View clinical trials related to Aphasia, Acquired.
Filter by:Aphasia is an acquired impairment of language, that commonly results from damage to language areas in the brain (typically the left side of the brain). This impairment is seen in many aspects of language, including understanding, speaking, reading and writing. It is estimated that about 2 million individuals are currently living with aphasia in the United States. Further, about 200,000 Americans acquire aphasia every year (National Aphasia Association, 2020). Aphasia poses significant impact on the affected individuals and their families. Behavioral treatments that target language deficits have been shown to enhance overall communication skills and life satisfaction among individuals with aphasia. Although there is evidence that suggests that treatment is efficacious for individuals with aphasia, the extent of improvement long-term coupled with the neural patterns among those individuals are largely unknown. The current study aims to investigate the efficacy of language-based treatment and its corresponding neural patterns.
People with post-stroke aphasia (PWA) suffer from anomia, a condition where they know what they want to say but cannot retrieve the words. For PWA, word retrieval changes moment-to-moment, leading to diminished motivation to participate in conversations and disengagement from social interactions. In the real world, anomia variability and severity are compounded by contextual factors of communication exchanges (noise, dual-tasking). Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involves in-situ measurement of a behavior over time during everyday life. EMA has promise for capturing real-world anomia, yet EMA methods have not been tested in PWA. Therefore, the aims of this pilot study are to (1) determine the relative feasibility of two types of smartwatch-delivered EMA (traditional-EMA and micro-EMA) in PWA and (2) determine the extent to which patient-specific factors relate to feasibility. Twenty PWA will be recruited and randomly assigned to either traditional-EMA or micro-EMA conditions. To target in-situ anomia, PWA will complete 36 picture-naming trials/day for three weeks, delivered either as a single trial 36 times per day (micro-EMA) or in four sets of nine trials/set per day (traditional-EMA). Due to the "at-a-glance" single trial delivery of micro-EMA, the investigators hypothesize that PWA in the micro-EMA condition will demonstrate better protocol adherence than PWA in the traditional-EMA condition. Older age, more severe cognitive-linguistic deficits, and greater discomfort with technology will be related to poorer compliance, lower completion, greater perceived burden, and lower intelligibility of naming audio recordings. This bench-to-bedside research will begin a translational path to implement EMA/micro-EMA into routine assessment of aphasia.
The proposed research will test the efficacy of group conversation treatment for people with aphasia and explore whether the effects of treatment differ as a result of the following factors: 1. Group size: Do large groups of 6-8 people with aphasia or dyads of 2 people with aphasia demonstrate different levels of improvement with this treatment? 2. Group composition: Do effects of conversation group treatment differ if the groups include members with similar or different types of aphasia? 3. Aphasia severity: Do effects of conversation group treatment differ if the individuals within the group have mild-moderate or moderate-severe profiles of aphasia? Treatment sessions will occur in groups of 6-8 people with aphasia or with 2 people with aphasia. During treatment sessions, discourse will be facilitated on a focused set of every day topics, such as current events or travel. Linguistic and multi modal cueing hierarchies will be tailored to individual client goals and used to maximize communication success. The prediction is that conversation treatment is an effective method for improving communication in people with aphasia, but that specific benefits may differ based on variables such as group size, group composition, and aphasia severity. The results will help inform best practices for aphasia treatment and refine a hypothesized model about the mechanisms underlying conversation treatment.
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of the immersive 3D HMD VR technology in the language intervention with a home-based telerehabilitation approach for people with aphasia. The assessments will be conducted at the baseline (prior the intervention periods) and after each intervention period (i.e. after the VR-intervention period and the waitlist period).
Spaced Repetition training has been found to be more effective than massed repetition for individuals with aphasia. This study seeks to examine the relative efficiency of three kinds of spacing for picture-naming training: traditional random presentation, non-adaptive spaced repetition, and adaptive spaced repetition.
Given the evolving uses of technology in rehabilitation, the investigators aimed to measure the change in aphasia severity using PCT App, a digital therapeutic adapted from Constant Therapy (CT), a dynamic, personalized therapy program for people with cognitive, speech, or language disorders. The entire study, including recruitment, enrollment, assessment and treatment were conducted remotely. The proposed pilot study seeks to compare performance of PCT therapy vs. conventional workbook intervention for stroke patients. The investigators hypothesize that the experimental (PCT) group will experience greater gains on the WAB-AQ at follow-up compared to baseline compared to a control (workbook) group. Subjects were prospectively assigned to an experimental or active control group in a random order with both groups balanced for their baseline level of speech, language and/or cognitive ability: 1. Experimental Group: Participants were instructed to use PCT for at least 30 minutes/day, 5 days/week. Performance and usage data were automatically reported by the PCT software to the treating clinician and was used to modify task assignment over time and monitor participant adherence to the treatment program. 2. Active Control Group: Participants were provided with a standard regime of paper workbooks (e.g. Workbook for Aphasia; Brubaker, 2006) that are typically used by clinicians with persons with aphasia (PWA) for at least 30 minutes/day, 5 days/week. Notably, the control procedure employed here is similar to a large-scale study examining technology as a treatment option by Palmer and colleagues (2015). The treatment period was 10 weeks. All participants received a bimonthly check-in through video-chat with a member of the research staff during the treatment period.
Up to now there is proven evidence of traditional logopedic therapy in aphasia, but recent computer-based algorithms also showed their evidence so far. Due to small and heterogenous study populations further trials are urgently needed. This prospective, randomized, clinical & experimental controlled noninvasive study is intended to provide data for the therapy of an individual approach in aphasia patients.
This study will investigate the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive brain stimulation method, to improve word-finding abilities in Veterans and non-Veterans with chronic language problems following stroke (aphasia). Improving word-finding is important because word-finding difficulties are among the most common and debilitating consequences of aphasia. Although rTMS has shown promise as a treatment approach, not all individuals with aphasia show the same level of benefit. Specifically, this study will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether the likelihood of improved word-finding abilities following rTMS depends on pre-intervention language-related brain activity and will examine changes in brain activity in response to stimulation. A better understanding of how and for whom rTMS works will 1) help to identify the best candidates for rTMS treatment, 2) optimize rTMS treatment protocols to improve patient outcomes, and 3) improve the investigators' understanding of how the brain re-organizes language functions following stroke.
Linguistic training is traditionally the gold standard for rehabilitation of aphasia after stroke and efficacy criteria count early stage, intensity as well as personalized treatment. To date, no clear evidence showed a specific effect of any therapy in the acute phase of aphasia after stroke. This study aims to compare the effect of a combined therapy (linguistic/communication) versus a linguistic therapy on communication performance in patients in the acute phase of aphasia after a first stroke.
The purpose of the proposed research is to examine the effects of two treatment approaches on speech production involving speakers with chronic apraxia of speech (AOS) and aphasia. The planned investigation is designed to examine the acquisition, maintenance and generalization effects of each treatment. One approach, electropalatography (EPG) uses visual biofeedback in conjunction with articulatory-kinematic treatment and the other approach, sound production treatment (SPT) is one of the most systematically studied articulatory-kinematic treatments for AOS.