Enhancing Language Function in Aphasia

Part of paid clinical trials in Tucson, Arizona.

Sponsor
University of Arizona
Study ID
NCT05443633
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Aphasia, Acquired
  • Language Disorders
  • Primary Progressive Aphasia
  • Stroke, Cerebrovascular

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
21 Years - 80 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • individualized speech-language training — BEHAVIORAL
    Language treatment might include lexical, semantic, and interactive treatment. During treatment, patients may be trained to name words by attempting to self-cue lexical retrieval. The therapy moves incrementally through semantic cuing. The semantic treatment will be implemented using the methods described in (Edmonds et al., 2009, 2014).
  • standard language intervention — BEHAVIORAL
    Participants will undergo standard speech-language naming therapy

Study Details

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.

Key Dates

Start date
Oct 30, 2022
Status verified
Nov 2024
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2027
Completion
Dec 15, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment
30 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
FACTORIAL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Active therapy group
    Participants will undergo individualized language treatment in which they will learn semantically- or phonologically based strategies to facilitate word finding difficulties, sentence formulation difficulties, or challenges in their narration and discourse. The level at which the treatment will be administered will depend on the participants' level of performance determined by the results of the language and cognitive testing done at baseline. Treatment will be administered twice a week for 10 weeks.
  • Active Comparator: control group
    control group will undergo standard speech-language intervention

Primary Outcome Measure

Mean change from baseline scores on the naming task [ Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of ArizonaTucsonArizona85721-0071
Aneta Kielar, PHD
[email protected]
520-488-3791
Fatima Jebahi, MS
[email protected]

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By research site
University of Arizona· Tucson, AZ

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