Bilingual Spelling Performance of Patients and Controls

The data set consists of behavioural measures for spelling accuracy data and error profiles for stroke participants and neurologically healthy controls.<p>Strokes often lead to language disturbances which impair the ability to communicate effectively and function in society. Many people in the UK and worldwide are bilingual, and brain damage usually affects both languages. However there are few well-controlled studies to guide the treatment of bilingual language disorders.
This project focuses on "acquired dysgraphy" a disorder of written language that takes different forms. It will take place in North Wales where many people are bilingual.

First, bilingual tests will be created and administered to dysgraphic participants to get a good understanding of their difficulties in both languages.
Second, selected individuals will be invited to participate in a treatment study aiming to restore written language abilities using paper and pencil or computer-based exercises. Performance on well controlled sets of stimuli will be measured before the treatment, immediately after and three to six months later. Most crucially, the goal of the study is to determine under which circumstances treatment can lead to improvement in the language that has not been treated.

This research will contribute to the development of more effective treatment strategies in bilingual populations. In addition, it will provide a better understanding of the normal functioning of the bilingual spelling system.</p>