Rosemary Watson

Meet Rosemary

A speech-language pathologist (SLP)

Name: Rosemary Watson
Client Name: Annabeth Smith*
Client’s Communication Challenge: Apraxia

Rosemary’s client, Annabeth, was diagnosed with apraxia after suffering a stroke. Her client was relying on a communication board to share her needs, but Rosemary noticed she was not initiating conversations and was very isolated. Rosemary decided to introduce a simple and easy high-tech communication device for Annabeth with the goal of helping her communicate her basic thoughts and feelings.

“I heard about Lingraphica because Annabeth had an iPad with the SmallTalk apps on it,” said Rosemary. “So, my patient introduced it!”

Upon introducing Lingraphica’s TouchTalk communication device to her client, Rosemary noticed immediate improvement. “Annabeth talks! She can say things like, ‘I’m hungry,’” said Rosemary. In fact, just a few days after working with the TouchTalk, Annabeth’s family called Rosemary raving about how much better she was doing with the device.

“People now can have conversations with her,” said Rosemary. “She mainly will start conversations with SLPs, but she will initiate conversation with others sometimes. Annabeth has gone from being monosyllabic to saying full sentences is under a year!”

After a full eight months of ownership, Annabeth is communicating with her loved ones. She’s also using the device for practice. “Each worksheet from therapy is programmed on the device, with the answers on the page behind it, so [she] can always have access to the answers and practice saying them.”

Rosemary finds the convergent naming exercises and learning especially helpful for Annabeth. Due to the device’s auditory feedback, she is able to practice saying phonemes, blends, and even entire words aloud. “She has come a long way,” said Rosemary. “The device has been amazing for her.”

Rosemary’s Advice:

Practice is key — Find something you are comfortable with independently. The TouchTalk is great. It is all about independence. It’s got to be simple and the TouchTalk is simple.

*The client’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.