Digital Interventions in Neurorehabilitation: iTALKbetter
Stroke, Aphasia, Anomia
About this trial
This is an interventional other trial for Stroke focused on measuring Anomia, Word Retrieval, Digital Therapy
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Any type of stroke but at least 6 months after onset.
- Evidence of aphasia on the Comprehensive Aphasia Test
- English as their dominant language
- Able to tolerate MRI brain scan
- Able to give informed consent
- Able to use the DNI (app)
Exclusion Criteria:
- No diagnosis of developmental language disorders
- No diagnosis of severe dementia or primary progressive aphasia
- No major co-existing neurological or psychiatric diagnosis
- No contraindications to brain scanner (e.g. the presence of ferromagnetic implants or other metallic or electronic objects in the body, weight over 24 stone, claustrophobia or pregnancy).
Sites / Locations
- University College London
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Active Comparator
Active Comparator
iTALKbetter: deterministic
iTALKbetter: reactive
Participants will receive the deterministic version of the iTALKbetter therapy for 6 weeks. Participants are required to use the therapy for 1.5 hours everyday to reach the required dose of 60 hours over the 6 week period. iTALKbetter:deterministic version will randomise the order all of the words that are to be trained and participants will cycle through all of these words regardless of their performance until complete at which point the order is re-randomised and participants begin the cycle again.
Participants will receive the reactive version of the iTALKbetter therapy for 6 weeks. Participants are required to use the therapy for 1.5 hours everyday to reach the required dose of 60 hours over the 6 week period. iTALKbetter reactive version is identical to the deterministic version for the first cycle only. From then on the words participants are trained on can change depending on their performance on that word over a number of cycles. Words that participants are failing to retrieve over a number of cycles will be retired from the therapy as they are deemed too difficult for a given participant. Similarly words that are correctly retrieved over a number of consecutive cycles are also retired from the therapy as they are deemed to have been learned. In this way iTALKbetter reactive version will gradually give each participant a personalised corpus of words that they can train on, focusing on the words where they stand to make the most improvements.