke my left arm). Because I had to continue to do so much (I was teaching school at the time), I ended up having other issues with my shoulders, neck, and "good" arm as well. I still don't have full use of my left arm, and my doctor has now realized that my rotator cuff is messed up as well. Perhaps an elbow break is worse than a wrist break, but I'd give the child some slack.

[Marty]

Spellingcity is free online. She could type in her words and play spelling games with the words you saved on there.

I like the tape recorder idea. That will save YOUR hand, lol.

And watch her during free time. Does she favor her hand/arm. Like rubbing it, holding it against her, etc. Or does she compensate and just go ahead and do what she wants.

This will give you an idea of her capabilities.

My son broke his right thumb last year, so we had to adjust.

And just this past Thursday, he broke a finger. It was on his left hand, though.

[Heather in VA]

I agree with the oral work and really requiring very little if any written work for school. As far as work around the house etc, she will be able to do alot of that but I'd be sure to not assume that just because she seems fine that she's not in pain. My girls have both had injuries from gymnastics and I often forget that the 'suck it up and deal' attitude in the gym doesn't need to come home with them. Also, one of their dear friends shattered her arm in a gymnastics injury (needed surgery for a compound fracture etc) and she was in pain alot longer than she showed. Be sympathetic but don't let her abuse it (too much :-) ).

 

Heather

[jensway]

We did this last year with my son. He fell off his scooter breaking both the radial and ulna bones in his right arm. So I scribed for math and some grammar. He did spelling on the computer. For science we did a book with simple experiments. We double the reading and did oral book reports.

 

My son is a reluctant writer so even though he broke his arm after about 2 weeks he was oh so pleased that he would not have to write. He had 2 weeks off from chores after that it was back to vacuuming, unloading dishwasher, setting the table and the like that only takes 1 hand. I do have a lot of sympathy as I have had my own arm and wrist injuries.

 

Yes it is good for them to learn to do things with their non dominant hand. For example I sometimes see my son eating with his left hand or brushing his teeth because he had to learn to do it while in the cast for 8 weeks.

[FlockOfSillies]

I was in a b&m school, and I don't remember having any special accommodations for those three weeks. I wrote left-handed. I had a lot of homework that year, too.

 

Any accommodations you give her are a treat, in my book.