National Television
Dr. Empress Zedler appeared on NBC's Today show in November 1958 and talked about the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic on national television. Two nine-year-old children who received treatment in the clinic accompanied her to New York to help demonstrate speech therapy techniques. Zedler discussed aphasia, which at the time was a blanket term used to describe all language disorders. Additionally, she described some of the treatments provided by the clinic.
The short video above shows the teleprompter roll used by Jack Lescoulie, a television announcer and interviewer on NBC's Today in 1958. Dr. Zedler likely received the roll as a souvenir from her television appearance.
Through the efforts of the Alkek Library's digital lab, viewers watching this video can see an approximation of how the teleprompter would have appeared to Mr. Lescoulie and the program's host, Dave Garroway. The full text of the teleprompter roll appears below.
EIGHT FORTY-NINE
APHASIC CHILD
JACK
THESE CHILDREN ARE
PLAYING A WORD GAME.
BUT THIS IS A UNIQUE
WORD GAME. BY PLAYING
IT, THEY HELP EACH OTHER
OVERCOME LANGUAGE
HANDICAPS… CAUSED BY
APHASIA.
APHASIA IS A FORM OF
BRAIN DAMAGE. BOTH
CHILDREN HAVE
INTELLIGENCE LEVELS FAR
ABOVE AVERAGE. HOWEVER,
THE BOY… LARRY SUMMERS
OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS…
HADN’T YET LEARNED TO
READ OR WRITE FOUR
MONTHS AGO, EVEN THOUGH
HE IS TEN YEARS OLD.
THE GIRL… NINE-YEAROLD
CONNIE DOLSCH, ALSO
OF SAN ANTONIO… HADN’T
LEARNED TO SPEAK BY THE
TIME SHE WAS SIX.
WITH THEM IS DR. EMPRESS
ZEDLER, OF SOUTHWEST
TEXAS STATE COLLEGE…
WHERE THESE CHILDREN
HAVE BEEN LEARNING TO
OVERCOME THEIR HANDICAPS
… TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT
EVEN DOCTORS ONCE
THOUGHT THEY NEVER COULD.
THOSE BOXES YOU SEE ARE
‘WORD BOXES’ THEY USE IN
THEIR TRAINING AT THE
COLLEGE’S SPECIAL
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT.
LET’S SEE JUST WHAT
THEY ARE DOING…
INTO WORD BOX DEMO
JACK
HOW DO YOU DETERMINE THAT
A CHILD HAS APHASIA,
DR. ZEDLER?
BRIEF EXPLANATION
JACK
TO AUD.
INCIDENTALLY, DR. ZEDLER
TOLD ME IT’S BETTER TO
HAVE THE CHILDREN KNOW
THEIR PROBLEMS AND
DISCUSS IT FREELY
BEFORE THEM THAN TRY TO
HIDE IT.
TO HER
WHAT WOULD YOU ADVISE A
MOTHER OF A CHILD WITH A
LANGUAGE HANDICAP TO DO?
BRIEFLY… SHE SHOULD
ASK DOCTOR FOR NAME
OF CERTIFIED SPEECH
PATHOLOGIST
JACK
WITH AN ESTIMATED 500
THOUSAND APHASIC CHILDREN
IN THIS COUNTRY, WHAT IS
THE GREATEST NEED TODAY,
DR. ZEDLER?
AD LIB RE NEED FOR
MORE TEACHERS AND
MONEY TO TRAIN, ETC.
TELL ABOUT SPECIAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION
FORTY SECS.
JACK
THANK YOU, DR. ZEDLER.
AND THANK YOU TWO
WONDERFUL CHILDREN…
CONNIE DOLSCH AND LARRY
SUMMERS… FOR FLYING
ALL THE WAY UP HERE TO
NEW YORK TO SHOW THE
WORLD THAT SOMETHING CAN
BE DONE AND IS BEING DONE
TO HELP APHASIC CHILDREN
LEARN TO DO ANYTHING ANY
CHILD CAN DO.