Learning To Speak All Over Again

Eunice Bustillo sometimes struggles with the same words as her 6-year-old son.

A month after her 40th birthday, Eunice had a stroke and suffered aphasia — a condition that left her unable to speak, CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reports.

"It was very, very very depressing," she says. "I didn't want my son to see me."

Her son, John Dylan, says he was scared when his mother was in the hospital.

"I thought she was going to die," he says.

Aphasia occurs when a blood vessel in the brain gets blocked or bursts, damaging the cells that control communication and speech.

How hard was it for her not to find the words to comfort her family?

"It was very frustrating," Eunice said. "The saddest thing for me was not to read to my son."

A year later, she was still unable to utter simple words. A speech therapist told Eunice that she couldn't benefit from more therapy. In other words, her dreams of reading to her son should be shelved.

"I cried," Eunice says

Tears formed the words Eunice couldn't express. Then, she found her voice again.

It happened at the Adler Aphasia Center in Maywood, N.J. The center is at the forefront of a new movement for longer-term therapy for aphasia patients.

"Many of our members were told when they were discharged that they would never get any better — that they had plateaued," said Karen Tucker, the center's executive director.

Many doctors tell patients after a year of therapy they won't get any better. So most insurance companies won't cover long-term programs. Adler offers its services for just $15 a week, so they can keep practicing for as long as it takes.

They believe progress can be made well past the one-year mark.

For Ken Albrecht, that progress has been happening one syllable at time. He is forming sentences so he can shape policy. He's a borough councilman from New Jersey who was re-elected even after his stroke.

"We are here demonstrating every day that long-term rehabilitation and recovery is possible if it happens over a lifetime," Tucker says.

Bustillo now volunteers at the center, inspiring patients during the day — and an audience of one, her son, every night.