At the National Aphasia Association, we believe research is a vital key to unlocking better outcomes for people living with aphasia. It is one of the core pillars in our mission with specific strategic objectives to support the work in aphasia that aligns with our vision. To that end, we are so proud to offer the NAA Research Grant Program, a growing initiative designed to support innovative studies and emerging researchers dedicated to understanding, treating, and improving quality of life for those affected by aphasia.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, the NAA now offers three annual $10,000 research grants—including two Barbara Martin Aphasia Research Grants and one new grant focused on Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), made possible by our partners at Outdrive Aphasia.
These grants empower researchers to:
Our vision is bold: to expand the NAA Research Grant Program year over year, offering more opportunities for discovery and accelerating progress across all forms of aphasia. Every dollar raised for this program directly funds the scientists and clinicians pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Project: Combined Personalized Word Naming and Spaced Retrieval Training for Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Preliminary Investigation
“This project examines whether combining an intensive language treatment with a computer-based home training program will maximize retention of personally-relevant words for individuals living with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). We are hopeful that this will lead to increased accessibility and effectiveness of anomia interventions for people with progressive aphasias.”
Project Title: Anterior Temporal Lobe stimulation using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to modulate lexicosemantic processes
“Receiving the Barbara Martin Aphasia Research grant is an honor, and I am excited to begin this project. This support enables us to implement non-invasive brain stimulation in a way that could be accessible to clinicians and ultimately enhance recovery outcomes for people with post-stroke aphasia.”
Project Title: MERIT: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Improve Neuropsychological Functioning in Acquired Brain Injury
“We thus hope this study will be the first of many to adapt loneliness and mental health interventions for PWA, which in turn can have critical downstream preventative health effects. Long-term, the pilot data collected through this study will inform a larger grant focused on conducting a randomized controlled trial of MBSR adapted for PWA.”
Project Title: The neurocognitive mechanisms underlying semantic feature generation in persons with aphasia.
Swiderski says, “Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) is a widely-used word production treatment for people with aphasia that requires participants to generate semantic features associated with target words.” His study models how the brain interprets this treatment to make it more useful as an aphasia treatment.
Project Title: Identifying the needs and desires of individuals with aphasia related to current discourse assessment practices.
Stark says, “This project is near and dear to the PIs’ hearts. We have focused our careers on improving the way we (researchers and speech-language pathologists) assess and analyze language for individuals with aphasia. We want to shift the focus of assessment to discourse, which is the kind of everyday communication we engage in as a society: telling stories, having a conversation, ordering a meal.”
People with aphasia will partner with the two researchers to identify strengths and weaknesses in currently available materials to improve them for future people with aphasia.
Dr.Bijoyaa Mohapatra has a vision for a telerehabilitation program for racially and ethnically diverse, minority, low-income African-American persons with aphasia. This will lead to increased quality of life and lead to new programs for low-income people with aphasia.
Dr. Ellyn A. Riley studies fatigue and sleepiness in aphasia. This is a common challenge for many individuals as they recover from stroke, which impacts quality of life and communication. Although we know fatigue is common in persons with stroke and aphasia, we do not yet know the best ways to help. This study will tackle that problem.
