Celebrating Aphasia Awareness Month • City, University of London

Researchers at City have a long history of researching aphasia and supporting those who live with the disorder

By Mr George Wigmore (Senior Communications Officer), Published Sunday, 30^th June 2024 (Updated Wednesday, 14^th August 2024)

Aphasia Awareness Month took place in June in the UK. To mark the occasion, a number of events and initiatives took place at City, University of London to raise awareness.

Aphasia is a complex language disorder, caused by brain injury such as stroke, cancer or head trauma. Some 350,000 people live with aphasia in the UK.

The disorder is caused by damage to the language centres in the brain. It can affect the ability to understand, talk, read and write.

Researchers and staff from the Department of Language & Communication Science in the School of Health & Psychological Sciences at City have a long history of researching aphasia and supporting those who live with the disorder. A number of recent projects are also advancing our understanding of therapeutic interventions, as well as how medical professionals can tailor their care to better support people who have been diagnosed with aphasia.

The School also has strong relationships with partner organisations such as Aphasia Re-Connect, which does vital work in the community.

Rocking Aphasia

City once again supported the #RockingAphasia campaign during the month of June.

The campaign is a collaboration involving members of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), members of aphasia advocacy groups and members of the Stroke Association.

Led by Dr Abi Roper and colleagues, staff and members of Aphasia Re-Connect met up in the school to paint ‘#RockingAphasia’ on a pebble. They then took them away with the intention of posting a photo of the pebble on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook after placing it somewhere where it can be found.

Songs for aphasia

Music is an important tool, and as part of the Songs that Move project, Dr Sarah Northcott worked with Aphasia Re-Connect to ask people with aphasia what type of songs they wanted from the project.

The end result was a story-telling concert for people with aphasia and their families that aimed to use the “power of music with poetry to create little films in your imagination” for those in attendance.

Beautifully brought to life by soprano Bibi Heal and pianist Stephen Barlow, the concert included compositions by Debussy, Fauré, Mendelsohn, and Schubert to give participants a sense of hope, calm, joy and escape. The event raised money for Aphasia Re-Connect.

Recent research

A recent study led by researchers from City has found that a novel discourse treatment improved the communication abilities of people with aphasia, a language disorder commonly resulting from stroke.

In current UK practice, 90% of speech and language therapists acknowledge the importance of discourse assessment and treatment. However, they face considerable barriers such as limited resources, time, and expertise.

Addressing this critical need, the Language Underpins Narrative in Aphasia (LUNA) intervention used in the study offers a multi-level approach targeting words, sentences, and discourse macrostructure through personalised narratives. This aligns more closely with real-life communication needs. The study was led by Professors Lucy Dipper and Madeline Cruice.

In addition, a multidisciplinary team of experts are embarking on an £1m National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded programme to change the way patients with aphasia, dysarthria, and other post-stroke communication impairments, are included in care and rehabilitation.

Led by academics at the University of Sheffield and Professor Cruice at City, the ‘COMmunicating in STroke cAre and Rehabilitation’ (COM-STAR) research programme aims to understand the key communication training needs of stroke care staff working with NHS patients.

Funded by the NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme Grant, the three-year programme will then develop and test training to improve the communication abilities of these staff with patients, with the aim of increasing patient and staff satisfaction levels in services. This will ultimately better support inclusion, and access to services, for the two-thirds of stroke patients in the UK who have communication impairments.

New aphasia textbook

Professor Emerita Jane Marshall has written a new aphasia textbook. Titled Aphasia the Basics, the introductory book is aimed at students who are about to learn about aphasia, or who are undertaking their first aphasia placement. It includes multiple references to City's research, and the book may also be of interest to family members of stroke survivors or volunteers with aphasia groups.

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