Hi, Andy!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  I realize there are other people in this echo who can
AH>  probably help & I trust they will.  However, my heart
AH>  goes out to you & I feel called upon to do whatever I
AH>  can ASAP....  :-)

AB>  That's very kind of you to say, and it reinforces my
AB>  general feeling that Fidonet (some echoes especially)
AB>  is more of a community than it is a lump of technology.


           Fidonet seems like more of a community to me too....  :-)



AH>  You may find it necessary to explain to others that your
AH>  daughter is able to understand, for two reasons.  One is
AH>  that there are variations between individuals depending on
AH>  the extent of the brain damage.  The other is that people
AH>  tend to assume lack of speech means lack of comprehension.

AB>  The head of her hospital's rehab department was dismissive
AB>  when I suggested that at least some of her receptive language
AB>  capability was intact.


           Arghh!  We've also encountered people like that.  Unless things
are quite different from what we experienced, though, your daughter
probably won't get much rehab in acute care anyway.  I figure she'll be
discharged as soon as her condition is medically stable.  Then you can make
other arrangements.  :-)



AB>  My daughter has continued to exhibit comprehension of
AB>  things that are said to her.


           IMHO you're probably right.  You & your wife know this child
better than anybody else does.  You know what's normal for her... and you
may be able to pick up on subtle clues which others miss.  Ideally you
& the professionals would be able to work in partnership & share
your expertise.  In practice that doesn't always happen, especially in
institutional settings... (sigh).

           As a former schoolteacher, I'd say you have a pretty good handle
on the sort of task analysis which is needed here.  My philosophy... as a
teacher and as a parent... is "Yes, they can!"  It's a
self-fulfilling prophecy either way.  If you truly believe your daughter is
capable of doing xxx you will move mountains to help her achieve this goal.
 If you don't see any point in trying she may not get the support she
needs.  But she already has a speech therapist waiting in the wings... you
know who can help once she's out of hospital.  :-)



AB>  As yesterday she has shown some gradual improvement
AB>  in moving her right arm and hand.


           Yes!!  Some things may come back fairly quickly while others
don't. I'm delighted to hear about her arm & hand.  Recovery in that
area often seems to take longer than in other areas because hands in
particular are called upon to do very complex tasks.  Sometimes it's
necessary to use a different part of the brain to substitute for an area
which has been injured.  But kids are very adaptable, and they bounce back
a lot more easily than adults do....  :-)



AB>  She clearly expressed frustration at being "nil by
AB>  mouth", which I think is another sign of her own
AB>  personality showing through.


           Uh-huh.  I knew our daughter had all her marbles when she
noticed a sign in the emergency ward instructing everyone to turn off their
cell phones, and reminded her Dad about it.  That's characteristic of her
too... [chuckle].



AB>  Hopefully tomorrow she'll be able to work more on eating
AB>  ...I know she enjoys that! :-9


           Yes... food can be very motivating!  And as long as one side of
the jaw can take instructions from the brain, the other side has little
choice but to follow suit.  I noticed one day when our daughter was yawning
that her left arm moved a bit in tandem with her right arm.  I found this
encouraging... but one of her nurses was unimpressed because yawning is a
reflex & reflexes use a different neural pathway.  As a teacher, I was
thinking to myself "This is how it feels when your arm moves.  Okay...
now let's see if you can make it happen when you *consciously intend* to do
it."  An OT later confirmed that mirroring actions on the unaffected
side can be a very useful learning strategy....  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+