Shot US Congresswoman Giffords re-learning to speak, lip-syncs “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

WASHINGTON - Democratic Party Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head at close range at a constituent event in Tucson last month, appears to be staring her life from the scratch, with reports saying that she is now putting efforts to learn speaking from mouthing words to lip-syncing nursery rimes like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.

Along with her friends and family members, Giffords has been mouthing the lyrics to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love, Baby.” A friend is also helping her to mouth words like “Happy Birthday to You” in an effort to wish her husband on his birthday this month, The New York Times reports.

“It’s not like she’s speaking the way she spoke, but she is vocalizing and making progress every day. She’s working very hard. She’s determined. It’s a tight schedule. A copy of it is hanging on her door,” Pia Carusone, Giffords’s chief of staff, said.

Carusone also said that on Sunday, Giffords’s husband, Captain Mark E. Kelly had put the congresswoman on the phone to talk to his twin brother and fellow astronaut, Scott, who is aboard the International Space Station.

“She said, ‘Hi, I’m good,’ ” Carusone added.

Despite her early signs of recovery, many outside specialists are sceptical about what functions in Giffords’s mind were affected after she was shot on January 8. Brain specialists said that patients with similar injuries often face problems in communicating or undergo personality changes, the paper said.

The shooting rampage had killed six and injured 12 others. (ANI)