Comparing The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

Imagine talking to someone, without hearing what you or they are saying. This is possible with lipreading and speech therapy. Lipreading can help you understand what the person you are talking to is saying, but speech therapy helps you actually talk. Deaf people haven’t ever had a chance to talk, so they don’t know how to move their mouths in the correct way like hearing people do, however speech therapy helps these deaf people move their mouths correctly to speak normally. Rachel Kolb has gone through at least 18 years of speech therapy, all while being deaf. The therapy helped her, however, in the fact that she is now able to speak normally and sounds the same as any hearing person, except with an

People with disabilities are not completely gone. They are still there and have a mind of their own. They feel emotions and sometimes have a more complex mind than others. Two authors help enlighten this idea that disabled people are much more than helpless bodies. Both Christy Brown and Jean-Dominique Bauby perfectly illustrate their lives and what it is like to be disabled, and they prove by their stories that they think and feel, and can even develop enough to share what they feel with the world. My Left Foot is about the journey of a boy suffering from cerebral palsy. His entire life he was labeled as a loss cause by doctor after doctor, but his mom never gave up hope. Slowly, he started showing signs of development by random movements responding to certain situations. In the end he ends up being able to communicate with his left foot. The next story, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is about an individual who suffered a stroke at the age of 43, leaving him paralyzed, only able to blink his left eye as communication. He develops his own alphabet inspired by the French language in order to exchange conversations with others. His thoughts in the story jump from the present, him currently disabled, and the past, when he was not. Both memoirs, with very different stories, show the lives of two individuals that are not like others. One who had their disability since birth, and the other who obtained one after a tragic event. In My Left Foot by Christy Brown and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby, both authors use characterization to show readers the struggles of disabled people and help them understand that just because they can’t use motions such as hand gestures to express how they feel, doesn’t mean that they don’t think and feel.

How do stroke survivors (or others with a chronic illness) and health care providers remain hopeful and “realistic”? What values are involved in maintaining hope while being realistic?

The parietal lobe of the brain if affected by dementia affects language skills. This means that communication skills could be reduced. The person may not be able to ‘find’ the appropriate words to use, or may not understand questions asked of them. They may not relate ‘words’ to the correct ‘objects’ for instance if they pick up a cup, but call it a ‘pot’.

W.C., a 26 year 11 month old woman, was brought to the Florida Atlantic University-Communication Disorders Clinic (FAU-CDC) by her boyfriend for a Speech-Language Evaluation. She was referred to the FAU-CDC by her neurologist for word finding difficulties and a possible articulation disorder after a left hemisphere hemorrhagic stroke one month ago. According to her boyfriend, W.C.’s symptoms began immediately following her stroke and are characterized by word finding difficulties, slowed and choppy speech, and mispronunciation of certain consonants that is affecting intelligibility along with a strained voice.

As a Speech Language Pathologist it is my responsibility to provide a means of communication to any individual who has an impairment as it relates to communication. No matter how severe the deficit may be as it relates to cognitive functioning, motor skills,etc.. and any other disability that may impact the traditional means of communication. A Speech language Pathologist who works with individuals who require the use of an Augmentative and alternative communication device, must keep in mind that it is their responsibility to make sure that more than one mode of alternative and or augmentative can be used, monitor the progression of intervention as well as evaluate the individual and most importantly keep up to date with current practice through

Human beings occasionally suffer bad damage to particular parts of their brains. Unfortunately, these injuries may lead to major failure of speech production, understanding language and comprehension which most of the patients suffer it permanently. This impairment is called Aphasia. Gayle (2012) states that people with aphasia fail to understand sentence comprehension although it is a simple sentence. She also mentioned that aphasia patients also have difficulty in reading and understanding speeches. According to Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2011), aphasia is a scientific term used to explained language disorder due to brain injuries caused by diseases or trauma. In other words, aphasia involves partial or total loss of the ability to

In the film, “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly,” Julian Schnabel presents the memoir of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Jean-Do). After having a stroke, Jean-Do is diagnosed with locked-in syndrome where his thoughts and emotions are trapped in his body. The theme of entrapment and escape are greatly explored in the film. Jean-Do’s motherly figures, father, and sources of water represent entrapment. The motherly figures like, nurses and therapists symbolize entrapment because these women control Jean-Do’s life as he is unable to move. The nurses control Jean-Do by setting a schedule of when he eats, sleeps, and watches TV. The therapists limit Jean-Do to only communicating in a certain way. Jean-Do’s father is a form of entrapment because he is like

As mentioned in the overall expectations in the first part of this assignment, I’ve never really thought about what it would be like to have some kind of communication difficulty or disorder. I’ve thought plenty about the fact that we have the ability to speak, but not that some people don’t share this ability. I knew that this would challenge me since I’ve always been able to communicate clearly and be understood.

