This collaborative study with UC Berkeley investigates how different types of exercise can support fitness, cognition, and language recovery in people with post-stroke aphasia. The program combines 12 weeks of 3x weekly group exercise sessions (3 weeks in person and the remaining 9 weeks online) with pre- and post-testing to measure outcomes across domains. 

Are you interested in joining the study? This study is currently recruiting participants! Learn more or sign up: https://apex.berkeley.edu/

Are you a student interested in volunteering? Email Dr. Gravier at michelle.gravier@csueastbay.edu 

Our lab is collaborating with Dr. Kristen Gustavson, faculty member in the CSUEB Department of Social Work, to explore how to better support the mental health needs of people with aphasia. After running a mindfulness and self-acceptance group for two semesters, the team received grant funding to conduct focus groups with people with aphasia, care partners, and mental health professionals (MHPs).

The project aims to understand experiences and barriers related to mental health access after aphasia, identify factors that influence MHPs’ readiness to work with this population, and explore their training needs and preferences.

We are currently conducting qualitative thematic analyses of the focus group data and developing a series of training modules for MHPs based on these findings.

Are you a student interested in volunteering? Email Dr. Gravier at michelle.gravier@csueastbay.edu 

In collaboration with CSUEB Kinesiology Research Group faculty Jennifer Sherwood and Albert Mendoza, our lab runs a community-based exercise group for adults with aphasia, focusing on functional movement to support everyday activity, wellness, and participation.

Since 2020, the group has provided opportunities for physical activity and connection while generating research data on outcomes such as physical activity, quality of life, language, and cognition. Data collected over the years have included non-linguistic cognitive measures, which formed the basis of Ann Lu’s M.S. thesis (2024).

Currently, we are planning to collect observational data on engagement to characterize interactions between student clinicians and group members, as well as member-to-member communication and support.

The exercise group is offered through the Aphasia Treatment Program (ATP) at Cal State East Bay. To learn more about ATP, visit: https://www.csueastbay.edu/slhs/clinic/atp.html

Aphasia can profoundly limit communication, placing people with aphasia at high risk for psychosocial challenges. Yet few tools are both aphasia-friendly (accessible for people with communication and/or cognitive impairments) and available in languages other than English to evaluate psychosocial well-being.

From 2023–2025, our team adapted the Process-Based Assessment Tool (PBAT) to be aphasia-friendly and produced a Spanish translation. The PBAT is designed to tailor interventions using a process-based therapy approach and to encourage collaboration across therapeutic “islands,” helping practitioners work together as psychological helpers to deliver the most effective interventions.

This project was led by CSR Scholar and master’s student Patricia Almaraz, who defended her thesis in Spring 2025, under the mentorship of Michelle Gravier, Ph.D., CCC-SLP.

Our lab examined whether and how participation in visual art–based activities can support mood, quality of life, and language outcomes for people with aphasia. Student lab members conducted a systematic review on this topic and presented their findings at the CSHA Convergence conference and the Student Research Showcase in 2024.

Although the research project is now complete, the Aphasia Art Group continues to be offered through the Aphasia Treatment Program (ATP), part of the Rees Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic on the CSUEB Hayward campus.

To learn more about the Aphasia Treatment Program, visit: https://www.csueastbay.edu/slhs/clinic/atp.html

Interest in aphasia choirs has grown steadily over the past decade, yet most research has examined relatively short-term participation (typically 20 or fewer sessions). The Aphasia Tones Choir, founded in 2009, offers a unique opportunity to study the long-term effects of group singing for people with aphasia.

In 2017, master’s student Madison Cano Fox conducted qualitative interviews with Aphasia Tones members to explore the impact of long-term (1–8 years) choir participation. Preliminary results were presented at conferences in Japan, ASHA, and CSHA.

In 2020, CSR Scholar and master’s student Christy Thies joined the project, collaborating with Madison (now an SLP at Stanford) and Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, M.A., CCC-SLP (Director Emeritus, Aphasia Treatment Program). Together, they completed analysis of 15 choir member and 5 care partner interviews, held a member-checking focus group, and conducted a care-partner survey. Preliminary findings were presented at the 2022 International Aphasia Rehabilitation Conference (IARC).

In 2022, lab member Ci He contributed to the final stages of data analysis.

This multi-year project was conducted under the mentorship of Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, M.A., CCC-SLP, Director Emeritus of the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay.

Master's student Haley Hayashi surveyed practicing speech-language pathologists in the U.S. about their training, knowledge, and comfort supporting the psychosocial well-being of people with aphasia. The results were presented at the 2022 International Aphasia Rehabilitation Conference, and a manuscript about the study was recently accepted for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Communication Disorders! 

Contact Haley at hhayashi10@horizon.csueastbay.edu for more information.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can help some people with aphasia get more benefit out of aphasia therapy. tDCS is non-invasive, meaning that nothing goes inside of the head; a small current is passed between the pads on the head to allow the part of the brain underneath the pad to work harder during therapy. Usually, in research studies tDCS is provided every day. In this study, we are asking if tDCS is helpful when it is given twice a week, similar to a typical outpatient therapy schedule. 

This study requires in-person treatment and was put on-hold due to COVID 

We increasingly rely on technology to carry out our daily activities, such as shopping, banking, or playing games. Technology can also help us communicate with others via video chat (Zoom), email, or texting. Learning how to use these technologies can be difficult for some people with aphasia because the applications or instructions are not usually very "aphasia-friendly" meaning that they may use complicated language, or not provide a lot of visual support. This study sought to develop an aphasia-friendly technology group class to help people with aphasia learn to use technology for things that were important to them.

Although this study is complete, the Aphasia Treatment Program (ATP) Tech Group will still be offered, as interest allows.