Henri started me with the simplest of exercises, Matching Beginning Sounds......more like child's play, but it wasn't that easy for me, even though I could get them all correct.
Then after that came recognizing words and pronouncing them, then using words in sentences and learning to spell them. I had to relearn the days of the week and the months of the year. At the same time I was learning to tell time again, to recognize numbers and be able to say them, to count, and to add, subtract, multiply and divide. It would be a poor speech time if I were tired or frustrated. I needed a nap every day.
It became my practice on car trips to read the numbers on a license plate as the car passed us, and to read signs on the sides of the highway while Jack drove along.
“Slippery when wet”,
“Ice on bridge”,
“Speed Limit 65”,
“Exit 119” (some signs had both words and numbers).
When I would take my recuperative walks on the golf course, I would practice counting to myself in rhythm with my steps: 26, 27 28, 29........ but I would have to pause while I tried to think what came next. Finally, I would think of 30.......31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39....... and again my thinking would be so slow. I would walk many steps while trying to think of 40. And I had to go through the same with 50, 60, 70, 80, 90.
I wanted so badly to be able to read to my grandchildren. They were only children; they wouldn't care about my speaking being not perfect. So they chose one of their favorite little books, My Little Red Bicycle and we cuddled up on the sofa together. I found I couldn't read with any expression in my voice because I was having such a hard time just trying to read the word itself and my words were so dragged out I was not able to hold their interest. They soon got restless and one by one they climbed down. I ended up on the sofa by myself.
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