Speech and Language-Tailored Interventions for People With Primary Progressive Aphasia

What this Trial Is About

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) includes several types that cause a gradual decline in speech and language skills, often linked to brain degeneration from frontotemporal lobar degeneration or Alzheimer's disease. This research aims to develop and test speech and language therapies tailored to different PPA variants, exploring how these interventions affect language tasks and their long-term effects. The study also seeks to identify factors like brain imaging and clinical features that may predict how well a patient responds to therapy. Thirty patients with PPA will receive a customized speech and language intervention delivered online through a web platform. Treatments will focus on the specific language difficulties of each PPA variant, such as lexical retrieval training for some types and video-based script training for others. Sessions will be held three times a week for five weeks, each lasting 45 minutes. Brain scans will be done before and after treatment to assess changes, and healthy volunteers will be included for comparison. Participants will undergo clinical, neurological, neuropsychological, and speech evaluations at the start, immediately after treatment, and at three and six months follow-up. Patient and caregiver satisfaction and functional communication will be measured as primary outcomes. MRI scans will be analyzed for brain structural and functional changes. The study will monitor improvements and maintain contact with participants for six months after treatment to assess lasting effects and therapy impact.

Speech and Language Interventions for Italian People With PPA