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03-18-08

A TIA OR MINI-STROKE CAN BE VERY DECEPTIVE! Always get to a hospital, one with a stroke center if possible, right away!

Debra called the Stroke Family number and reached me even though it was the weekend. She wanted to know if she should take her father to the ER. Her father, she explained, had just minutes before, had trouble speaking and standing for a few minutes and then was "fine". I advised her to get to the nearest Hospital with a stroke center and to call ahead to tell them you were on your way. Here is what she wrote back:

Good that you advised me to take my father into the nearest stroke facility. They are keeping him to do surgery on 95% carotid blockage!

Your search engine ranking came up with the keyword search "what to do for a stroke" and the first thing I was looking for was the phone contact. Having someone to discuss it with gave me the insight to ACT and told me WHERE to go. I could have gone up the street to the closest ER and been sent home. However, you told me about the certified stroke centers and that made all the difference. When we got there, everyone took over and immediately started Dad's testing. They took this very seriously and have saved his life! I am so glad to have found you so quickly on the internet and be able to reach you instantly. Your availability for quick answers was a GODSEND.

My best girlfriend had the same thing happen with her dad last year and took him to the nearest ER and was sent home. Her father did pass and she felt helpless about it.

Your hotline is literally a lifesaver.

Thanks again!

Debra

1-15-08

Ken M. had moderate aphasia. When he first called me on the phone his mentor had to translate for him so that I could understand what he was saying. He started putting the Sensory Trigger Techniques to work using his left hand. He was one of the first people to use the Sensory Trigger Finger Tapping Technique. After a couple of months his speech began to slowly improve. He continued to improve and now has been able to start a small business marketing and selling a Health Drink. When he called me again to thank me, I could understand him fairly easily, though he still had some slurring, a few missed words and some hesitation. He said he continues to use the finger tapping to maintain his ability to talk more clearly. Ken has progressed to a mild aphasia level using the Sensory Trigger Method and says he wouldn't have been able to have his business without the help he received from Stroke Family and the speech practice using the techniques!

4-14-07 Don's smile says it all!

Hi Barbara,

I can’t begin to tell you how excited we are at the results we are getting with your program! … and this after only three 1-hour sessions.

On day 1, I introduced the Let’s Talk CD and worked on the fruit section. Homework was to continue working on this; however, he proceeded to go through the entire Kitchen section on his own, along with working with a few tracing papers.

Day 2, I’m impressed … he can say 4 objects before clicking on the picture and can actually say these same items from the cue cards, with no voice, no picture.

Day 3 was awesome … We went through the entire Kitchen items and he was able to say 13 items before clicking on the picture. The joy on his face was dazzling and he now sees light at the end of the tunnel. I’m astounded as I wasn’t expecting anything much to happen for six weeks or so. Needless to say, his wife is excited as well, as she was quite discouraged and frustrated when we first met.

Ann then started a Speech Recovery Journal as instructed in the guide and started to branch out with different strategies--applying the method to daily situations, while being sensitive to Don's energy level:

4/6 Yesterday was a snow day, so I assumed Don would have forgotten some of his previously known words. Well, he got 24 named without help from the program or myself. It was very exciting today when he got the infamous word “butter” for the first time when I gave him the clue, “I can’t believe it’s not ----------“. He lit up like a Christmas tree!

4/9 It’s Monday, and surely he will have forgotten everything. I was so wrong! He had 31 known items today. He did some heavy concentrating, so much so that I thought I was “smelling wires burning”. I hope he doesn’t burn out. When he got to “butter”, he looked at me and motioned to me to give him the clue again, which I did. There were four words that he got half of; he got “green” from green beans, “rooms” from mushrooms, “ham” from hamburger and “apple” from pineapple. I did not include those in the count of 31.

4/10 He got 33 right today but I’m noticing he has been memorizing the sequence of the items; he knew “blueberries” came after “raspberries” and said the word before the picture even appeared. I’m not sure if this is good or bad? Wonders, today he got “butter” without a clue. Again, a very exciting moment!

