MARCS Research Seminar

Professor Bill Thompson from Macquarie University will be presenting "Treating speech disfluency with melodic intonation therapy and brain stimulation".

Abstract of paper: In this paper, I review evidence for the efficacy of melodic intonation therapy (MIT) as a treatment for non-fluent aphasia and discuss the results of an ongoing study. First, I outline the approaches to MIT that are currently in use, and their advantages and disadvantages. Second, I describe a protocol that we developed for MIT and the profile of non-fluent aphasic patients who are best suited for this approach to treatment. Third, I describe ongoing research in which MIT was combined with non-invasive brain stimulation to treat two patients with non-fluent aphasia following stroke. The study was motivated by previous research in which MIT was combined with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in order to stimulate the right hemisphere and enhance the benefits of MIT (Vines, Norton & Schlaug, 2011). Our approach complements that study by combining MIT with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In one series of treatments, we administered MIT after applying intermittent theta bursts (TMS) to the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), including the RH homolog of Broca’s area. In the other series (a week apart), we administered MIT after sham TMS. Behavioural and neurological effects of the therapy will be discussed.