Chess as Speech Therapy

From an interesting story about a Michigan father who decided to use chess as a means for addressing his son's speech disability (the original article is no longer available on the web):

As a young child, Ben was diagnosed with speech dyspraxia, which made it difficult for him to speak like his peers. Often his sentences would come out rushed and jumbled.

"They wanted to put him in special ed classes, but I knew that he was highly intelligent," Scott Ploehn said. "He was in speech therapy. It's just that he had to really plan out what he was going to say before he said it."

Ploehn and his wife, Kris, began looking into ways to help Ben deal with his dyspraxia - and that's when Ploehn thought of chess.

"I had played since I was in fourth grade and knew it took a lot of concentration and forethought," he said. "And Ben just took to chess right away. He just really had the mind for it."

Ploehn said chess helped Ben remarkably, and he quickly showed a talent for the game.

The added benefits of chess training

From "Trial lawyer sees parallels in chess and litigation" at the Rocky Mountain (CO) News:

In 2001, I started teaching Robert Abrams chess. At that time, he was the successful founder of both Denver Stone and Tile and Muscle Builders, a land-development company.

Professionally, Abrams had a lifetime dream of becoming a trial lawyer.

He eagerly talks about "the chess thinking process" as a key element in completing the University of Denver's four-year night program in 2 1/2 years and immediately passing the Bar Exam. Today he is a trial lawyer at Cristiano Law, specializing in commercial litigation.

Abrams attributes passing the bar exam on his first attempt to his chess training. He says, "Todd's training in logical thinking, while under time pressure, is the reason I passed the bar. Just like in chess, there is only a limited amount of time to complete this complicated test. One must determine the candidate moves, not analyze all the possibilities, and always, always see the big picture. You cannot answer every question correctly, so why try? Pick your battles and prevail!"

Perhaps the ICC should offer a Bar Exam preparation course built around sessions of blitz!?

Chess more challenging than watching TV

It may only be one piece of anecdotal evidence but I'm sure the long-term double-blind studies will show that it is true:

"I like to think out of the box," said Mastin as she gazed over the chess board looking for her next move. "It challenges me more than sitting around watching T.V."

Read "Mates check-in at school chess club" from the Henry (County, GA) Daily Herald.

"He taught me chess and saved my life"

Orrin C. Hudson has been traveling the country teaching children love, honesty, respect, responsibility and patience all by playing a simple game of chess.

Hudson was an Alabama State Trooper who saw one too many kids killed. He finally turned in his gun and badge and examined ways he could make a difference. Rather than deal with the effects of bad choices, he decided he needed to teach children to make the right ones from the beginning. He wanted to do something that would encourage children to do something positive with their lives instead of doing nothing at all.

Read "Chess Prepares for the Game of Life" from the Cedar City Review.

A chess miracle

Here is a feel-good story from Down East courtesy of the Portsmouth Herald:

The game of chess has brought about a miracle in one mother’s child. A year ago, 13-year-old Jon Rousseau was uncomfortable in public. But on Saturday, Jon managed the first Turkey Quad chess tournament ...

Jon’s mother, Cynthia Rousseau, said that since her son began playing chess in the club, his social and intellectual capacities have shot from "zero to 100 percent."