Laying the Groundwork for Personalized Medicine in Aphasia Therapy: Genetic and Cognitive Predictors of Restorative Treatment Response
Aphasia, or language impairment after a stroke, affects approximately 2 million people in the United States, with an estimated 180,000 new cases each year. The medical community cannot predict how well someone with aphasia will respond to treatment, as some people with aphasia are poor responders to intervention even when participating in empirically supported treatments. There is a strong likelihood that genetics play a role in language recovery after stroke, but very little research has been dedicated to investigating this link. This study will investigate whether two genes and cognitive abilities, such as memory, predict responsiveness to aphasia therapy for word-retrieval difficulties.
• At least six months post-onset of a single left-hemisphere stroke
• Chronic aphasia
• Anomia (word-retrieval deficits)
• Native English Speaker.