Brain-damaged Girl Given Power of Speech

Posted by Miss Cellania in Baby & Kids, Science & Tech on October 31, 2008 at 1:03 pm


Elke Wisbey of Bearsted, Kent, England was born with brain damage. Now 6, she has never been able to walk, feed herself, or even communicate with her family -until now. A £17,000 MyTobii Smartbox machine tracks her eye movements with lasers and sends messages to a programmed voice that speaks for her. Elke took only a few days to learn how to use the machine, faster than her family members. Her parents noticed she was constantly looking at the “I love you” symbol.

Mrs. Wisbey, 43, who also has a son, Galahad, aged nine, said: ‘I thought it was stuck and then I realised what she was saying.

‘She was looking at the “I love you” icon and I couldn’t believe it, she kept doing it.

‘I said to Elke “are you telling Daddy you love him?” and she pointed at the icon “yes”.

‘It really choked me up, made me really emotional. I’m still emotional when I think about it.

‘It was quite emotional. It is mind-blowing really. We have gone from somebody not being able to communicate to this.

‘We didn’t think Elke would ever be able to tell us how she was feeling, and now she can. This will be amazing for us, absolutely phenomenal.’

Readers of a local newspaper raised money to buy the specially-adapted machine for the family from Bearsted, Kent.

Elke has learned a number of words and phrases and can also use the machine to play games. Link -via Digg


Previous post
this post? Please Email this               
Next post


FUN PRODUCTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP:


COMMENT

12 comments to "Brain-damaged Girl Given Power of Speech"

  1. kef
    October 31st, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    i wish my parents named me galahad. hell, why not make it aragorn while they are at it.

  2. HaricotVert
    October 31st, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    I wonder if the MyTobii Smartbox has an icon for "I Hate You" as well. That one will come in handy during puberty.

  3. Ali S.
    October 31st, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    Now this is a story that makes me just feel so good. It must have been something for the parents to hear their little girl saying that to them. I got all teary eyed just reading this. All those folks who donated to the cause not only helped a little girl but helped an entire family. :)

  4. Ali S.
    October 31st, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    Oh, I almost forgot to add. I think it must be something else to realize that although Elke couldn't speak she had the mental capability to understand everything around her including speech. It must have been tough on her not being able to vocalize her thoughts to her family before she was given the machine.

  5. EEM
    October 31st, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    :)

  6. LisaL
    October 31st, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    That's awesome. Maybe one day, we'll be able to help her and others like her even more.

  7. Gail Pink
    October 31st, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    Extremely heartwarming. :)

  8. ivymae
    October 31st, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    Oh man, this made me tear up.

  9. shecky
    October 31st, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    I hate to piss in everyone's cheerios, but this seems odd to me. How do they know the poor girl is actually capable of communicating and not simply responding to stimuli, or being interpreted as communicating? It reminds me a bit of the stuff about Facilitated Communication with autistic children from a while back.

  10. ted
    November 1st, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    I, too, was wondering if they had an icon for I Hate You. And Shecky has a point. They do the same type of experimental stuff with dolphins and lower primates. I wonder how far wishful thinking gets us.

  11. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    November 1st, 2008 at 10:38 pm

    It's based on her eye movements. If it was just random, she could have answered her mother with something like "bagel"... not "yes".

    I went to school with a girl who had to use eye movements to communicate. It is possible.

  12. Gail Pink
    November 3rd, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Something like this was just shown on 60 Minutes last night (11/2), soi t is definitely legit.


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Stay updated on the comments with Comment RSS