Brain Biomarkers of Response to Treatment for Apraxia of Speech (SPT)
Aphasia, Stroke
About this trial
This is an interventional basic science trial for Aphasia focused on measuring aphasia, stroke, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Inclusion criteria are age 40-90
- primary English speaker since < age 5
- a history of a single left hemisphere stroke
- at least 1 year post-stroke
- at least 12 years of education
- pre-morbidly right-handed (Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire)
- within normal limits on the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence
Exclusion Criteria:
- Exclusion criteria will include a pre-morbid neurologic or psychiatric history
- history/current substance abuse disorder
- MRI contraindications
- other motor speech disorders (e.g., dysarthria)
- current or recent (<2 months) speech/language therapy
- prior SPT
- pre-morbid history of speech/language disorders
- significant hearing disabilities (based on a pure-tone audiological screen at 35 dB HL at 500, 1K, and 2K Hz for at least one ear)
- aphasia severity resulting in <30th percentile performance on the Porch Index of Communicative Ability-R
Sites / Locations
- VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, CA
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Experimental
Speech Production Treatment
This treatment employs a response-contingent hierarchy made up of verbal modeling/repetition, graphic cueing, integral stimulation, and articulatory placement instruction. The investigators chose this treatment for the following reasons: 1) rigor of development demonstrated across multiple studies, 2) large and predictable effects with published, quantified effect sizes, 3) a demonstrated pattern of generalization to untrained items, illustrating experimental control, 4) an established multi-modal stimulation protocol, and 5) use of repeated practice, which is associated with neural plasticity.