Communication Barriers

Only being in nursing for two years now, there has been many times where communication has been a challenge with myself and patients.
One time in particular, was actually not that long ago. I was working on Surgical South on a night shift. I was assigned to be on a one- on - one with a patient; who was a young age of 58. He had been diagnosed with ALS a few years back, however the disease had progressed rather quickly and now he can not move or talk. The only way this patient could communicate with me was with his eyes. Eyes wide open meant yes and eyes closed meant no.
At the beginning of the shift I was a little frazzled, until I got to know him and his personality. For the majority of the night, I found myself asking this patient question after question. He was trying to give me an answer however it just was not coming across. I knew that something was wrong but trying to figure it out took awhile. By the end of the shift my patient and I had started a good communication connection between each other, in knowing what each other was trying to say.
The following night, I had this patient again. I didn't feel frazzled at all, in fact I was looking forward to communicating with him again. As I went into the room, his eyes opened wide, his family was there and wanted to show me something. His family had brought in this communication board, which was a touch screen (mini computer) with a mouse so he could use one of this thumbs to click on what he was trying to say. I thought that his technology was truly amazing. Throughout this night, he only had to use his computer a couple of times; by spelling out what he wanted to say made communicating with each other much easier.

There is not much I could of done to change this situation, however I do know what whenever I have a patient with this kind of communication barrier, I will know how to approach it and not become overwhelmed.