Simple as ABC as silent father gives voice in song

A FATHER of five who lost the power of speech has got his voice back – through singing the alphabet to his baby son.

Leonard Bowden, 35, who had not spoken for four years, still does not know why his speech returned when playing with four-month-old Leon.

Until a few weeks ago, his partner, Nicky McHardy, 38, had never heard him speak, as she had met him after he was struck dumb.

Mr Bowden, from Balloch, Inverness, had even tried doing a parachute jump to shock his brain into making him talk again. "I had been going to speech therapy for three and a half years, but they suggested that I sing nursery rhymes to Leon," he said.

"I started doing it and sang the alphabet over and over again, and gradually it started to work. It began with the ABCs and it just progressed from there. It was as though singing this rhyme has triggered something."

Mr Bowden first lost his voice while he was on the phone to his mother and suddenly found words failing him. He broke down in tears before eventually managing to shout "Help!" He was admitted to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, for tests, but, four years on, there is still no explanation as to why he lost his voice.

He has been communicating using a Lightwriter – typing words on a keyboard to be spoken by a computer voice.

"It has been a very difficult few years, but I have learnt a lot from it as well," he said.

"Patience is probably the biggest thing I have learnt."