Many altered health states and human responses can limit communication. Often, it can be an easy fix such as checking for hearing aids and or eye glasses; however, quite often, unfortunately it’s not this easy. As a result, a comprehensive review of the patient’s medical record helps provide relevant information about his/her ability to communicate. Throughout the health history and physical examinations, the health care team documents not only physical barriers to speech, but neurological deficits and pathophysiological conditions such as hearing and/or vision as well etc. For example, patients with aphasia after a stroke or late-stage Alzeimer’s disease often cannot understand or form words, nor can dementia patients often cannot make sense of what is being said. Other mental illnesses such as psychoses or depression can cause the patient to demonstrate ‘flight of idea’ where words do not keep up to rapidly changing thoughts, rambling of the same single word or phrase, loose association of ideas or even slowed speech pattern. Patients with severe anxiety sometimes are unable to perceive environmental stimulus or hear explanations and unresponsive or heavily sedated people cannot send or respond to vernal messages. Reviewing the patient’s medication record is also as important, as opiates, antidepressants, neuroleptics, hypnotics, or sedatives may cause a patient to slur words or use incomplete sentences. Finally, the nurse’s progress notes

A caterpillar is kept captive inside a chrysalis for months or even up to two years (“Butterfly Life Cycle”). Jean-Dominique Bauby was held captive in his chrysalis, but that did not stop him in becoming his own butterfly. The 2007 French film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was directed by Julian Schnabel. This film is about a forty-three-year-old man, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was the editor of Elle Magazine. He was valuable to the fashion world. He has reached the top of his career and had a publishing contract to write his book on a 19th century tale, until one day he found himself waking up in a hospital bed in Berck-Su-Mer Hospital (“The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007) -Synopsis”). Jean-Dominique suffered a severe stroke, that led him to a rare neurological condition called, “locked-in syndrome,” (Glenn 50). This is where all the voluntary muscles are non existent (paralyzed), except for the eyes, in this case only his right eye (Glenn 50). By analyzing the cinematography and music we can appreciate Bauby’s perspective in life, which allows us to have a distinct connection to his emotional and physical condition.

The extensive functions of the various anatomical structures of the brain are constantly being studied due to the complexity of this organ. Often times its many roles are taken for granted including speech. Speech involves a complex planning process as well as the ability to execute it properly by coordinating and managing the movements of the mouth and tongue. When specific brain injuries occur this function is compromised in what is known as apraxia. This is a speech disorder where a person has difficulty with the planning and executing processes of movement for speech despite there being no weakness of the actual speech muscles. This can result in increased difficulty producing desired sounds at a consistent rate. Though we do know

What is a Speech Sound Disorder? There is a myriad of definitions and ways to describe disordered speech. To put it simply; speech is the physical production of sounds through a series of air pressure waves in the vocal tract. A disorder is a difficulty or the “manner in which speech is not found in typically developing children” (Pert & Stow, 2015). The term ‘Speech Sound Disorder’ is very much a generic label. It encompasses a heterogeneous population including children whose speech is intelligible but may have a lisp. It also includes those whose speech is incomprehensible due to omissions and substitutions of certain phonemes and people born with anatomical abnormalities such as cleft palate. (Dodd, Differential Diagnosis and Treatment of Children With Speech Disorder, 2005) These are just a

Communication disorder is impairment in being able to receive, send, process, and understand concepts of verbal or nonverbal communication”. It can affect hearing, language, and speech. (ASHA) A speech disorder is when the articulation or speech is impaired, which includes articulation, fluency, and voice disorders. Language disorder is when comprehension or spoken or written language is not understood. There are three areas that can be affected which include form of language, content of language or function of communication. (ASHA)

A speech disorder occurs when a person has problems with his or her voice or is unable to produce speech sounds correctly. Difficulties pronouncing sounds, articulation disorders, and stuttering are examples of speech disorders (“Speech and Language Disorders and Diseases”, 2016). Some of the common speech and voice disorders in adulthood include Dysarthria, Apraxia, and voice disturbances. Dysarthria is when a person has an ongoing difficulty expressing certain sounds or words. They have poorly pronounced speech (such as slurring) and the rhythm or speed of speech is changed. Dysarthria has many causes which include alcohol intoxication, Dementia, neuromuscular diseases, Facial trauma, Facial weakness or tongue weakness, head trauma, head and neck cancer surgery, nervous system disorders that affect the brain, poorly fitting dentures, side effects of medications that act on the central nervous system, stroke, or a Transient ischemic attack (“Speech impairment (adult): MedlinePlus medical encyclopedia”, 2016). Apraxia of speech is a motor disorder. The messages from the brain to the mouth are disrupted and the person cannot move his or her lips or tongue to the right place to say sounds correctly, even though the muscles are not weak, Apraxia can occur in conjunction with dysarthria or aphasia (language difficulties related to neurological damage). Apraxia is caused by damage to the parts of the brain that control coordinated muscle movements, such as a