Rubik's Cube? Should be feasible to manipulate with only one hand.
Not so much, I wouldn't think. You ever tried playing with a Cube onehanded?
to wit, although obviously books and reading are closely linked.
Have they tried to get him a Wii? Some of that stuff is very simple and one-haned. Otherwise, you'd think the rehab people would have an idea.
I was thinking a pad and some markers, colored pencils, something might be an idea -- the downside is that the hand that's working is his left hand and he's not left handed. So while he's got one working hand, anything requiring too much dexterity is going to be frustrating.
Although, I suppose if the other side doesn't come back, he's going to need to develop left-handed dexterity.
If he's not already much for drawing, the necessary dexterity will have to be learned, and the nice thing about the DoTRSoTB is that it involves unlearning and relearning a lot of shit anyhow -- things like contour drawings where you don't look at what you're drawing tend to be sort of novel even with your dominant hand. That said, it's not like you're going to be his art teacher.
In terms of art supplies, for pure dynamism and fun I think charcoal might be the right way to go.
ipad, with a good go game; I like smartgo Kifu.
I think I've mentioned that my dad was paralyzed on one side by a stroke and I'm trying to recall anything useful, but that was probably different because dad was never unable to read or write. Basically, he occupied himself with regaining strength. My sympathies for the family.
Anything interesting you remember about getting strength back? He's at least got some sensation on the bad side, and some movement although it's not clear how much is voluntary.
Harmonica or xylophone?
Sudoku? I don't know if numbers are "verbal" in the relevant sense. If he can understand what people say then I am not sure in exactly what sense his pastime has to be "totally nonverbal."
I'm wondering if I'd be bored under those circumstances. Like, the mental toll to regrow connections may be pretty exhausting, and leave him sleeping/vegging out with the TV when not trying to interact with people or do rehab. Bedrest is horrifyingly boring, but this isn't exactly bedrest.
I still think it's a good idea to provide these things - if they're available now and he's not up for it, they'll still be sitting around in a few months when he is.
10: I don't remember the early phases when he was inpatient. I wasn't able to see that much anyway. They basically had a PT going up and down the hall with him until he could walk ten yards with a cane. That got him to outpatient treatment. After he got home, they'd have him doing a set of exercises that involved mostly being able to lift his foot (using rubber straps as resistance once he could move the foot with no weight on it) and regaining control of his fingers by fiddling with various things that looked like squeeze toys for a baby. The big muscles were less of an issue in that they came back without repeated practice. Really, it is an area where the rehab people should be giving specific advice for him. The PTs knew what they were doing and worked him for hours each day.
Was he a games person? Although a partner would help, things like chess, go, reversi/Othello have lots and lots of interesting solitaire puzzles and challenges (and at some point I would assume getting online would be a possibility--and of course that opens up all manner of online games and puzzles that could be navigated one-handed).
As suggested above, drawing, painting. Maybe a poseable artist's manikin or two would be fun for him to manipulate, pose and sketch. Maybe some clay or Smart Mass putty to play with? A chess/checkers/Go/Chinese checkers board and pieces?
A lot of computer stuff just needs a mouse. Perhaps using the TV as a computer screen with some simple mouse based computer games would be diverting. However if he really can't read that is limiting.
It seems likely the doctors know more about his condition and prognosis than a lay person could figure out from a visit. Not sure how much they would be willing to tell you however.
I don't know how much online stuff would work for someone who can't read. I would think that the therapists would have any number of ideas. I'd ask them for suggestions.
If something nonverbal is called for: perhaps clay? Modeling clay. You could do quite a bit one-handed, work on dexterity, and amuse yourself by making all kinds of things which you then smash down and start over again.
You wouldn't want to make him feel like he's being treated like a child, though.
I gather this was in the past few days. If that is right, it is probably a good idea to wait a bit before doing more than visiting and offering support to the family.
A kush ball might be fun to play with or destress with. One of those squishy stress balls?
