On the last day of your child’s CIMT programme the cast will be removed for the final time. Measurements and tests will be repeated to compare to results taken at the start of the programme. Your therapist will also spend some time working on bilateral (two handed) tasks with your child.

The last day of a CIMT programme can be an emotional time (for parent and therapist!) after all of the hard work. It is also an anxious time as the real results of the programme will not be seen until the child has returned home to their normal routine. Your therapist will advise you on what to expect when you leave the programme and what activities to continue with at home.

A few weeks after completing the programme you will receive a questionnaire from your therapist, which charts how often and how well your child now uses their affected arm. It is the same questionnaire that was used in the initial assessment and on day one of the programme. Once you have completed and returned the questionnaire, your therapist will produce a detailed report giving an overview of the programme, analysing the results and providing recommendations for activities to work on for your child – these could be with their current therapy team, at school or at home.

You will be provided with several removable casts to take home with you so that you can continue activities with the affected arm at home. Your therapist will advise how often to do this – sometimes it is recommended to continue for an hour a day using a cast, and sometimes it is not necessary depending on the child’s level of ability.

The aim of CIMT is for the child to use the affected arm more spontaneously in functional everyday tasks. By using the arm more, they will continue to capitalise on the strength and activity they have developed over the course of the CIMT programme and build upon the new skills gained.