Speech Therapy

As some of you may know, Will's formal therapies were discontinued some time ago because they were either deemed unnecessary or non-productive. After a while, it became clear to me that they were still necessary and needed to be re-instated. I decided to try speech therapy. The exercises included breathing exercises for projection, lip rounders for precise articulation, jaw droppers for strengthening the soft pallet and opening up the throat, tongue twisters for clarity of vowels and consonants, and humming for head resonance and volume.

As we began these exercises, I pretended I was a therapist to one of Hollywood's brightest and most shining stars, having Will say such things as , "How now brown cow!" and "a big black bug bit a big black bear." It was fun and I was pleased to see that Will was entering into the spirit of the therapies. He did them for sustained periods of time and with some effort and it wasn't long before I was noticing that it was making a difference, not only with his voice, but also with mine. These were therapies that worked!!!

A statement of a friend whose brother had suffered a stroke prompted the reinstatement of these therapies. She said. "My brother recovered all but his left arm and that was because he refused to do the therapies that were given him for that." It was a haunting statement because I thought, "if Will always speaks with a slur because he never got the speech therapy he needed, I will feel personally responsible. I teach Elocution. I should have the resources at my fingertips. I should be his therapist." As soon as I took ownership of this phase of his recovery, I remembered where the resources were and went to work.

In one of the notes by one of the exercises it said, "the voice muscles need to be exercised just like the leg muscles if they are to become strong and perform their proper function." Will's stroke knocked out his ability to swallow. His tongue, throat, and lips were frozen in a type of paralysis similar to my friend's brother's arm. It made perfect sense that Will's speaking muscles would need to be worked on, exercised and strengthened if they were to regain full function. Teddy Bruschi had physical therapists to help him reclaim his acumen as a foot-ball star, Will had his mom. Neither man had been left without resources for recovery.

Currently I am looking for some exercises that might help with the return of Executive Function. This is the part of the brain that causes a person to initiate behaviors. It is located in the frontal lobes and is one of the highest forms of reasoning; a demonstration of a person's will. Leaders of men have lots of Executive Function. Will acquired a great deal of it while he was a missionary in Argentina. I know he can gain it back with some help and effort.

In as much as many of you are people of faith, I want you to know that your fasting and prayers have enabled him to perform at an amazing level of 83% over all in his first neuro-psyche exam, a fete which is nothing short of miraculous. Humbly and with a sense of great indebtedness, I am asking you to please pray specifically for Will's ability to reclaim his Executive Function. It is such a critical part of the recovery.