The Future of Stroke Rehabilitation

May 11, 2009 — -- When Shawn Doyle suffered a stroke six years ago at age 46, it left him with impaired speech and paralysis of his right side.

But thanks to a cutting edge technique for stroke patients, Shawn, who was an active, driven vice president of sales prior to the stroke, now is able to say his daughter's name correctly for the first time in years.

"Our daughter's name is Cristin and after the stroke [...] he would always say, 'Crispin,'" said Shawn's wife, Susan Doyle. "He couldn't say the 'T.'"

Though Shawn still struggles with his speech and learning to get the words out properly has been difficult, he has learned to pronounce certain sounds once again thanks to a device called an electromagnetic articulograph.

The electromagnetic articulograph works by placing a helmet on a patient's head. It creates a magnetic field, which along with sensors on the tongue, allows the patient to see his or her own tongue movements on a computer screen in real time.

Patients are able to adjust their movements until they make the correct sounds. On the screen, X marks the spot where the tongue must hit to attain the right pronunciation.

"We can have him hit the bull's-eye in the exact place of articulation in his mouth that he is supposed to hit to make the sound correctly," said Dr. William Katz of the UT Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

So far, the device has only been tested on a handful of patients.

But even in these early stages of research, it has given the Doyle family an incredible gift.

"After working on this he could say 'Cristin' again. And I know that's itty bitty, but it's a big deal," Susan said. "We have come a long, long way."