Page Utilities
Carolyn Rocchio, Lash and Associates Publishing (page 2 of 2) Page 2 of 2
Tim's outpatient speech pathology sessions were going well. For speech therapy he returned to the local hospital where he had been admitted right after the car crash. Anita Zatz, Director of Speech Services, who had evaluated and worked with him before he went to Craig Hospital, continued his speech program upon his return. Completing a session one day, he and Anita emerged from her office laughing and Tim seemed particularly pleased with himself as if he had achieved something special.
Together they shared the reason for their mirth. While using a standard speech/language workbook in which the patient had to correctly identify various analogous words, Tim adamantly said the book was wrong. Anita agreed that there was an error in the workbook and Tim decided they should write the author to alert her to the mistake. With Anita's help, Tim composed a letter to the author.
Several weeks later the author's response arrived. In a stiff formal letter she thanked him for pointing out the error and assured him that it would be corrected in the next printing. However, she failed to get the point. Anita and I were pleased that Tim was cognitively capable of recognizing the error and thought it proper to notify the author. However, we were disappointed that the author did not use the opportunity to acknowledge Tim with a more personalized response. She was a recognized author in the field of brain injury and could have made a positive impact on a young man at a time when he was questioning his own abilities. So often persons with brain injury feel “dumb” and inappropriately think of themselves as retarded. What a missed opportunity.
Excerpted from Ketchup on the Baseboard by Carolyn Rocchio, published by Lash and Associates Publishing/Training, Inc. Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved. www.lapublishing.com.
Carolyn Rocchio is a nationally recognized advocate, author, and speaker in the field of brain injury. Her expertise in brain injury developed as a result of a 1982 auto crash in which her son sustained a severe traumatic brain injury.
She is the author of Ketchup on the Baseboard: Rebuilding Life After Brain Injury and is the founder of the Brain Injury Association of Florida.
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