Photo by Emma Delk WLU Director of Clinical Education in Speech-Language Pathology Carol Zombotti, left, paints a picture of a car on the new device with WLU Speech-Language Pathologist Sara Alig, right.

WHEELING — Speech therapy and dementia patients at the West Liberty University Speech & Hearing and Behavioral Health Clinic are playing whack-a-mole, planting gardens and more for treatment using an innovative new rehabilitation device.

The Tovartafel device, which means “magic table” in Dutch, allows patients to perform these activities using light projections and infrared sensors that detect real-time gestures to track hand and foot movements.

The innovative device is the first of its kind in the state, with WLU obtaining the system through a grant from the Milan Puskar Foundation.

The machine performs treatment by projecting different therapy games onto any 6-foot table, and the device’s projection is also transferable to the floor. Using the games projected, WLU Speech & Hearing and Behavioral Health Clinic professors and students can treat speech disorders and dementia patients.

Carol Zombotti, WLU’s director of clinical education in speech-language pathology, explained the device serves as a rehabilitation tool for speech sound disorders, language-based learning disorders and social communication deficits.

Though the device has only been installed at the clinic for a week, Zombotti and WLU Speech-Language Pathologist Sara Alig have already seen benefits in patients across the age spectrum.

“Before we had this machine, sometimes we’d just roll a golf ball on the tabletop, so even if the patients can’t talk, it’s easy to catch the ball and keep going,” Alig said. “That gets the brain going to build a connection with someone else. Now we can do that same ball-rolling activity and much more with the Tovartafel.”

Alig noted the machine is particularly helpful for dementia patients in the later stages of the disease. They can receive the “visual stimulatory piece” needed during treatment through the table. She explained that simulating activities on the machine, such as planting a garden, is also helpful in preventing cognitive decline in dementia patients.

Some games, such as beach-ball passing, encourage movement in dementia patients, while other activities, such as silverware polishing and sorting, encourage more advanced “categorization and task orientation,” according to Alig.

Less movement-oriented games, including a painting activity, also provide dementia patients with an outlet to relax.

“We had an Alzheimer’s patient in a later stage of the disease who was acting up and was very upset,” Alig said. “When she came in and started playing with the table, her demeanor completely changed. She calmed down while using the device, and that reaction was one of the most impactful things I’ve seen happen so far.”

Apart from its benefits for older dementia patients, the device has also proved helpful for younger speech therapy patients at the clinic. Zombotti explained that one game that has been beneficial for younger patients is an activity in which a player has to match the sound of a farm animal to a projection of the animal.

“We have a student in our clinic that has some difficulty discriminating different sounds, so the farm animal game helped her figure out which sounds she was hearing,” Zombotti said. “The same little girl also has some difficulty with memory issues, so there are other memory-matching games that we play with her.”

Apart from being beneficial during one-on-one therapy, the Tovartafel has also been utilized during the WLU Speech and Hearing Clinic’s dementia support group to promote social communication, promote physical activity and build a cognitive reserve.

“We’ve had one lady in our adult group that has had some pretty significant brain change going on, and she enjoys gardening and farming,” Zombotti said. “While working with her, we’ve incorporated farming and gardening-related activities that help relate to her.”

WLU Speech & Hearing and Behavioral Health Clinic graduate student Emma Hershman noted the device has become a popular activity for her adult patients. She explained that it adds a much-needed break from the speech workbooks that her patients work on during a session.

“After we did a fly-swatting activity and a memory game, my patients’ moods changed entirely,” Hershman said. “I’ve never seen them smile so much, and now they ask when they can use the device all the time.”

The device has been well-used in its first week at the facility, with Alig noting there was a “quicker turnaround” while reaching patients’ goals using the Tovartafel.

Zombotti added that as the field of speech therapy has evolved, providing patients with activities other than “saying their S’s and R’s” has become an important aspect of treatment.

“Anytime you tap into other modalities of communication, there’s just this whole different element to the way that you can achieve goals during your therapy session,” Alig said. “It’s a different form of therapy compared to using a workbook when you can tell patients, ‘Okay, here’s a functional activity where you can plant tomatoes.'”

Zombotti and Alig encourage anyone in the area interested in the device and in need of low-cost dementia treatment or speech therapy to contact the WLU Speech & Hearing and Behavioral Health Clinic at 304-336-8199. The clinic also hosts a free chronic brain changes support group for patients and their caregivers on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 4 p.m. at the First Christian Church on National Road.