Use AI as a patient writing teacher when words come hard
Laura Malis, 74, a former journalist, had a stroke in 2022 that left her with aphasia. Four years later, she says ChatGPT, which she calls her "AI Teacher," helped her write again, about 40 blog posts so far, while she keeps the ideas and stories her own.
What they did
She started small, asking AI for dinner ideas from what was in her fridge and pantry. Then she began writing with it: she writes, they talk, she revises. It explained ideas she couldn't quite reach, walked her through Google Slides and Zoom one step at a time, and helped her try poetry. She also uses text-to-speech so she can see and hear words at the same time.
How it went
She learned to write in shorter, aphasia-friendly sentences and paragraphs, and gave a presentation on it to an aphasia support group on Oct 12, 2026. "AI helped make an invisible idea visible," she writes. She also questions it, changes what it suggests, and sometimes tells it no, because "the story needed to be mine."
Worth knowing
This is her own experience, not a treatment. AI doesn't replace speech therapy, so ask your speech-language therapist or doctor how it might fit your recovery. AI can misunderstand you or write something that doesn't sound like you, so keep the final say. Don't paste in medical records or personal details to get writing help.
Try it yourself
Copy this into ChatGPT (or any AI assistant). Replace the parts in [brackets] with your own details.
Be my patient writing teacher. I'll write a few sentences about [topic or memory]. Please don't rewrite it for me. Instead: tell me in simple words what you think I'm trying to say, ask me one question to help me say more, and suggest one way to make it easier to read, like shorter sentences. Use short sentences yourself. Go one step at a time and wait for me before the next step.
Source: Laura Malis, Aphasia at Home (Laura Malis's blog), Oct 16, 2026. Read the original →
First-hand account by the person who did it. Summarized in our own words. Spotted a mistake or want this removed? Tell us.