RESUMO
The inability to communicate personal needs, feelings, and ideas is a frustrating barrier for nonverbal patients with severe physical disabilities. It hampers the physician-patient relationship and medical services. This problem has been diminished with the use of a new communication board for patients with brain stem involvement. The communication board display is comprised of 36 squares in a 6 X 6 matrix. The alphabet is arranged in this matrix according to the normal sequence, and each row begins with a vowel. Selection of a desired alphabet letter is done by naming the vowels vertically until the appropriate row is reached, then the individual consonants horizontally until the proper one is indicated by the patient. With this new arrangement, the patient, attendant, or staff can memorize and functionally use the new communication board in a few minutes.
