Use of an Elbow Restraint to Improve Finger-Feeding Skills in a Child With Rett Syndrome

A single-subject study with an ABAB design was conducted to examine the effectiveness of an elbow restraint splint in improving the functional hand use of a child with Rett syndrome. The intervention consisted of the child’s wearing an elbow restraint on her nondominant (left) arm during snack time. Her ability to finger-feed cereal from a bowl was evaluated across four phases. An analysis of the data revealed only modest improvements in the amount of cereal consumed and in the time required to complete the eating task. Variability in the subject’s performance made visual interpretation of the data difficult. The findings, however, were in the anticipated direction and provide indications for future research.