Penny was unable to learn to talk because in her brain the speech center was affected. Other than that she was very intelligent and could communicate very well using her own mode of hand signals. Once a day I walked to her house, which was a few streets away from my house. I normally take her head in the therapy while the maid would take one arm and one leg. One of her sisters then would take the other arm and leg. Penny would lie face down on a table like the doctor's examination table. The objective of this therapy was to train the brain in linking the muscles in the following manner: while the head turns right, the right arm and the left leg should be raised. Then alternatively while the head turns left, the left arm and right leg should move upwards and outwards. Penny's mum patiently explained to curious me how important it was for Penny to gain this ability to walk with this all important gait: unless and until she learns to walk thus, she could not speak. There was nothing wrong with her voice box and throat, in other words she was not mute. Her inability to talk arose from damage in her speech center. Daily they walked her through this exercise four times: once in the morning with family members, once in the late morning with the help of a tutor. When I turned up in the late afternoon we went through it a third time. Then after dinner the family members would perform it a fourth and final time.
Around that time my friend Angeline showed me seven books lent by her friend. Believe it or not, all seven were written by Glenn Doman. I borrowed two and set about reading them thoroughly so as to educate myself further. After all, if I were to give about an hour of my time on all week days, I might as well learn precisely why I am doing it. I found his arguments sound, his theory well researched and his methods rigorous. I found myself fascinated by his many claims.
My helping Penny ended after her mum took her to Australia for a progress check. They could not take her to USA because her father could not leave his business at that particular point of economic instability. And those good folks in US insisted on full parental support. After all there was a long waiting list, so the authorities could and did keep all the fine prints enforced. This offshoot in Australia decided to vary Penny's program to accommodate her impending puberty. That particular therapy I was involved in helping was removed to make room for a zero gravity exercise which would accomplish the same goal and would work better with her bulk and build.
All these was ancient history as many years had passed by. Now why did I even think of Penny? It was because I saw a toddler crawling in a totally uncoordinated manner which brought Penny's gait to my mind while she did her two mile daily run. Once I was recruited to be a human marker in a vast flat field. Penny was running back and forth between her maid and I with her sibling. Each time she reached me we would do a high five and then I would clap and cheer loudly to encourage her.
Difficult as it was, I actually summoned up the courage to point out to the young mother how her girl was not crawling the way she should. The mum was hardly interested and told me that as long as the child could move, she was not bothered in what the motion entailed. I did try to explain to her the significance in terms of speech and language learning. Anyway it was a total waste of my effort.
A week or so later, my daughter was reading the young mum's blog on motherhood. I looked over my daughter's shoulder and caught a few sentences on how the blogger articulated on how other people dared to presume they knew more about her baby when she was the one and only person who spent almost all her waking hours with her child. In my heart I thought yes, you have got a valid point there, young woman. But nothing can take the place of age, wisdom and special experience. I hope that I am wrong in my observation and suspicion. Yet if I turn out to be right, this indignant mum would have frustrating years remedying the lack of speech or problem in terms of language learning. Up to this point the child is very quiet. She is running around and hardly looks at people around who tries to talk to her.
**The above article was written on Oct 22, 2010. This update is added on Jan 28, 2012. Unfortunately, the child has been diagnosed mildly autistic. She has improved tremendously with prayers but it looks like she would require speech therapy to increase her vocabulary further.
* coral reef 1 from oceanworld.tamu.edu
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