Stroke victim Nadine gets her voice back, thanks to an iPod Touch

A stroke sufferer who was left with severe communication problems has discovered she can make herself heard through an iPod Touch.


After suffering a major stroke as a result of a head injury two years ago, 38-year-old Nadine Howsam is using her communication support worker's iPod Touch to make herself heard.


Nora Moffat, who works for the Stroke Association in Lincolnshire, said there were two apps available on both the iPod Touch and the iPhone that can aid communication.


And she is teaching Mrs Howsam, who only has partial use of her right-hand side, to utilise the apps so she can ask for items in a shop and make conversation with people.


One of the apps consists of a set of catalogue cards with phrases including "I've had a stroke", "good morning" and "I would like a coffee".


And the iPod Touch can be prompted to "speak" these phrases out loud. Another app can store pre-written phrases onto the iPod Touch to be spoken by the device.


Mrs Howsam, who lives at Blenheim Care Centre in Hemswell near Gainsborough, was an avid reader prior to her stroke, but is now unable to read long stretches of text. However, she can now keep up with her favourite authors by listening to audio books on the iPod Touch....NEXT

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Perspectives: Ellayne Ganzfried, Executive Director of The National Aphasia Association November 3rd, 2010

(As promised, we return to our look at the condition called Aphasia in a conversation with Ellayne Ganzfried of the National Aphasia Association.)
Ellayne Ganzfried wanted to be a teacher, but a hiring freeze in New York steered life in a completely unexpected direction. Ganzfried, Executive Director of the NAA, has had a lot of unexpected surprises along her career path, all leading to work she loves—helping raise awareness for people with aphasia.
Forced to explore options other than teaching, nothing stood out until a counselor made her a proposition. “The college I attended in Brooklyn, attempting to correct the local accent, required a speech screening to decide if a student should take classes in public speaking…after I read the passage my advisor asked my major, which I hadn’t decided. She promised to exempt me from the public speaking class if I took a course in speech-language pathology. I told her she had a deal, and once I started taking the classes I fell in love with it.”...NEXT