Author: Baylor College of Medicine; Houston, TX

The Veteran’s Affairs Rehab Research & Development is funding a research study to test the application of “learned nonuse”, a physical therapy treatment, to language and speech therapy. The therapy will be conducted in groups of two. One group will meet four days per week for three hours a day over a two week period. Another group will meet two days a week for one hour a day over a twelve week period.The study team is actively looking for Aphasia survivors who would be willing to participate in this study, taking place at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.

The study is being conducted by Dr. Lynn Maher, a researcher in the area of Aphasia rehabilitation, and Ms. Jennifer Swearengin, a research Speech-Language Pathologist at the Houston VA Medical Center. All screenings, evaluations, and therapies are provided free of charge. If you are interested, contact Dr. Maher via email at lmaher@bcm.tmc.edu, or by calling (713) 798-7451.

The theory behind this study is the remediation of “learned nonuse” taken from Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) in the physical therapy world. The researchers are applying this concept to language, by encouraging the participant to use only verbal communication, otherwise known as Constraint Induced Language Therapy (CILT). In addition, the study will also explore the variable of treatment intensity.

for information on current studies a click here and type in “aphasia”.