Stroke and Aphasia
tDCS and language recovery in aphasia patients
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has the potential to be of therapeutic value in facilitating neurorehabilitation after stroke. Short-term administration of tDCS alongside speech training can cause residual improvements in language ability, which exceeds that achieved by training alone. Determining whether or not these effects can persist long-term, is an important next step for establishing clinical significance of this technique.
We therefore plan to investigate whether repeated tDCS as an adjunct to speech training, can result in lasting language recovery in chronic aphasia patients. Using training progress and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we will acquire long-term outcome measures of speech proficiency and brain excitability.