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WHEELING — Speech remedy and dementia sufferers on the West Liberty College Speech and Listening to and Behavioral Well being Clinic are taking part in whack-a-mole, planting gardens and extra for therapy utilizing an modern new rehabilitation gadget.
The Tovartafel gadget, which suggests magic desk in Dutch, permits sufferers to carry out these actions utilizing gentle projections and infrared sensors that detect real-time gestures to trace hand and foot actions.
The gadget is the primary of its variety within the state, with WLU acquiring the system by means of a grant from the Milan Puskar Basis. The machine initiatives completely different remedy video games onto any 6-foot desk, or the ground.
Utilizing the video games projected, clinic professors and college students can deal with speech issues and dementia sufferers.
Carol Zombotti, WLU’s director of scientific schooling in speech-language pathology, defined the gadget serves as a rehabilitation software for speech sound issues, language-based studying issues and social communication deficits.
Although the gadget has solely been put in on the clinic for every week, Zombotti and WLU speech-language pathologist Sara Alig have already seen advantages in sufferers throughout the age spectrum.
“Earlier than we had this machine, typically we’d simply roll a golf ball on the tabletop, so even when the sufferers can’t speak, it’s simple to catch the ball and preserve going,” Alig mentioned. “That will get the mind going to construct a reference to another person. Now we are able to do that very same ball-rolling exercise and way more with the Tovartafel.”
Alig famous the machine is especially useful for dementia sufferers within the later levels of the illness. They will obtain the visible stimulatory piece wanted throughout therapy by means of the desk. She defined that simulating actions on the machine, reminiscent of planting a backyard, can be useful in stopping cognitive decline in dementia sufferers.
Some video games, reminiscent of beach-ball passing, encourage motion in dementia sufferers, whereas different actions, reminiscent of silverware sharpening and sorting, encourage extra superior “categorization and activity orientation,” in line with Alig.
Much less movement-oriented video games, together with a portray exercise, additionally present dementia sufferers with an outlet to loosen up.
“We had an Alzheimer’s affected person in a later stage of the illness who was appearing up and was very upset,” Alig mentioned. “When she got here in and began taking part in with the desk, her demeanor utterly modified. She calmed down whereas utilizing the gadget, and that response was some of the impactful issues I’ve seen occur thus far.”
Aside from its advantages for older dementia sufferers, the gadget has additionally proved useful for youthful speech remedy sufferers on the clinic. Zombotti defined that one sport that has been useful for youthful sufferers is an exercise wherein a participant has to match the sound of a farm animal to a projection of the animal.
“We have now a scholar in our clinic that has some issue discriminating completely different sounds, so the farm animal sport helped her work out which sounds she was listening to,” Zombotti mentioned. “The identical little lady additionally has some issue with reminiscence points, so there are different memory-matching video games that we play together with her.”
Aside from being useful throughout one-on-one remedy, the Tovartafel has additionally been utilized throughout the clinic’s dementia help group to advertise social communication, promote bodily exercise and construct a cognitive reserve.
“We’ve had one woman in our grownup group that has had some fairly important mind change occurring, and he or she enjoys gardening and farming,” Zombotti mentioned. “Whereas working together with her, we’ve integrated farming and gardening-related actions that assist relate to her.”
Emma Hershman, a graduate scholar on the clinic, famous the gadget has change into a preferred exercise for her grownup sufferers. She defined that it provides a much-needed break from the speech workbooks that her sufferers work on throughout a session.
“After we did a fly-swatting exercise and a reminiscence sport, my sufferers’ moods modified totally,” Hershman mentioned. “I’ve by no means seen them smile a lot, and now they ask after they can use the gadget on a regular basis.”
The gadget has been well-used in its first week on the facility, with Alig noting there was a “faster turnaround” whereas reaching sufferers’ objectives utilizing the Tovartafel.
Zombotti added that as the sphere of speech remedy has developed, offering sufferers with actions aside from “saying their S’s and R’s” has change into an necessary side of therapy.
“Anytime you faucet into different modalities of communication, there’s simply this entire completely different factor to the way in which that you could obtain objectives throughout your remedy session,” Alig mentioned. “It’s a special type of remedy in comparison with utilizing a workbook when you’ll be able to inform sufferers, ‘OK, right here’s a useful exercise the place you’ll be able to plant tomatoes.’”
Zombotti and Alig encourage anybody within the space within the gadget and in want of low-cost dementia therapy or speech remedy to contact the clinic at (304) 336-8199. The clinic additionally hosts a free continual mind adjustments help group for sufferers and their caregivers on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 4 p.m. on the First Christian Church on Nationwide Highway.
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