4/11 Today, I decided to experiment and have him start with “Other Foods” instead of “Fruits” and work backwards. This should really stump him, right? Wrong! I have to admit it was a little more difficult for him and he was exhausted when we were done, but he did get 35 right, and he is starting to make sense of a few of the alphabet, such as “o” in avocado, tomato, potato. I can tell when he’s working on the spelling of words, not just speaking them, as he traces the letters with his mouse cursor. He is one great student! He’s been having trouble with “Chicken” so yesterday I told him it sounded like Kitchen, but reversed. Today, he added the word “Chicken” to his list of accomplishments.

4/12 Today is a snow day so we did not meet, but seeing how tired he was yesterday, I asked him if he was burning out. He said, “Yes”. So today we rest, and tomorrow I will tweak the program to have more tracing and less computer work. His wife says he is Superman, and I believe it, as he is giving this his all, and then some…

4/13 ... We then worked with the Let’s Talk program and worked through Dining Room, Bathroom, Living Room and he knew a lot of those words right off without the sound. What a delight he is to work with, and he’s doing so well!

Thank you so much for the work you have put into this program.

Ann Beal

Area Director

Club Z! In-Home Tutoring

Rapid Progress in 3 Months

12-22-2006

Hello Barbara: My mother, Rosie, purchased the let's talk program/speech tree program back in September for my brother that had a stroke this past July. He has mastered the Let's Talk Program and can say many many words now. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments but it is not enough for him or for us so we feel he is ready to graduate to the speech tree program and start making sentences.

Thank you!

Cindy M.

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Phone call from Ireland

Dave's wife called last month very excited to tell me of Dave's surprising recovery. She said the program and materials in the kit worked very well and that Dave would like to talk to me! Dave got on the phone and at first I could hardly believe it. Most of his words were clear enough to easily understand--but he talked so rapidly, I had the most trouble understanding his accent! A couple of times, he got so excited about what he was saying, he had to have his wife come on the phone to fill in a blank, but overall, Dave was talking functionally and conversationally. Dave worked with a speech therapist from time to time, while using our program and materials and the Sensory Trigger Technique on a daily basis. I checked our records and discovered it had only been 6 months since they had started with our approach. This is a good example of someone getting off "the plateau", as well as how our intensive, practical approach can compliment and extend the range of speech therapy.

--Barbara Dean Schacker, October, 2006

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Unresponsive to talking in sentences --
Gary Sells

Gary was left totally non-responsive (semi-coma) after a massive stroke. He would not look at his wife, Jane, when she spoke to him. Even shouting and jumping up and down got no response. After all the doctors had given their sad news that Gary's condition would probably be permanent, Jane contacted me and asked if I could help. She bought the Whole Speech Practice Kit and I told her how she could begin to work with Gary and that I could coach her and answer any questions she had over the phone.

First, I told her to put a pen in Gary's left hand and hold it for awhile every day. At the same time, I had Jane talk to him as if he could hear her and tell him "I know you will recover some day. I believe you will talk again someday if you really try. Show me you are there by holding the pen." Jane worked patiently and diligently. Then we tried to get Gary to hold the pen on his own. "Show me you can hold the pen, Gary. Hold the pen."

For weeks, Jane put the pen in his hand, hold it for a while and then let go--and the pen would drop. She put it back in his hand over and over again, encouraging him each time. "I know you can do it!" Then one day, Gary held the pen! Gary was slowly becoming conscious and aware! By getting him to hold the pen, we were accessing the right hemisphere speech area, communicating through the sense of touch. Then he looked at her. Jane knew then, that Gary was coming back, that her work with him was having a real effect.

Next, I told Jane to hold his hand and the pen together and make ovals or lines on a piece of paper. She did this over and over, pausing to see if he would make a movement. Nothing happened for weeks, but Jane knew that she was repatterning his brain and that the signals were going through the kinethetic sensory channel. From the guide, she learned how to repeat this stimulation over and over, every day that was possible.

Then one day, Gary made a mark! Jane and everyone there were beside themselves, crying and jumping for joy. Weeks later, he drew an oval on his own. Then one day, he looked at her and smiled for the first time since his stroke--a meaningful sign that the technique was working!