As an actual activity, an ipad with a drawing program seems potentially useful.
Good luck to him and his family, and to you and his other friends.
A joy-stick in the form of a gun and an XBox might do a world of good. It's typically the type of thing people that are sick don't get because people are too busy caring to go for the baser desires (yes, and those too!).
As his chances basically are determined by training this brain into working again, why not start at the base i.s.o. going for gold with all that serious stuff.
I have never felt that bad but whenever I feel bad this is the type of things that get me in a less worse place.
Music, music, music. Harmonica is a good idea -- I think that's probably one of the instruments you can go pretty far on with just one hand. An electronic keyboard. One of those Casios that lets you follow lights to learn a melody to learn it could be fun, but he might be able to learn a whole sequencer setup, connected to a computer. Many programs (I'm thinking of demo versions of Ableton Live) are highly graphic -- depending on his tolerance for puzzles, he might be able to teach himself a program without recourse to the manual. Garageband with a good keyboard controller, e.g.
My father had a stroke but his recovery pattern won't be much use in this case as he had so many other complications. Whoever said above that recovery is exhausting is right - he actually needed a fair bit of passive entertainment. We used to read the newspaper out to him and he listened to the radio a lot.
This guy has written a bit about his stroke:
http://www.deselbybowen.com/parlando/category/stuff/recovery/
If your friend by any chance speaks a second language which he learned in later childhood or after, he may have better prospects of getting back ability in that, since a slighly different part of the brain is involved.
A videogames console, maybe. It's possible to work out how to play most games with one hand (so a disabled one-handed gamer once told me) and would be a brain-stimulating challenge.
(I know Moby mentioned the Wii above but it wouldn't have to be a Wii.)
When my dad first got parkinsons, it affected his writing hand first -- so he patiently taught himself to write with the other hand, though he never really relearnt to draw. This was already his temperament -- he once taught himself serbo-croat to read a series of untranslated geological papers -- but as absorbing and possibly therapeutic problem-solving goes, I think he enjoyed the challenge.
Thanks for the suggestions, and for 24.last which is encouraging -- he learned English late enough that he's got a heavy accent, so he's got that working for him.
And everyone who says that his therapists should know is, of course, right. The place he's in is great; I'm not sure what his insurance situation is exactly but it's covering a very good rehab place. I'm partially borrowing trouble for whenever they send him home.
One area to explore might be wordless/word-light comic books. The only thing that pops to mind immediately is Lewis Trondheim, but there must be many other options I'm blanking on.
I second the art books/graphic novels idea Nice gifts and would probably be entertaining too. Shaun Tan's The Arrival has no words, and things like Asterix or TinTin you can follow the story even if you can't read all the text.
Does he take pictures? That might be sort of depressing now, but could still help him get a new view of things. My quadriplegic friend was a great photographer and had to do everything via a mouth-controlled computer, but he'd also been an amazing photographer before his accident.
Yeah, The Arrival might well be a good choice. Well worth reading regardless.
What about toys like blocks? One can buy sets to build the Eiffel Tower and stuff like that, but even if one can't or won't follow such instructions, blocks are fun to play with.
33: "also, looking for something that won't seem insulting to an adult"
Yeah, that's a fine line. If you look at the two things I linked in the post, I was thinking blocks as well, just trying to come up with something that had an 'executive desk toy' rather than a 'toddler' feel to them.
The other thing with my dad, especially once parkinsons and age had started to impact on his eyesight -- he found it hard to focus for any length of time -- was reading to him: eloquent books about his intellectual passions, which were the natural history of plants and the sociology of gardens. As he was a shy man, and I am very bad at finding topics for chat, this was a perfect way to spend time with him.
These aren't so mentally involved, but what about something tactile for soothing or stimming. I keep chestnuts at my desk, but don't they also have meditation balls that you can palm and rotate? Not so much for brain re-development, but possibly restful. I assume you already thought of music? Good stuff, that someone with hours to kill could get immersed in?
