Aphasia Treatment

We are recruiting adults aged 18 years or older, who currently present with moderate expressive aphasia. Please continue reading for more information!

What is the Purpose of the Project?

Aphasia is an acquired neurological disorder (most commonly caused by stroke) that disrupts people’s ability to use and/or understand language. Recovery of this language function is possible provided treatment is received, and computer based therapies can help to address these needs. However, there is a significant limitation of currently available programs. Therefore, this study is part of a project whose goal is to develop, test, and commercialize a computer-based therapy for at-home rehabilitation of aphasia using automatic speech recognition.

Who Are We Looking For?

We are currently recruiting adults aged 18 years or older, who currently present with moderate expressive aphasia (characterized using assessments of language abilities during the first study visit). The participant must have experienced onset of aphasia at least 6 months prior to enrolment in the study, must speak fluent English, and have a computer or tablet with a 9.7” widescreen.

Prospective participants are also required to have a partner who can assist with the delivery of the standardized test during session 1, and can help facilitate communication between the researcher and the person with aphasia.

What Does a Participant Do?

Participants will take part in this study from their home, as the study will be conducted entirely remotely. This study will take place over approximately 10 weeks and involve approximately 22 hours of participation, over the course of the study. Participants will receive 10 dollars for each session of the study they complete (if all sessions are completed, this sums to 170 dollars).

1. Intake Assessment (Session 1): During this session we will assess participants’ language abilities using standardized measures. This session will last approximately 1.5 hours.

2. Establishment of Baseline Naming Abilities (Sessions 2-6):: Participants will name a series of pictures (120 pictures/session). The goal is to determine which words a person finds difficult to name. Each session will last approximately 50 minutes.

3. Training (Sessions 7-15): Participants will use the prototype of the computer program we developed to practice naming the pictures that they find most difficult to name. Each session will last approximately 40 mins.

4. Follow Up Assessment (Sessions 16-17): Follow ups will occur 1 week after the last training session and 1 month after the last training session, and participants will name the pictures they performed training on.

Interested? Want to learn more? Contact us by email ([email protected]) or by phone (902-494-1911).
We look forward to hearing from you!