The Communications Sciences and Disorders department is host to a new research lab, led by Assistant Professor Ellyn Riley. Work will focus on the language disorder aphasia, which is most often caused by stroke. Riley and lab members will investigate how personal factors influence aphasia recovery.

“Dr. Riley has done an excellent job developing the aphasia lab, which brings a new area of research to our department, and fits in well with the neuroscience integrated learning major program at SU,” says department chair Karen Doherty.

Aphasia is a common language disorder that, in addition to stroke, can be caused by other attacks on the brain’s language centers, such as traumatic brain injury, infection, brain tumor or neurodegenerative diseases. The condition causes sufferers to have difficulty expressing and understanding language. Diagnosis by a speech-language pathologist or neurologist involves brain imaging and speech and language tests. Speech therapy is the primary treatment, but Riley will be investigating additional, supportive modalities to aid recovery.

Read the full article at AS News.