Has any got any tips for when speech detoriates to the point of not being able to hear it. I have thought about making flash cards for my sister so she can communicate her needs to the nurses/carers. Are you able to buy them ? Or has anyone out there got any other bright ideas.
Maeve
hi maeve
is your sister able to press any buttons ro use a computer?
i ahve just got an ipad to convert text to speech and 4 when the time ocmes when i cannot make myself understood
it has many command sand questions in teh Prologuetogo App
is this any help?
lol jill
Hi Maeve,
Geoff uses a big letter board that the speech therapist made and laminated for him. we take it everywhere we go - good luck with your sister x
Hi Maeve - -we used none verbal cues like sticking your tongue out, toe wiggles, raising an arm etc to help when all speech was gone. The boards work great if your loved one can see good.
Hi Maeve,
My Mom is very far into the disease. She no longer has the dexterity in her fingers to use a keyboard and she now has double vision with anything close enough to be in her reach. So sadly any tool or communication device is not working for her. We have resorted to asking yes and no questions and she gives us a thumbs up if it is correct.
I miss being able to converse with her so badly. If you have any means to be able to communicate at all, do it and treasure it!
Good Luck!! Jill
Some people have gone through the Lee Silverman course with a speech therapist and this has helped some. The phrase "think loud" can also help if u remind them to do this. It sounds silly but has helped my husband.
Thanks everyone for your tips. My sister has double vision and is not able to look down and her fingers have lost their dexterity. I can see it is going to go be trial and error to find a method which gives a way to communicate.
Hang in their folks
Maeve
Good luck, Maeve. We haven't reached that stage yet but at the rate my husband's PSP seems to be accelerating I feel it won't be too long before we are in a similar position.
Best wishes to you and your sister.
God Bless..................SuzieQ xx
We used flash cards that we made at home for my father. Initially we had a wide variety which he was able to use - some even had simple phrases on them.
We quickly progressed to a simple 'Yes' or 'No' variation. However towards the end we discovered that even though indicating Yes my father actually meant No - .
The flash cards served a puropose for a while.
We also had a board which had a number of phrases which we were able to rpereord. The buttons were very large so even though he didn't have great dexterity we were able to use this for about 6 months. Initially my sister & I recorderd the phrases but it spunded odd having a womans voice saying phrases for my dad - so we got our brother to re- recoprd them. Sounds daft but it made us feel better.
Good luck
Alison
Speech device 
loss of speech
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Extending Communication when Speech is Gone
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