Well, today was quite a day.  We got up, exercised and got ready for Speech Therapy with Holly at the Stroke Recovery Center.  She was running late, again, which did not please David, but fortunately, Caren Doll’s dance class was starting, so we joined in.  Caren really loves David.  I said to him tonight, that if there were a legal way, she would have me knocked off and take over!  Holly’s door was visible from where we were dancing, and when her clients left, we excused ourselves and walked across the hall.  Holly began a new technique that he has developed with David, and it all makes sense, but David found it very frustrating, almost to the point of tears.  Basically, the idea is to used symbols that give hints about the position of the mouth when saying a particular word.  Really, what we have been doing so far has been repeating words and using automatic responses.  These David is OK at – yes, no, water, etc.  One of the words that David is having trouble with is “I”.  She worked on that for a bit, and the symbol is an “O” because that is the shape the mouth makes, and she also added a physical gesture that David is making with the word.  He was doing pretty well, but when we were at home tonight, and I asked him to say the word, he did the gesture and said “me”.  Very close, and I was pleased, but not really what we are looking for.

We also had Speech Therapy with Mary, but David was pretty spent by the time we got to that, and we went out to lunch for sushi.  I sensed that he needed to get away.  While we were sitting there, he began to cry when I talked about the session with Holly, and he said that he thought she didn’t think he was doing well.  Now, many of you know David, and his competitive, test score obsession, and he thinks that she doesn’t think he is doing well.  The main focus of her technique is for David to think of the word he wants to say, hear it in his head, then using the tools (she referred to the symbols as his verbal cane) say the word.  What frustrated him was, she would say a word, and he would want to repeat it immediately before he lost it, but she wanted him to wait ten seconds, think of the word and repeat it, and that wasn’t working.  I told him that it was going to be a long difficult process, but from my perspective, it was a way for him to be able to begin speaking spontaneously, without cues from others.  He was still pretty upset and down on himself.

The sushi was good, and we headed home and into the pool.  It was later in the afternoon than we usual make it into the pool, so the light was very different, but still nice.  Then we tried the lemon tart.  David didn’t love the crust, but the lemon was a hit.  For the evening, we went to Wang’s in the Desert for Happy hour and some nibbles, which was nice.  The evenings are so soft and warm now, and this is the Palm Springs weather that we fell in love with.  Not that the heat and sun aren’t great too!

Anyway, not that everything is about me (except maybe here), I am a bit bummed about the day, and feel bad for David.  He is, as always, way too hard on himself.  We read the blog and Exodus 1947.