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Can a web-based speech therapy program help improve daily function and quality of life for individuals with primary progressive aphasia?
Petronilla Battista, Ph.D.
Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri Spa SB
Pavia, Italy
Background
Frontotemporal dementias (FTDs) are brain diseases characterized by the early onset of dementia (occurring by one's 40s or 50s) along with changes in personality and emotions and difficulty in understanding language. These diseases impact the brain’s frontal lobes (areas behind your forehead) and temporal lobes (regions behind your ears). One category of FTDs is a group of disorders called primary progressive aphasia (PPA), which affect language skills, speaking, writing and comprehension. The three types of PPAs are (1) the “semantic” variations, in which individuals lose the ability to understand or formulate language in a spoken sentence, (2) the “nonfluent/agrammatic” variation , in which a person’s speaking is very hesitant, labored or ungrammatical, and (3) the “logopenic” variation, which involves losing the ability to find words.
Though no pharmaceutical treatments are available for PPAs, studies have shown that speech-language therapy can improve the ability of individuals with PPA to communicate. Research has also found that remote delivery of speech-language therapy may be effective for individuals with PPA who live in remote or underserved areas. To date, however, PPA treatment studies have been limited, and more work is needed to better understand how speech-language therapy affects function in different variants of the disease.
Research Plan
Dr. Petronilla Battista and colleagues will devise and test a novel, web-based app that can offer speech-language therapy online. The app will be developed to offer programs tailored for individuals with different variations of PPA, as well as their caregivers. The researchers will then administer the app to 15 older individuals with PPA, who will be selected from different regions of Italy. For their first analysis, Dr. Battista will assess how easily the participants learn to use the app. Next, they will examine how well the app improves PPA-related communication deficits, assessing the participants 3 months and 6 months after initiating the therapy.
Impact
Results from this study could clarify the value of remote speech-language therapy as a method for slowing PPA progression and improving quality of life for individuals living with PPA. The therapy could also provide vital, easy-to-access assistance for PPA caregivers.
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