Finally, Gary was able to come home. Having read the guides, Jane could now set up the Kit, with the Let's Talk program, and the tracing sheets so she could work with Gary at home. Gary could even work independently once it was set up. Six months later, Gary said his first word! Gary and Jane continued to use the Kit and now, two years later, Gary is speaking in brief sentences.

Gary speech returned even before he was able to stand on his own. He is still getting physical therapy and this recent picture shows Gary standing for the first time after his stroke. There is no doubt that Gary, with Jane's loving care, will continue to recover. Gary's story proves that activating the passive language center on the other side of the brain works! We are all so proud of both of them and look forward to Gary's continued recovery!

--Barbara Dean Schacker, January, 2005

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Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 4:52 PM
Subject: a new breakthrough


Dear Barbara,

I do believe that we have witnessed a breakthrough for my Mom this week. We were working on tracing and I asked her (just for the heck of it) if she could write her name. She picked up her pencil and wrote her first and maiden name without hesitation. Then I said how about your married name? She couldn't remember at first, but when I told her what it was, she wrote it down perfectly! the wonderful thing about this is that since her stroke on Dec 2 2001, she could not write anything without first seeing it and copying it, including her name. She couldn't get anything straight from her brain to the paper. Now she can write her name without a second thought. Of course, she can't write mine or anyone else's, but I still feel that this is a big thing and I told her so.

The next day something just as fantastic happened. She was trying to tell me something, but could only get out jargon. I finally told her to pick up a pencil and paper and draw what she wanted to say.(She can draw quite well, even with her left hand). Well, I went to do something else and came back to have her hand me a paper. On it was drawn four round objects and next to them was the word "haven't" written perfectly, apostrophe and all! The message was clear she hadn't had her pills! I was almost in tears with her looking at me like I was nuts. I tried to explain to her that this was something she was not able to do in over a year and that it was a wonderful thing.

We start back at the college for speech on Tues. I have already talked to her clinician and she wants to see what we have been doing and will welcome our working together. This thrills me!

I hope you see it as a breakthrough, too. And Thank you again and again! God Bless!

- Robin

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New News about Ben, received April 2001

Ben Edwards, 23, had hardly spoken a word since his massive CVA in March 1999, even though he had been given extensive speech therapy. Yet he was determined to talk again.

Then his parents, Cindi and Lance Edwards, found StrokeFamily.org, an Internet site for stroke patients that offers home speech practice on the Web.

"He was going to speech therapy but was only able to say 1 word out 10 on the beginning word list. This went on for 5 months. Then we found out about Let's Talk program at Stroke Family and signed up for a year's subscription."

"Ben worked on it several times and then one day pointed to a grocery list I was writing. 'Milk!' he said, reading the word. I broke down and cried, I hadn't heard his voice in so long! We really appreciate the program--it's wonderful for home practice--which is just what he needed to make this breakthrough."

Cindi bought the guide too. The guide explained that they needed to have him work with the program everyday and that new memories and brain patterns begin to fade after 48 hours. Over time--the guide suggests up to two years--and with repetitious use of the alternate hand along with sound, new neurological pathways can become firmly established. The program allows access 24 hours a day over the internet and delivers voice and graphics. Operating the mouse and clicking on pictures stimulates new pathways in the brain through the sense of touch.

She also noted that his speech therapist is extremely happy with it, because now they're really making progress! "We knew it was the program, because he had been working on the food words for months and could only say one. With Let's Talk and therapy together he's up to 6 out of 10 words--and those 6 are words he practiced using the program over the Web. Now he is saying new ones each week. "

"Let's see, he's got banana down, and also fork and spoon," says his mom, " but we're still working on knife.  Knife is hard to say.  We call him 'Mr. Determination'.  We now have hope he will be able to say it one day.  You've given us so much hope and encouragement."

"Ben loves the Let's Talk program. He works on it every day he can, 4 times a day.  It is really great that you've made this so affordable too--that really helps. We can't thank you enough for this wonderful program!"


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This page was updated 11/26/07