Improving Reading Competence in Aphasia With Combined Aerobic Exercise and Phono-Motor Treatment
Kessler Foundation
Summary
The goal of the proposed project is to test the effectiveness of a novel hybrid approach to treatment of reading disorders after stroke, in which exercise training will be used in combination with a targeted reading treatment. This approach is expected to increase cerebral circulation and help to rebuild and strengthen the damaged phonological neural networks. Through this combinatory approach, the study aims to enhance the reading and language improvements seen with existing treatments.
Description
Close to 2.5 million Americans are currently living with post-stroke aphasia, a debilitating communication disorder affecting multiple language modalities. Most stroke survivors with aphasia have acquired reading deficits, which persist chronically and severely limit life participation and autonomy. There is an urgent need for effective treatments grounded in stroke neurobiology which yield robust functional improvements. This project is a randomized controlled trial, which will recruit 70 individuals with chronic left-hemisphere stroke. Participants will complete 40 sessions of targeted readi…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–85 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * fluent and literate in English prior to stroke * 1st ever stroke * more than 3 months post-stroke * post-stroke reading deficits, defined as reading aloud accuracy \<83% for single words or \<65% for readable nonwords * living within a 50-mile radius from Kessler Foundation. Exclusion Criteria: * contraindication to MRI * prior neurological disease * developmental learning or reading disability (i.e., developmental dyslexia) * contraindication to exercise * concurrent speech and language therapy
Interventions
- BehavioralPhono-Motor Therapy
The goal of PMT is to build orthographic and phonological awareness and phonological sequence knowledge. During PMT, participants will complete a series of tasks manipulating minimal sound units (consonants (C) \& vowels (V)), combining these units into syllables (CVC, CVCC, CCVC) and syllable sequences (real words and readable nonwords). PMT will aim to engage 5 modalities: visual, acoustic, tactile kinesthetic, motor, and orthographic. Multisyllabic stimuli used during treatment will consist of 40 real words and 68 readable nonword letter strings.
- BehavioralAerobic Exercise Training (AET)
Stationary ergometer cycling at 60% heart rate range for 20 minutes, plus 5 minutes of warm up and cool down.
- BehavioralStretching
Light stretching activities targeting the head/neck, shoulder, elbow/forearm, hand/wrist, trunk/hip, ankle/foot.
Location
- Kessler FoundationWest Orange, New Jersey