Bruce - My husband, Dick (52/15) went through the Silverman program at the
University of Kansas Medical Center this spring. The program was very
intense - four days a week for a month, plus 30 minutes of practice at home
every day - but well worthwhile. Most people didn't notice that it was his
voice that was better - everyone thought his general health, Parkinson's,
etc., had suddenly made a remarkable improvement.
He still has to practice - if he doesn't, he loses ground and becomes
hard to hear/understand again - and he goes back once a month for a checkup.
Of course, we have neighbors who now wonder about us - I'm sure hearing
him shout "Shut up!". "Go away!", "Stop that!" several times a day made them
wonder if I was beating him - but if he continues to practice, he can be
assured that if I do ever decide to knock some sense into him, he can yell
for help and count on being heard.
We highly recommend the Silverman program, and wonder why more
Parkinson's specialists don't routinely recommend it to their patients. We
had to ask about it, and only learned about the Silverman program because
people at Kansas State University asked to be allowed to test patients'
speech following pallidal implants (deep brain stimulation). Dick was
positive he could NOT speak any louder until the speech people insisted on
more effort during testing. That's when he learned the sound was in there -
he just had to work harder than he used to in order to get it out, and to
practice using his voice more.
Good luck finding someone in your area who can help. Sincerely, Margie
Swindler
