Aphasia & Therapy
Welcome to the Aphasia & Therapy website of the Brain Language Laboratory!
German version.
If you, a family member or friend suffers from a neurological speech and language disorder: Please note that we are NOT a clinical facility. We cannot provide diagnosis, counselling or speech and language therapy on demand. In these cases, please contact a speech and language therapist or neurologist.
However, we conduct therapy studies in order to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of new methods for speech and language treatment in aphasia.
Participation in our intensive aphasia therapy at the FU BerlinThe Brain Language Laboratory at the Freie Universität Berlin (principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller) offers stroke patients with speech and language impairment the opportunity to participate in an intensive speech-language therapy free of charge.
The treatment takes place in form of a group therapy over a period of 2-4 weeks (10-15 hours per week).
Our therapy is conducted in German only (see criteria for participation below).
New patients are very welcome! Due to the coronavirus pandemic, our aphasia therapy study is currently paused. However, we are still looking for new participants. Please feel free to contact us at any time to plan a participation in one of the therapy groups after the break.
To participate, the following criteria should be met:
- German as native language
- Suffering from aphasia, caused by a (single) stroke which is at least 1 year ago
- Right-handedness before stroke-onset
- Interest in participating in the study for approximately 3 hours a day over a period of 2-4 weeks
- Interest in participating in speech and language assessments, as well as EEG and MRI testing
Head of the study: Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller
Neuropsychological assessments: Prof. Dr. Bettina Mohr
Therapy: Verena Büscher
Neuroimaging: Dr. Felix Dreyer
More detailed information on participation in our studies can be found HERE.
Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in participating in our intensive aphasia treatment:
Verena Arndt
Phone: +49 (0)30 838-58140
Mail: verena.arndt@fu-berlin.de
General information on our Intensive Language Action Therapy (ILAT), also known as Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy (CIAT), as well as on aphasia is available here:
Scientific publications on our aphasia studies:
- Grechuta, K., Ballester, B., Munne, R., Bernal, T., Harvas, B., Mohr, B., Pulvermüller, F., Segundo, R., Verschure, P. 2019. Augmented Dyadic Therapy Boosts Recovery of Language Function in Patients With Nonfluent Aphasia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Stroke 50(5). doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.118.023729
- Heikkinen, Paula H., Pulvermüller, Friedemann, Mäkelä, Jyriki, Klippi, Anu: Combining rTMS With Intensive Language-Action Therapy in Chronic Aphasia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Front. Neurosci. 1-13 (2019). doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.01036
- Stahl, B., Mohr, B., Büscher, V., Dreyer, F. R., Lucchese, G., & Pulvermüller, F. 2018. Efficacy of intensive aphasia therapy in chronic stroke patients: A randomised controlled trial. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 89, 586-592. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2017-315962
- Mohr, B. 2017. Neuroplasticity and functional recovery after intensive language therapy in chronic post stroke aphasia: Which factors are relevant? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00332
- Stahl, B., Mohr, B., Dreyer, F.R., Lucchese, G., & Pulvermüller, F. 2017. Communicative-pragmatic assessment is sensitive and time-effective in measuring the outcome of aphasia therapy. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00223
- Lucchese, G., Pulvermüller, F., Stahl, B., Dreyer F. & Mohr, B. 2017. Therapy-Induced Neuroplasticity of Language in Chronic Post Stroke Aphasia: A Mismatch Negativity Study of (A)Grammatical And Menaningful/less Mini-Constructions. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10:699. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00669
- Stahl, B., Mohr, B., Dreyer, F. R., Lucchese, G., & Pulvermuller, F. 2016. Using language for social interaction: Communication mechanisms promote recovery from chronic non-fluent aphasia. Cortex, 85, 90-99. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.09.021
- Mohr, B., MacGregor, L.J., Difrancesco, S., Harrington, K., Pulvermüller, F. & Shtyrov, Y. 2016. Hemispheric contributions to language reorganisation: An MEG study of neuroplasticity in chronic post stroke aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 93(B), 413–424. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.04.006
- MacGregor, L. J., Difrancesco, S., Pulvermüller, F., Shtyrov, Y., & Mohr, B. 2015. Ultra-rapid access to words in chronic aphasia: The effects of intensive language-action therapy (ILAT). Brain Topography, 28(2), 279-291. doi: 10.1007/s10548-014-0398-y
- DiFrancesco, S., Pulvermüller, F., & Mohr, B. 2012. Intensive language action therapy: the methods. Aphasiology, 26 (11), 1317-1351. DOI: 10.1080/02687038.2012.705815
- Pulvermüller, F., Neininger, B., Elbert, T., Mohr, B., Rockstroh, B., Koebbel, P. & Taub, E. 2001: Constraint-induced therapy of chronic aphasia following stroke. Stroke, 32, 1621-1626.