Speech and language therapy study for people with primary progressive aphasia
Studies tailored speech and language therapy in adults with primary progressive aphasia.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA
- Where
- Bari and Milan, ItalySee the 2 sites
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Speech and Language Interventions for Italian People With PPA
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 30 people, planned
- Started
- 1 Sept 2024
- Expected to end
- 28 Feb 2027
- Type of study
- Observational
- Treatments tested
- Behavioral Treatment
- Record updated
- 26 October 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with mild primary progressive aphasia, a condition that slowly worsens speech and language, who speak Italian as their mother tongue.
- Age
- 40 to 85 years
- Sex
- All sexes can join.
- Disease stage
- Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) diagnosed by current clinical criteria, at a mild level on the Progressive Aphasia Severity Scale (PASS).
- Earlier treatment
- Medicines must have been stable for at least 4 weeks.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) score below 15
- Other neurological or psychiatric diseases, including cerebrovascular disease
- Severe uncorrected hearing loss or visual problems
- Cannot repeat words of 4 syllables
- Taking part in another experimental study at the same time
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 12 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Diagnosis of PPA according to the current clinical criteria (Gorno-Tempini et al., 2011)
- Mild PPA defined using the Progressive Aphasia Severity Scale (PASS)
- Age between 40 and 85 years
- Patients with Italian mother tongue
- Patients with the ability to sign the informed consent
- Patients with the ability to comply with the study procedures
- Patients with stable pharmacological treatment for at least 4 weeks
Who cannot take part
- Concurrent participation in other pharmacological and non-pharmacological experimental studies
- Presence of other neurological or psychiatric diseases, including cerebrovascular disease
- Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) Score <15
- Severe and uncorrected hearing loss or visual disturbances
- Inability to repeat multi-syllable words (4 syllables)
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 40 and 85 years old?
Where in Italy
- Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCSBari, ItalyContact: Petronilla Battista, PhDTaking people
- IRCCS Ospedale San RaffaeleMilan, ItalyContact: Federica Agosta, MD, PhDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is an umbrella term used to refer to several clinical variants that manifest as an insidious deterioration of speech/language skills, usually due to frontotemporal lobar degeneration and/or Alzheimer's disease. Consensus criteria have been proposed by an international community regarding the sub-classification of PPA into three variants: (1) semantic variant PPA, characterized by impaired confrontation naming and single-word comprehension; (2) logopenic variant PPA), characterised by word-finding difficulties and sentence repetition deficits; and (3) non-fluent variant, characterised by agrammatism with or without apraxia of speech.
Read full original descriptionShow less
Speech and language therapists (SLTs) play a crucial role in the diagnostic process and in setting a therapeutic path along with monitoring the evolution of the clinical picture. Despite growing evidence supporting the benefits of speech-language intervention, the frequency with which individuals with PPA are referred for speech and language services, is suboptimal likely due to skepticism regarding the value of speech and language therapy in the context of neurodegeneration, the scarcity of SLTs with expertise in the treatment of PPA, the lack of awareness regarding the role of the SLT amongst referrers, and the geographical barriers that impede access to in-person speech and language services. In Italy, patients with PPA are rarely offered treatment options due to a lack of understanding of the disorder on the part of health professionals and erroneous assumptions regarding the utility of treatment in patients facing a worsening prognosis.
The primary aim of this pilot study is to develop tailored speech and language interventions for patients with different variants of PPA by addressing their linguistic and cognitive difficulties. Secondly, to explore the intervention's effect also on untreated tasks and assess the long-term maintenance of the proposed interventions by monitoring patients for up to six months. Finally, in each PPA variant, the investigators aim to investigate which variables among the sociodemographic, clinical, linguistic/cognitive, and brain MRI features at baseline predict successful clinical results, as well as which structural and functional brain changes are associated with speech and language improvements.
The group in the trial
- Speech and Language Tailored Interventions
Patients will receive three days a week for 5 weeks of 45 minute sessions of a tailored speech and language intervention
Treatment: Behavioral Treatment
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Speech and Language-Tailored Interventions for People With Primary Progressive Aphasia
- Plain-language title
- Speech and language therapy study for people with primary progressive aphasiaGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 12 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT06739967, who can take part
- Record updated
- 26 October 2026