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[![](https://www.bu.edu/files/2021/06/Resize-iStock-1201534760.jpg)](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/scientists-can-predict-how-well-a-stroke-survivor-will-recover-language-skills-using-computer-simulations-of-the-brain/)

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<h6><sup>( June 3, 2021; <i>The Brink</i> )</sup></h6>

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For the last decade, Kiran and her team have studied the brain to see how it changes as people’s <A HREF="http://www.bu.edu/articles/2016/overcoming-language-loss-after-stroke/">language skills improve with speech therapy.</A> More recently, they’ve developed new methods to predict a person’s ability to improve even before they start therapy. In a <A HREF="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-89443-6#Abs1">new paper</A> published in Scientific Reports, Kiran and collaborators at BU and the University of Texas at Austin report they can predict language recovery in Hispanic patients who speak both English and Spanish fluently—a group of aphasia patients particularly at risk of long-term language loss—using sophisticated computer models of the brain. They say the breakthrough could be a game changer for the field of speech therapy and for stroke survivors impacted by aphasia. 

“This [paper] uses computational modeling to predict rehabilitation outcomes in a population of neurological disorders that are really underserved,” Kiran says. In the US, Hispanic stroke survivors are nearly two times less likely to be insured than all other racial or ethnic groups, Kiran says, and therefore they experience greater difficulties in accessing language rehabilitation. On top of that, oftentimes speech therapy is only available in one language, even though patients may speak multiple languages at home, making it difficult for clinicians to prioritize which language a patient should receive therapy in.

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Read the rest from <i>The Brink</i>: [Scientists Can Predict How Well a Stroke Survivor Will Recover Language Skills Using Computer Simulations of the Brain](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/scientists-can-predict-how-well-a-stroke-survivor-will-recover-language-skills-using-computer-simulations-of-the-brain/)

-h/t [Communications of the ACM](https://cacm.acm.org/news/253187-scientists-can-predict-how-well-a-stroke-survivor-will-recover-language-skills-using-computer-simulations-of-the-brain/fulltext)

**_References_**
1. [Getting the Words Back](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2016/overcoming-language-loss-after-stroke/) (November 1, 2016; *The Brink*)
2. [Predicting language treatment response in bilingual aphasia using neural network-based patient models](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-89443-6#Abs1) ( May 18, 2021; *Nature Scientific Reports* )