University Programs
Your local university may be a good source for long term aphasia services. Click here to find a list of programs accredited by the American Speech Language Hearing Association. If a program has a speech clinic they might provide individual or group services at minimal cost. Contact the nearest program to see if they have these services.
Intensive Camps
Northeast
Aphasia Resource Center at Boston University (Boston, MA): “The Aphasia Resource Center offers two kinds of group programs. We offer up to fourteen weekly groups per semester, each focusing on a specific interest or goal. The Aphasia Community Group, now in its 30th year, holds meetings one Saturday each month.”
Spaulding-Institute of Health Professions Comprehensive Aphasia Program (Boston, MA): “This innovative, interprofessional Comprehensive Aphasia Program targets an individual’s life participation goals and operates according to the core values of the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA).”
Mid-Atlantic
PIRATE Program (Program for Intensive Residential Aphasia Treatment and Education) (Pittsburgh, PA — for Veterans only): “VA Pittsburgh’s Program for Intensive Residential Aphasia Treatment and Education (PIRATE) provides treatment to Veterans and active duty service members with aphasia. Aphasia is a language disorder that limits a person’s ability to understand language, speak, read, and write.”
NYU Langone Rusk Rehabilitation Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program (New York, New York): “The three-week Rusk ICAP includes small group treatment sessions and individual treatment focused on research-based behavioral therapy techniques. Methods that promote neuroplasticity are combined with functional communication methods for life participation. The tDCS clinical service within the Department of Neurology can provide tDCS as an adjunct to the individual speech-language treatment sessions.”
Southeast
Aphasia House at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL): “At UCF’s Aphasia House, we offer an intensive, comprehensive therapy program that helps those with aphasia make progress on their long-held goals, like talking with their grandchildren or ordering their favorite restaurant meal, no matter if they have had aphasia for years, or have been newly diagnosed.”
Steps Forward Aphasia Program (St. Petersburg, FL): “Intensive aphasia treatment is 10-25 hours of aphasia therapy over several weeks, concentrating more therapy hours over a shorter period of time. It provides multiple hours of practice of a skill, as well as time to explore the approach that works best for you. This allows our clients to master a broader range of skills and see progress much faster.”
Brooks Rehabilitation Aphasia Center (Jacksonville, FL): “At the Brooks Rehabilitation Aphasia Center (BRAC), we are dedicated to helping persons with aphasia achieve the highest level of recovery and participation in life. We are committed to providing support, education, and training in a stimulating communication environment to those affected by aphasia, including the family and communication partners.”
iCommunicare (Chapel Hill and Durham, NC): “With a focus on the Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA), RCAP offers a combination of therapeutic intervention, counseling, and care-partner training. Intensive, interactive sessions with an expert Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) provide communication goals and tools for all language modalities (speaking, writing, reading, understanding) … Relationship-centered aphasia programs are developed to provide clients the opportunity to commit to intense and purposeful rehabilitation. Sessions are provided 4 days a week for 3 hours a day, for 2-3 consecutive weeks.”
The University of Memphis Aphasia Boot Camp (Memphis, TN): “The Aphasia Boot Camp is a four-week intensive program that focuses on maximizing communication for those who have suffered an event that has impacted their speech or language. This program helps individuals maximize their communication potential and enhance life participation in a fun and supportive environment. Research shows that an individual’s recovery is not over at the one-year mark; therefore, we encourage all who wish to improve their communication skills to consider joining the Boot Camp.”
Midwest
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program (Chicago, IL): “The first-ever “translational” research hospital where clinicians, scientists, innovators, and technologists work together in the same space, applying research in real time to physical medicine and rehabilitation.”
Northwestern University Intensive Aphasia Program (Evanston, IL): “The Center’s Intensive Aphasia Program provides over 60 hours of intensive individual and group therapy to individuals with mild to severe aphasia. Each client undergoes a comprehensive evaluation to develop appropriate goals for the program. Participants receive 2 hours of therapy per day, 4 days per week, over 8 weeks.”
University of Michigan Aphasia Program (Ann Arbor, MI): “For more than 80 years, people have come from around the world to receive the highly individualized, innovative, and intensive aphasia therapy the U-M Aphasia Program (UMAP) is known for.”
