A new device has been developed that helps cerebral palsy patients struggling to speak find their voice. The device is called VitalStim and it is a small electrical current that contracts facial muscles in order to strengthen them. Patients use the VitalStim device three times a week for about an hour, in combination with speech therapy. “The more we can eat and swallow and practice that movement while we’ve got those electrodes on, the better results you’ll see,” Polly Bohannon, M.S., C.C.C.-S.L.P., a speech language pathologist at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in Tallahassee, Florida.

For Jude Countryman and his family, they have already noticed the benefits of VitalStim. Jude has cerebral palsy and during his birth his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, damaging nerves that control his mouth and tongue. His parents couldn’t be happier with Jude’s progress and even a little progress means everything. “I realized when he was talking at one point that something was different about his face, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was at first, but then I realized his upper lip was moving when he was talking,” said Jude’s mother, Erin Belieu. “I was just like, ‘Wow!’” VitalStim is FDA-approved to use on kids and infants.