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

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Speech and language therapy within the
Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit

• Karen Sage
• karen.sage_at_manchester.ac.uk

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Classical language areas in left hemisphere
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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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WHO classification

• Medical event
• Impairment
• Activity
• Participation

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Pathway of care pathway of research
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Where should the research money and energies go?

• NHS service provision
• Professional knowledge
• Service user priorities

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Speech and language therapist question which
treatment should I give to that individual?
NHS question Does speech and language therapy
works
Type of evidence required to answer that
satisfactorily
Type of evidence required to answer that
satisfactorily
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Neuroscience (theoretical knowledge)
Speech and language therapy (clinical knowledge)
University NHS
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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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Intervention how do people with aphasia learn
and what are the best methods
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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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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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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_at_manchester.ac.uk