Intensive therapy has been huge for Jake's independence

With severe Broca's aphasia, Jake had a lot to say but always ended up saying the same words over and over. Loretta is thrilled with his increased confidence, independence, and not having to always be the 'interpreter' anymore

What were your hesitations about intensive therapy?

Well the cost. But the time, five hours a day. Jake was still in a wheelchair. He didn’t have a lot of stamina. We were trying to, in physical therapy they put him on a walker, ten minutes was exhausting. So I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle five hours a day. And I was told that it was four hours on his own and I could be here the last hour of the day.

I wasn’t sure how he was going to do, but he’s done GREAT. And that’s actually the best thing about it.

To me, it is taking money out of our retirement fund, but what good is our retirement if he can’t walk he can’t talk, he can’t communicate and live his life fully. The money is well spent getting him here and helping him recover and being here has been so great for his independence.

His communication was, first of all, he talks a lot. He’s not shy about blah blah blah. But I was the interpreter. He was always looking at me to, because I got pretty good at interpreting it, and I couldn’t figure everything out, but a lot. So he was always looking at me, like ‘tell them what I just said. Tell them what I want’. And here, he’s had to be 4 hours a day without me.

And I think that was one of the things Dr. Lori said, I think the first day, she said “we’re encouraging independent communication, not through your wife”. And I thought “oh my gosh, that’s great”. And I’ve seen that shift, I mean now if he can’t get a word out, he now knows he can write and his writing has gotten a lot better. His spelling has gotten a lot better. That he can help me understand or help the other person understand what it is he’s trying to say by getting a word written down or there are cards that he’s using and that helps as well.

So it’s been huge for his independence and even things like getting himself to the bathroom without me and I and he’s had to be, and his confidence is so much higher now. He’s more comfortable with people there have been huge shifts related to independence that I don’t think we would’ve gotten for months without this.