I've recently taken up reading to people. It isn't an intuitive thing to do. It feels condescending at first. But it is great! It was perfect for travel downtime with an adult friend, and my teenage sibs are still surprisingly up for it.
all the grownups in my family really like Haba blocks (the thematic sets, like this)- I can't tell if they're supposed to be for kids or adults, and I also don't know if they would be fun to do alone.
Reading to him I'm not sure about -- when I say he seems to understand what people say to him, I'm not dead sure how much. He's definitely participating in conversations appropriately based on tone of voice, and he's definitely understanding at least some words, but it's not as if he's successfully miming appropriately to convey his half of a conversation; he can't, e.g., answer a yes-or-no question with a nod or a shake.
So reading might be a pleasant way to have a voice to listen to, but I'm not sure that a story would come across.
Talked to his wife, and asked if he ever played checkers -- he did, and she's going to get a set and give it a shot. It came to mind as a decently high-level game with zero symbolic content to have gotten lost (go would also have been good, except that I'd bet serious money that it would be totally unfamiliar.)
. If you look at the two things I linked in the post, I was thinking blocks as well, just trying to come up with something that had an 'executive desk toy' rather than a 'toddler' feel to them
Well I'm ostensibly an adult, and not that long ago I bought for myself one of those magnetic pseudo-construction kits that consists of balls and rods (no sniggering). So that might be an idea.
Ooh, Magnetix. That's a good call, I used to fight the kids for theirs.
Or maybe magnetic tiles on a board -- the ball&rod sets might be hard with one hand and limited mobility, I could see a lot of dropping and being unable to recover bits. But I think I'll get a set of the tiles for him.
I don't know if it's coming across, but I'm completely freaked out by his condition. He looks horrifying -- they took out a third of his skull to give his brain room to swell, and haven't put it back yet (apparently it was surgically implanted in his abdomen to stay alive, and they'll put it back in a month or two), so half his head is completely caved in. And there's no knowing if he'll ever talk again, much less walk or use his right hand.
But he recognized the four of us, and he's still very clearly the same guy in there somewhere. The most reassuring thing about the visit was a few minutes after we came, an aide came in and he cleared some stuff off a chair for her with his good hand and waved her to sit down; it was a completely normal, in-character social interaction.
I don't know if it's coming across, but I'm completely freaked out by his condition.
I was guessing this, since this post reads like you're grasping at ways to help, (if you don't mind being psychoanalyzed.)
That skull-open part didn't come across. Poor guy.
Poor LB, too, since this stuff is sad and scary to be around. I hope this is as bad as it gets for him.
I left out being compassionate in 46 - I'm sorry about your friend. It sounds completely awful.
The most reassuring thing about the visit was a few minutes after we came, an aide came in and he cleared some stuff off a chair for her with his good hand and waved her to sit down; it was a completely normal, in-character social interaction
Given what you wrote before, that sounds kind of amazing.
50: It was weird. Body language, tone of voice, facial expressions are all perfectly normal (or, within the range of normal you'd expect for someone who's sick, and given that only one arm is working. Both halves of his face are mobile -- I don't know if that's a good sign or not important.) His articulation is perfectly clear, he's not mumbling or anything, he's just perseverating on a couple of sets of syllables, repeated in the intonation of whatever would be a normal response to the last thing that was said.
Being in a room with him, the strong impression was that he was still the same personality, somewhat confused but basically the same intelligence and social capacity, but without any productive language, and I'm not sure how much receptive language. (That was hard to tell -- the few words I'm sure he got were when we were talking about when he'd be able to eat again, and he showed us his feeding tube at the point in the conversation where it made sense. Most of everything else could have been responding to our tone and body-language.)
This all sounds reasonably good one month after the stroke. With the caveat that aphasia is complicated. I would think the mobility on both sides of the face is really good sign.
so half his head is completely caved in
My father had that and it is kind of freaky looking, especially as the hair grows back to normal length. We got used to it but it was hard on visitors.