Aphasia Camp at the University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire, WI): “We are proud to be a part of the Chippewa Valley Aphasia Camp for over a decade. The faculty and students here at UWEC partner closely with Mayo Clinic Health Systems to operate the four-day camp each fall. Aphasia Camp is designed for people of all ages with aphasia, a language disorder that usually results from a stroke or brain injury. The focus of the camp is to provide a supportive and safe environment where attendees can be active and comfortable.”
Marquette University Intensive Aphasia Program (Milwaukee, WI): “Aphasia Group is a clinical service delivery model of adult language therapy in a large group environment (6-10 clients). Clientele served have communication impairments resulting from neurogenic disorders(aphasia, motor speech, and cognitive disorders resulting from brain injury caused by stroke, disease or trauma).”
Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI): “The Intensive Program of Aphasia Therapy (IPAT) is a comprehensive language therapy program led by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in speech therapy, neurology, neuropsychology, and biomedical engineering. Our mission is to offer cutting-edge, evidence-based treatments for aphasia in a daily, intensive format that is generally not available elsewhere. The program is tailored to individual needs and goals while emphasizing a sense of community and well-being through functional communication.”
Southwest
Houston Aphasia Recovery Center (Houston, TX): “The Houston Aphasia Recovery Center (HARC) creates a safe haven where participants engage in supported communication, therapeutic socialization, recreation and camaraderie to fully participate in life.”
Cowboy Aphasia Camp at Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK): “The camp is designed to give graduate clinicians experience in working with individuals who have aphasia while at the same time offering time-limited, intense language-based experiences for people with aphasia. Activities are centered on a Life Participation Approach to aphasia.”
Northwest
Big Sky Aphasia Program at the University of Montana (Missoula, MT): “The mission of the Big Sky Aphasia Program (BSAP) at the University of Montana is to provide high-quality, cost-effective, research-driven speech and language therapy to individuals with aphasia and associated deficits resulting from stroke and traumatic brain injury.”
Craig Hospital Aphasia Therapy (CHAT) (Denver, CO): “Participants will participate in a three-week intensive language program that includes pre- and post- assessment. The treatment program will consist of three (3) hours of individual speech-language therapy a day over a span of 15 consecutive business days. The participant will receive a minimum of 15 hours per week, with additional therapy options if appropriate. These therapies include speech-language group, neurologic music therapy, assistive technology, therapeutic recreation and therapeutic yoga.”
West
Instrumental Speech Language Pathology (Anaheim, California): “Our Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program (ICAP) is specifically developed to help people with aphasia make substantial improvement in a short amount of time by increasing the intensity of therapy. Studies show that a lot of repetition in a short amount of time helps change the brain, and an ICAP is built like a brain boot-camp to provide the necessary intensity for noticeable improvement.”
Online
Integrative Reconnective Aphasia Therapy (nationwide): “Online aphasia and apraxia treatment. Affordable, reliable, and customized care for individuals with Aphasia and their families. Striving to be your partner rather than your therapist, working together to create an individualized treatment program, creatively inspired by YOU. We offer both non-intensive and intensive aphasia therapy options.”
Outside the US (Canada or Mexico)
Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada): “The Aphasia Communication Group is a treatment program designed for adults who have aphasia as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neurological condition.”
Sea to Sky Aphasia Camp at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada): “The Sea to Sky Aphasia Camp is based on a community-university partnership that brings together people with aphasia, their family members, and students from a wide variety of health professions. The weekend-long camp offers an opportunity for all participants to connect with and learn from one another while enjoying organized recreational activities in the beauty of Mission, BC.”
Columbia Speech and Language Services (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada): “We have been running our Intensive Treatment for Aphasia in Western Canada (iTAWC) program since 2011 and are delighted to be able to continue to offer it at our wheelchair-accessible offices in Vancouver, BC. Speech and language therapy for aphasia for three to four hours daily for four weeks (depending on session selected)”
Alberta Aphasia Camp at University of Alberta (Calgary, Alberta, Canada): “The Alberta Aphasia Camp is a weekend-long camp held every September. The camp provides an opportunity for individuals who are living with aphasia to enjoy a weekend retreat, along with one or two family members/friends. Activities are both recreational and therapeutic.”
Evergreen (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada): “Evergreen’s Intensive Aphasia Program is the only program of its kind in Ontario and one of 13 in the world. It is aimed at helping individuals with aphasia meet their goals using a life participation approach focused on enhancing communication and quality of life.”
Please let us know about more programs so we can add them to our list. Email us with a link to the program and where it is located.