news-record.com

ASHEVILLE — Gabrielle Giffords may be resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives, but her Asheville speech pathologist says, "You haven't heard the last of her yet."

Nancy Helm-Estabrooks, an expert in neurological disorders from Western Carolina University, has worked with Giffords in Houston and Asheville, and she will travel to Tucson in March to help the Arizona congresswoman recover from a gunshot wound just over a year ago.

"I know that she probably is already formulating plans for what she's going to do next," Helm-Estabrooks said.

On Tuesday night, during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, Giffords appeared with her congressional colleagues, and her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, sat with first lady Michelle Obama. Earlier this week, Giffords had announced her resignation so she can focus on getting well.

"This is the right decision for her," said Helm-Estabrooks. "I just wrote to Mark and said, 'I'm looking forward to her next chapter. You may have a second book.' "

Kelly's first book, "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," describes his wife's struggle to regain speech and movement after she was shot Jan. 8, 2011, by a gunman during a gathering of constituents. Six people were killed and 13 were injured.

Five months after the shooting, Kelly contacted Helm-Estabrooks, who had been recommended for her specialization in patients with aphasia, a condition that makes it difficult to speak and form sentences.

For much of her career, Helm-Estabrooks, 71, was associated with the Aphasia Research Center at Boston University. She has written seven books, including the "Manual of Aphasia and Aphasia Therapy."

Helm-Estabrooks agreed to work with Giffords for free. Their first meeting was last summer in Houston. They were scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., but Kelly called to say Giffords, recently released from the hospital, wanted to start at 9:30.

On questions about events that had taken place since the shooting, Giffords "knew everything," Helm-Estabrooks said.

When shown a photo of Michele Bachmann, who had announced her bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Giffords said "tea party" and "running for president." A picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger prompted her to say: "Messin' around. Babies" in reference to his extramarital affair.

In late October, Giffords, 41, traveled to Asheville for 10 days of intense therapy with Helm-Estabrooks and a colleague, Marjorie Nicholas from the Boston aphasia center.

Giffords stayed in N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue's western residence, just minutes from downtown Asheville. She was accompanied by three Capitol police for security.

As part of therapy, the speech pathologists asked Giffords to read menus online. Then they took her to restaurants so she could order lunch.

"People were recognizing her," Helm-Estabrooks said. "But nobody was hassling her. She was getting thumbs up, 'Keep it up,' and stuff like that."

Helm-Estabrooks said Giffords is more high-functioning than some patients with aphasia, which is common among brain injury patients.

"I have seen many people with such severe aphasia, they really don't understand. They can't speak. They don't read or write," she said.

"Gabby's understanding of language is relatively spared. She watches movies. She watches the news."

Although Giffords can't form long sentences, she does use "high information words," nouns and adjectives that convey meaning. "It's the grammar that helps you form full sentences that has been the struggle for her," Helm-Estabrooks said.

Recently, Giffords has begun using small sentences and started asking questions.

"Mark told me last week, 'I feel now I can almost carry on a conversation with her,' " Helm-Estabrooks said.

"I don't give false hope, and I'm pretty realistic in what I say about people with aphasia," Helm-Estabrooks said, "but I have no doubt she's going to continue to recover and recover and recover....

"She is very smart, very dedicated and incredibly personable. She's got many different talents. ... It comes down to what she wants to do."