Michelle Braley

At that point, he was blinking his eyes and sticking out his tongue. He will answer yes or no questions. So I knew that there was that kind of baseline. But a lot of times when someone's completely nonverbal, it's a language impairment. And so I'll know that there's like a yes, no reliability. But after that, there's no way to communicate with them in any more complicated way.

At that point, he was blinking his eyes and sticking out his tongue. He will answer yes or no questions. So I knew that there was that kind of baseline. But a lot of times when someone's completely nonverbal, it's a language impairment. And so I'll know that there's like a yes, no reliability. But after that, there's no way to communicate with them in any more complicated way.

So I never treated someone with that diagnosis who was presenting like that before. And I was kind of trying to come up with a game plan for how to assess what's going on with this guy. Is his language intact? Can I communicate with him in any way? And then a lot of times there's communication boards if someone has use of their hands or use of their head or use of their feet.

So I never treated someone with that diagnosis who was presenting like that before. And I was kind of trying to come up with a game plan for how to assess what's going on with this guy. Is his language intact? Can I communicate with him in any way? And then a lot of times there's communication boards if someone has use of their hands or use of their head or use of their feet.

There's a way that you can communicate non-verbally. But I knew that he didn't have use of most of any of his limbs and he just had very limited use of his eyes and his tongue. So it was trying to figure out how am I going to communicate with him to figure out what's going on, to figure out if he has language, to figure out if his cognition is impaired or it's intact.

There's a way that you can communicate non-verbally. But I knew that he didn't have use of most of any of his limbs and he just had very limited use of his eyes and his tongue. So it was trying to figure out how am I going to communicate with him to figure out what's going on, to figure out if he has language, to figure out if his cognition is impaired or it's intact.

So that was kind of my my first thought going into it was, how am I going to figure out what's going on with this guy? So that's when I was I kind of was thinking, all right, we have a reliable way. I know he's giving me yes or no. Like he knows exactly what he wants to say.

So that was kind of my my first thought going into it was, how am I going to figure out what's going on with this guy? So that's when I was I kind of was thinking, all right, we have a reliable way. I know he's giving me yes or no. Like he knows exactly what he wants to say.

There's still someone can know exactly what they want to stay and still have a cognitive impairment and be a little confused, a little disoriented, have memory issues. So I had to figure out how to do an assessment of his cognition with just that letterboard. And that was challenging. But I remember very distinctly doing after, it was probably within the first week or

There's still someone can know exactly what they want to stay and still have a cognitive impairment and be a little confused, a little disoriented, have memory issues. So I had to figure out how to do an assessment of his cognition with just that letterboard. And that was challenging. But I remember very distinctly doing after, it was probably within the first week or

I want to say like three or four days into having seen Jake, I did an informal assessment because you couldn't do any of the formal cognitive assessments with the way he was able to communicate. And I was checking, do you know where you are? Do you know the date and time? Do you know why you're here? If I give you three words right now, can you remember those three words in 10 minutes?

I want to say like three or four days into having seen Jake, I did an informal assessment because you couldn't do any of the formal cognitive assessments with the way he was able to communicate. And I was checking, do you know where you are? Do you know the date and time? Do you know why you're here? If I give you three words right now, can you remember those three words in 10 minutes?

Can you explain to me how do you start a car or how do you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Kind of those kind of simple sequencing things. And so I started doing those and and he was just nailing it every time. And the more he did it, the more that I started to kind of be like, oh, my God, like this guy is in here. And that's where it got. It had always been real for me.

Can you explain to me how do you start a car or how do you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Kind of those kind of simple sequencing things. And so I started doing those and and he was just nailing it every time. And the more he did it, the more that I started to kind of be like, oh, my God, like this guy is in here. And that's where it got. It had always been real for me.

But that's when it kind of hit me that he's fully he's fully cognitively intact. His language is there. He just can't speak. His cognition is totally intact. He's literally trapped in his body. And that's, I think, when I'd always been sympathetic to his case. Like, from the minute I met him, I wanted to help as much as I could.

But that's when it kind of hit me that he's fully he's fully cognitively intact. His language is there. He just can't speak. His cognition is totally intact. He's literally trapped in his body. And that's, I think, when I'd always been sympathetic to his case. Like, from the minute I met him, I wanted to help as much as I could.

But when I realized how trapped he was in there is when I got, like, fully emotionally involved, too.

But when I realized how trapped he was in there is when I got, like, fully emotionally involved, too.

It's basically this big board where it has letters and colors and numbers all throughout the board. And basically Jake's able to more quickly scan and select letters so he can communicate faster. To use the Megabi, your cognition and language has to be totally intact. You have to be sharp as a tack, and you have to have very good attention. Your cognition has to be really good.

It's basically this big board where it has letters and colors and numbers all throughout the board. And basically Jake's able to more quickly scan and select letters so he can communicate faster. To use the Megabi, your cognition and language has to be totally intact. You have to be sharp as a tack, and you have to have very good attention. Your cognition has to be really good.