That skull-open part didn't come across.
I'd think you of all people would have picked up on the pun in the post title.
My deep sympathies; my Grandmother had a stroke and it's just a fantastically awful experience for everyone involved, of course mostly for the victim but also for the friends and family who lose the ability to communicate while knowing, at some level, that the person is available to be communicated with if you could somehow just do it right. Thoughts headed your way and your friend's way.
I say, from a position of very dubious authority, that it's unlikely that he understands any words right now. My father, a physician, used to say when dealing with aphasics that the families drove him crazy. They'd say, "He still understands some stuff!" And then they'd do something where their body language clearly indicated an appropriate response. And the patient would do the response. And my father would be like, "Yeah, his disability has nothing to do with reading body language."
The sort of cool thing about aphasia, though, is that it is so specific. He could probably play Minesweeper, in terms of low-dexterity games, even if he can't read the numbers, as long as he can remember the color/number combinations. (And that's probably a reasonable game for building some left-handed dexterity and also providing some kind of outlet for rational thought. It might also (I'm now like a hundred miles from any actual knowledge or expertise that I might have) help him re-associate the numerals with the concept of the appropriate number).
Blocks are awesome, but what about a book of mazes and labyrinths to work through? I used to spend hours with those when I was a kid, but I don't think of mazes as the exclusive province of childhood.
55.1: Mmmmmaybe. I was thinking along those lines, but he did very clearly show us his abdominal feeding tube when we were asking his wife what he was eating. Everything else could have been Clever Hans, but that looked convincing. But I could be indulging in wishful thinking.
Oh, I never said the other hopeful thing -- he said a couple of appropriate words last week, and then they went away again. Another visitor said as they left that they'd be back the next day, and he said "Lunes? Martes?" And then no more, but if he got a few words out once, that suggests that he's got a real shot at getting more back.
But that's a report from his wife, not anything I was in the room for.
In the vein of both blocks and tangrams, Katamino is a good solitaire puzzle. I don't know if it's marketed for kids but IME the adults monopolize it. It has lots of levels, so if there are cognitive or sheer tiredness issues he can use it at the simpler levels now and move up in complexity.
60: Looks like very much the sort of thing.
apparently it was surgically implanted in his abdomen to stay alive, and they'll put it back in a month or two
This sounds like a plot from House.
I don't really mean to be flip, but aagh. Thank god there are people who, unlike me, don't want to curl up into a whimpering ball at the very thought of taking a scalpel to skin, never mind figuring out things like this.
I have a good friend who had a traumatic brain injury about 6 years ago, and when she woke up could understand but not produce English. She could produce (and understand) ASL. Nobody ever figured out if that was because it was a second language, or because the motor skills were different, or whatever, but she definitely could understand far more than it looked like from her English output.
Brains are pretty fascinating, and everybody's is different, but language output doesn't necessarily match understanding after trauma.
So reading might be a pleasant way to have a voice to listen to, but I'm not sure that a story would come across.
Oh then my response would be: do it. Gives him the pleasure of some sort of connection, even if he's not understanding, give you something to do so you're not freaking out too much from the awkwardness of extended contact without any ability to communicate. At worst it's like you're humming to him or something.
National Geographic, or some other magazine that has pictures?
Also, maybe this is not a good idea, but a laser pointer can be a fun toy. I think the red ones are pretty safe!
he's just perseverating on a couple of sets of syllables, repeated in the intonation of whatever would be a normal response to the last thing that was said
That sounds like pretty classic expression/production aphasia. Given his apparent high level of function otherwise, I'd have to disagree with Epoch and guess that chances are his comprehension is mostly or entirely intact.
he's just perseverating on a couple of sets of syllables, repeated in the intonation of whatever would be a normal response to the last thing that was said
That sounds like pretty classic expression/production aphasia. Given his apparent high level of function otherwise, I'd have to disagree with Epoch and guess that chances are his comprehension is mostly or entirely intact.