">
">
">
">
">
">
">
">
Degree in Excellence |
"High-tech Mama!!!" |
In January 1996, I had returned to college to upgrade my computer skills, and to learn a new profession that would not be defunct in a year or two. I chose the medical and legal programs thinking that doctors and lawyers would always be in business. Never doing things in a small way, and because of my own advancing age, I signed up for the dual programs which gave me a tremendous load. One day while working in the computer lab, I heard a computer "talking"! Thinking that I had finally gone over the edge with my obsession about helping Mom learn to talk, I jumped straight up and ran over. I didn't know the instructor or the blind lady he was tutoring, but that didn't stop me from exuberantly interrupting them to ask a million questions and telling the instructor about my Mom, and what I was trying to do for her. This proved to be one of those "God incidence - no coincidence" miracles that I was to see more of in the coming months. Scott and Mom knew each other from church!!! During this conversation, I learned there was another computer on campus which was completely voice-operated. This was the answer to my prayers!!! Here was a tool that would allow Mom to communicate with friends and relatives in writing while she continued to work on enunciation and pronunciation. She had always been a faithful letter writer --- getting up with the birds, writing several letters before breakfast. This computer would allow her to do that again! About a week later, Scott told me that he had a "strong urge" to talk to administration about creating a special class and course of instruction just for Mom. He knew it was a crazy idea, but he followed his hunch and unbelievably, they gave him permission to do it!!! The college never makes decisions that quickly, Scott explained, and it takes an 'act of God' to get approval for new curriculum and courses. Well, God had acted!!! But, would Mom even want to do it? She had already forced herself through months of physical, occupational and speech therapy with only minimal improvement. She was going on 82 years of age, still mentally and emotionally trying to accept her diminished condition, while dealing with continued health problems as well. She knew absolutely nothing about a computer, much less one that she had to talk to in order for it to work! Was I expecting too much of her, hoping for too much, and trying too hard to find an answer? Did I want this more than she did? I decided that a trial run would be best so she could make up her own mind. At the end of spring quarter 1996, I loaded Mom into the car which was quite an ordeal for me. She had not regained any use of her right side and was basically 'total assist', meaning that I had to lift her total weight which was about 20 pounds more than my own 136 to transfer her from the wheelchair into the car and then the same in a reverse process when we got where we were going. I had been doing this already on weekends just to take her for a ride or out to lunch, and decided I could manage it, so off we went to the college. Scott gave us a comprehensive demonstration of what Mom would be able to do just by speaking. The entire program could be operate "hands off"! He let her talk a little, training the computer to recognize a few of her words, explaining how the progrm worked. It would be tedious and frustrating for her initially, training the computer to recognize her voice and speech pattern. Repetition of words, sometimes as many as six times each was required and there were hundreds, even thousands of words to be trained. (This was a very early version of the DragonDictateR program.) The concept and technology so intrgued me that I enrolled myself in the class to learn the program to work with Mom and others in similar situations someday. After the session, Scott took Mom's hand and looking into her face said, "Lillan, I would really like to work with you on this computer to help you regain something that you think you've lost. I don't think you have. I work with young people on this computer ever day who have more impaired speech than you have. Would you like to try it?" Flashing one of her beautiful smiles, eyes sparkling with some hope and excitement for the first time in a long time, she answered resolutely, "I want to try." There was my answer! She wasn't ready to give up! I was enrolled for summer quarter, so I would go to my morning classes and then drive the 12 miles to the nursing home to pick her up and bring her to the college for her one to two hour class. These were fun outings for Mom! Sometimes we'd have a snack in the cafeteria when she was through. It tickled her that she was going to college at her age. She had fun meeting my friends and amazed people 60-plus years younger than her with her spunk. Twice a week, all through the summer and fall, I took her back and forth to college to work on the computer. Her progress was phenomenal!!! Employees at the nursing home, as well as family and friends who visited her could not believe the overnight improvement in her speech! It amused Mom to see their flabbergasted faces when she talked! The greatest delight in all of this was her own! Her world had opened up again: God had thrown wide another door in her life, and this one was wheelchair accessible. Now she had a reason to get out of bed each day; her depression and hopelessness were gone. She looked so cute sitting in front of the monitor with the high tech headpiece holding her microphone. She'd come a long, long way from the one-room school of her youth! |
Site last updated on: 1/13/02