12 ROTMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Aphasia is a language disorder in
which people face great difficulty
producing or even comprehending
speech – whether it's something they
want to say, something they hear, or
something they read. Individuals lose
the words needed to communicate.
People can develop aphasia after
a stroke or from a rare dementia,
known as primary progressive
aphasia (PPA), which takes
away a person's language capabilities
first, before other cognitive skills.
Through her research, Dr. Regina
Jokel hopes to preserve and boost
the language abilities of these
individuals.
Dr. Jokel, a Speech-Language
Pathologist at Baycrest and Clinician
Associate at the RRI, created the
first individual and group language
interventions for patients with PPA
and their family members. These
programs have been implemented
at Baycrest's Sam and Ida Ross
Memory Clinic, and at healthcare
organizations across Ontario and
Sydney, Australia.
TAPPING INTO BRAIN
STIMULATION TO
BOLSTER TREATMENTS
There has been encouraging evidence
found when using brain stimulation to
treat neurological disorders. To boost
the interventions' effects, Dr. Jokel
has partnered with Dr. Jed Meltzer
to study a combined treatment
regimen of brain stimulation with a
PPA intervention.
Recently, the team tested this unique
approach with stroke patients who
suffered from aphasia and found
promising results: Individuals with
the combined treatment showed
significantly greater language
improvements and signs of "rewiring"
within the brain.
With support from the Alzheimer's
Association and Brain Canada,
Drs. Jokel and Meltzer have
focused their efforts on testing their
treatment with PPA clients.
Recent upgrades to the brain
stimulation equipment – featuring
both magnetic and electrical forms
of stimulation – will help researchers
pinpoint ideal locations to stimulate
and better understand how to reverse
the pathological processes that impair
language and memory abilities in
dementia and other brain disorders.
Everyone has experienced
the frustration of not being
able to find the right word
to describe something.
There is a great deal of
satisfaction when the word
finally comes to mind. But
for some individuals with
brain disorders, that word
never comes back.
Recovering
the ability to
communicate
Visit us online to learn more
about Dr. Regina Jokel and other
RRI clinician associates here.
