After a life-altering car accident, Overland Park resident Noah Weaver faced a daunting challenge: regaining his ability to speak. His journey through recovery has led to the creation of “Word Whizzes,” an innovative card game designed to enhance speech and diction skills for individuals of all ages and abilities.
Word Whizzes isn’t just another card game; it’s a carefully crafted tool born from personal experience. Each card features tongue-twisting phrases, acting as verbal exercises to strengthen the crucial connection between the mind and mouth. For Weaver, this connection was severely disrupted following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained in the car wreck.
“The crash was so severe, they weren’t sure I’d survive,” Weaver recounts. The TBI robbed him of his voice and significantly impaired his motor skills. He vividly remembers the frustration: “I knew exactly what word I wanted to say, the knowledge was there in my brain, but the words simply wouldn’t come out.”
Rachel Lindstedt, Weaver’s speech language therapist, played a pivotal role in his rehabilitation. She explains Weaver’s initial difficulties: “He struggled with the motor planning necessary to accurately and precisely produce the movements for speech. It was challenging for him to articulate everything he intended to say.”
Lindstedt incorporated specific techniques to aid Weaver’s recovery. “One key area we focused on was his pronunciation and diction,” Weaver explains. “Rachel had me practice classic tongue twisters as a way to improve these skills.”
It was during these tongue twister exercises that inspiration struck. Weaver realized the potential for gamification. “I thought, ‘I could turn this into a game! That would be really cool… and we could make it fun’,” he recalls.
Driven by this idea, Weaver began writing his own tongue twisters, not only as part of his ongoing therapy but also to create a resource for others on their speech development journeys. Word Whizzes emerged as a valuable tool for parents, educators, and speech therapists alike. It’s a game designed by someone who intimately understands the challenges of losing one’s voice.
Lindstedt emphasizes the positive impact of Weaver’s creation: “He’s taken his own traumatic, life-altering experience and transformed it into something incredibly positive and helpful for others.”
Word Whizzes offers benefits for a wide range of individuals. It can assist children in honing their enunciation, support adults recovering from speech impairments, and provide engaging practice for anyone looking to improve their clarity of speech. Weaver’s journey has culminated in a game that not only aided his own recovery but also promises to empower countless others to find and strengthen their voices.
For those interested in learning more about Word Whizzes, you can reach out to [email protected].
