Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Speech and language therapy within the Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit:

Karen Sage

karen.sage@manchester.ac.uk

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Classical language areas in left hemisphere

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Aphasia

Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that impairs a person's ability to process language, but does not affect intelligence. Aphasia impairs the ability to speak and understand others, and most people with aphasia experience difficulty reading and writing.

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

WHO classification

• Medical event

• Impairment

• Activity• Participation

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Pathway of care: pathway of research

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Where should the research money and energies go?

• NHS service provision

• Professional knowledge

• Service user priorities

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

NHS question: Does speech and language therapy works

Type of evidence required to answer that satisfactorily

Speech and language therapist question: which treatment should I give to that individual?

Type of evidence required to answer that satisfactorily

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Neuroscience

(theoretical knowledge)

Speech and language therapy

(clinical knowledge)

University NHS

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Pathways from acute to long term

Recovery of language and reading function after stroke

Longitudinal, case-series study

4 hospital sites

Acute, 3 month and 9 month assessments

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Intervention: how do people with aphasia learn and what are the

best methods

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

How to embed research into clinical practice

An investigation of the usefulness of an explicit tool for decision making when planning impairment based treatment for anomia in routine clinical practice.

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Conversation and aphasia• how aphasia impacts on real-life, real-time language use

• how people adapt their use of language in conversation

• how to improve everyday conversations between the person with aphasia and conversation partner

‘Supporting Partners of People with Aphasia in

Relationships and Conversation’ (SPPARC)

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

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Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit

Summary

• Many questions to ask• Many ways to answer• Collaborative network of NHS speech

therapists and university researchers • Where to next? • Challenges for the network

karen.sage@manchester.ac.uk