Published Research

 

Impact of Phonology & Semantic-Focused Intensive Therapy in Reading & Naming in Chronic Aphasia

Shilpa Shamapant, Sarah Bennett, Ashley Marnell, Cassandra McGrath, Elise Boutin, Leah van Hée, Mayra Carrera, Megan Bunsey, Scott Crownover, Komal Sharma & Shelley Adair

This study compared the effect phonological treatment (PCA) paired with Intensive Speech Therapy (IST) versus semantic treatment (SFA) paired with IST had on improvements in Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia (CPSA).

Six participants received phonological treatment paired with IST and six participants received semantic treatment paired with IST for 6-15 hours for 120 or 240 hours total. Treatment was either in-office or via teletherapy. The phonological treatment focused on retraining the participants the sounds that letters make and the semantic treatment focused on describing the attributes of nouns.

Group analyses showed significant differences in the PCA group’s scores for Letter Sound, Spoken Letter Sound, Syllable Length Reading, and Letter Length Spelling which were all trained tasks and significant differences in the SFA group’s scores for Commands, Repetition, and Spoken Letter which were all untrained tasks. These findings illustrate that phonological treatment improves an individual with aphasia’s ability to read and write single words. In addition, individuals who received phonological treatment were able to maintain their improvements overall. Individuals who received the phonological treatment also made improvements in self-cueing which was not assessed in testing.

 

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Shilpa Shamapant, Sarah Bennett, Elise Boutin, Ashley Marnell, Shelley Adair, Mayra Carrera, Leah van Hee, Megan Bunsey, & Komal Sharma.

This study compared the effect that real stimulation via tDCS paired with vNEST treatment versus sham stimulation paired with vNEST treatment has on spontaneous sentence production.

Three participants received real stimulation and three received sham stimulation for 20 minutes during 3 hours of therapy, five days a week for three consecutive weeks and then continued with only vNEST treatment for five weeks.

Participants were trained 30 verbs and taught how to verbalize and write sentences using those verbs.

Results are currently being analyzed.

 

Music and Speech Co-Treatment

Modified Melodic Intonation Therapy Pilot Study

Bri Rocha & Shilpa Shamapant

Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) is an intervention that incorporates rhythmic tapping and melodic signing to train functional phrases. Several clients received 20 hours of treatment over eight weeks. They were trained phrases with three-five syllables.

Results from the study show that participants showed improvements in repeating multisyllabic phrases and independently producing trained functional phrases.

 

Open Studies

Brain Imaging Study

A study examining changes in the brain as a result of intensive speech therapy in stroke survivors.

English

 

Scientific Board

Bharath Chandrasekaran, PhD, Assistant Professor

The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. James Grotta, Neurologist - Director of Stroke Research, Clinical Institute for Research and Innovation

Memorial Hermann - Texas Medical Center

Dr. Everett Heinze, Neurologist

St. David’s HealthCare

Maya Henry, PhD, Assistant Professor

The University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Thomas Hill, Neurologist

St. David’s HealthCare

Dr. Argye Elizabeth Hillis, Neurologist - Director, Cerebrovascular Division of Neurology

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Lynn Maher, PhD, CCC-SLP, Professor and Department Chair

University of Houston

Tom Marquardt, PhD, CCC-SLP, Professor

The University of Texas at Austin

Shalini Narayana, PhD

University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Dr. Steve Warach, Neurologist

Seton Brain and Spine Center