The aim of the module is to develop your understanding of the processes responsible for improvement of communication skills following brain injury. The module...

Rehabilitation of Acquired Neurogenic Communication Difficulties (PALS0003)

The aim of the module is to develop your understanding of the processes responsible for improvement of communication skills following brain injury. The module focuses on aphasia, an acquired neurologic disorder that impairs an individual's ability to use and/or understand spoken and written language. It commonly occurs after stroke or other injury to the brain's language network. Improvements in communication skills arise from both spontaneous recovery and therapeutic rehabilitation, although many individuals will continue to struggle with some aspects of communication for the rest of their lives. Living with aphasia affects life participation and often has a negative impact on quality of life for the individual and their significant others. A better understanding of how the brain processes different aspects of language, adapts to brain injury and responds to experience are needed if we are to develop more effective methods for enhancing language recovery after stroke.
The module explores how frameworks, theories and models from a number of different areas, including cognitive neuropsychology and psycholinguistics, can inform clinical assessment and remediation of aphasia. Findings from basic science, neurophysiology, imaging, and speech and language therapy are linked to increase our knowledge of the effects of the rehabilitative interventions at the level of the brain as well as their functional impact. Both emerging and established rehabilitative approaches are highlighted.

By the end of the module the students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

the brain mechanisms involved in the recovery process
	theories of single word, sentence and text level processing
	approaches that are helpful in rehabilitation of different levels and domains of processing
	factors that may influence outcome
Undergraduate enquiries to d.newton@ucl.ac.uk
Postgraduate enquiries to pals.langsci@ucl.ac.uk