An interventional study of Treatment Focusing on Naming Objects and Treatment Focusing on Improving Spelling Abilities in Aphasia, Dysgraphia and Anomia, sponsored by Northwestern University. Completed at 4 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 35 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-01.
Sponsored by Northwestern University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of treatment for specific language deficits in people with aphasia. In addition to language and cognitive measures, changes in brain function will also be gathered before and after the treatment is administered in order to track any changes resulting from receiving treatment.
Naming Impairments (Anomia):
The labs of Dr. Swathi Kiran (Boston University) and Dr. David Caplan (Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital) will be studying language recovery in adults with anomia (naming impairments) following a stroke. Participants will receive treatment focusing on the semantic features of common objects (e.g., that birds can fly). The study will examine how naming and other language abilities change in response to treatment, as well as how the brain changes, as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other techniques.
Spelling/Writing Impairments (Dysgraphia):
At Johns Hopkins University, the lab of Dr. Brenda Rapp will investigate the neurobiology of language recovery in individuals with dysgraphia (spelling/writing impairments) resulting from a stroke. In this study, treatment will focus on improving spelling ability. The study will examine how spelling and other language abilities change in response to treatment, as well as how the brain changes, as measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other techniques.
Deficits in Sentence Comprehension \& Production:
Dr. Cynthia Thompson's lab at Northwestern University will investigate language recovery in individuals with deficits in sentence production and comprehension. Treatment focuses on production and comprehension of complex sentences. At baseline (week 0) and after the treatment period (at week 12), participants take part in language, eye-tracking, and MRI testing, in order to learn how the processing of language, as well as brain function, changes as a result of treatment.
35 studies on the registry are indexed under Aphasia, Broca; 11 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 90 is above the median of 36 across 33 interventional studies indexed under Aphasia, Broca.
Browse Aphasia, Broca studies →Northwestern University is the lead sponsor of 1,423 studies on the registry; 198 are open to participants now.
Of its 105 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 78 (74%) have results posted.
Compared within Aphasia, Broca, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Aphasia. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Language treatment will focus on improving naming deficits in people who have aphasia. An experimental group will receive treatment focusing on naming objects and a control/natural history group will receive no treatment. Both groups will be assessed at baseline (week 0), at week 12, and at week 24.
Behavioral: Treatment Focusing on Naming Objects · Behavioral: No Treatment
Language treatment will focus on improving writing and/or spelling deficits in people who have aphasia. An experimental group will receive treatment focusing on improving spelling abilities and a control/natural history group will receive no treatment. Both groups will be assessed at baseline (week 0), at week 12, and at week 24.
Behavioral: Treatment Focusing on Improving Spelling Abilities · Behavioral: No Treatment
Language treatment will focus on improving sentence comprehension and production deficits in people who have aphasia. An experimental group will receive treatment focusing on improving sentence processing and a control/natural history group will receive no treatment. Both groups will be assessed at baseline (week 0), at week 12, and at week 24.
Behavioral: Treatment Focusing on Improving Sentence Processing · Behavioral: No Treatment
Treatment will be administered from week 0 until week 12.
Also known as: Language treatment
Treatment will be administered from week 0 until week 12.
Also known as: Language Treatment
Treatment will be administered from week 0 until week 12.
Also known as: Language Treatment
No treatment will be administered.
Change in language and cognitive abilities as a result of treatment
Standard and non-standard measures of language and cognitive abilities will be gathered at baseline (week 0) to see if language deficits improve after treatment is administered (week 12).
Time frame: week 0 to week 12
Composite change in brain function as a result of treatment
Neural correlates of treatment effects will be examined using: * Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) * Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) * Perfusion Imaging * Functional Connectivity * Rest state Connectivity
Time frame: week 0 to week 12
Maintenance of language and cognitive abilities as a result of treatment
Standard and non-standard measures of language and cognitive abilities administered at week 12 will be compared to those administered at week 24 to see if improvement in language abilities as a result of treatment is maintained.
Time frame: week 12 to week 24
Maintenance of composite changes in brain function as a result of treatment
Neural correlates of treatment effects that are maintained for 12 weeks after treatment ends (week 12 to week 24) will be examined using: * Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) * Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) * Perfusion Imaging * Functional Connectivity * Rest state Connectivity
Time frame: week 12 to week 24
Ran from Apr 2013 to primary completion in Mar 2019, 71 months.
Of 18 interventional studies with no phase under Aphasia, Broca, half reached primary completion within 21 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 7 and three quarters within 57. This study's 71 months is above that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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