We are very grateful and lucky to have these authors and researchers writing and publishing articles for our website. Some of them have posted their biographies and contact details so you may get in touch with them.

You can read about them on this page:

Shelagh Brumfitt is a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield in the Department of Human Communication Sciences. She has been here for a very long time! (27 years!) She is a speech and language therapist by profession and has taught many students on the undergraduate and post graduate qualifying courses in speech and language therapy.

Her research interests are in the psychosocial effects of communication impairments including both aphasia and stammering. She also has a research interest in professional education. She has written a series of papers and books such as The social psychology of communication impairment (London: Whurr, published 1999). She has also developed the VASES (Visual analogue self esteem scale, Winslow Press, 1999) with her colleague Professor Paschal Sheeran. The VASES is specifically designed for people with aphasia and uses pictures rather then complicated sentences to ask aphasic speakers about themselves.

Shelagh was elected Chair of the Academic Board of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists from 1997 to 1999. She has been a Sub Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences in this University from 2000-2003 and is currently chair of teaching in the department of Human Communication Sciences.

Chris Code is Research Fellow in the School of Psychology, Washington Singer Labs, University of Exeter, England, Foundation Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders (Hon) at the University of Sydney and used to be Research Manager for Speakability, the British lobbying and advocacy charity for aphasic people conducting research into the psychosocial consequences of aphasia.

His research interests include the cognitive neuroscience of language and speech, number processing, praxis, psychosocial consequences of aphasia, recovery and treatment of aphasia.

He is co-founding Editor of the international journal Aphasiology, past Editor of the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders and is on the editorial boards of several journals. His books include Aphasia Therapy (1982 with DJ Müller), Language, Aphasia and the Right Hemisphere (1987), The Characteristics of Aphasia (1991) and Classic Cases in Neuropsychology (Vol I, 1996; Vol II, 2002) (with C-W Wallesch, Y. Joanette & AR Lecour).

He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Jenny is based at the Functional Imaging Laboratory (FIL) which is one of the departments of University College London, linked with the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery. She is one of a team of researchers in the language group, working on aphasia lead by Professor Cathy Price. She conducts brain imaging and language research on normal and disordered processes of speech and language. Current aphasia research supported by the Wellcome Trust focuses on improving the understanding of the relationship between aphasia and the brain as well as on evaluating, characterising, and treating the disorder[Price and Crinion 2005].

Reference: Price CJ, Crinion J. The latest on functional imaging studies of aphasic stroke. Current Opinion in Neurology 2005; 18: 429-434.

Linda Dessau, BFA, BMT, MTA is a music therapist, accredited by the Canadian Association for Music Therapy.

She started the music therapy program at the Aphasia Institute in Toronto, Canada in 1996. As part of the Community Aphasia Program (CAP), members can enroll in Linda's programs and participate in a variety of musical activities.

Over the years, these have included: singing, playing hand bells, conducting the hand bell choir, performing, intergenerational music activities with school children, songwriting, recording a CD of our original songs, moving to music, playing drums and other musical instruments and practicing relaxation and mediation techniques.

Jan qualified as a speech & language therapist in 1989. She has worked with a range of clients including adults with aphasia and now specialises in stammering therapy. Jan has maintained a keen interest in the area of aphasia and co-ordinates City Lit courses for adults with aphasia. Along with the speech therapy team, Jan developed the popular 'Getting Your Confidence Back' course for people dealing with aphasia. She believes it is important for speech therapy to address the whole person. As a qualified counsellor she is able to use these skills to work more effectively with clients' thoughts and feelings. More recently Jan has become interested in looking at the way people's stories of their lives and their experiences may assist therapy and is currently working on an MSc project exploring 'narrative approaches' to therapy.

I have been interested in understanding aphasia since I first spoke to patients in a neurological clinic as an undergraduate student in the 1970s. I received a PhD in Neurolinguistics from Boston University in 1985. Since then I have been teaching and carrying out research based at Birkbeck College, University of London. I have collaborated with neurologists, speech therapists and teachers on a number of research projects. I have published over 100 research papers on a range of topics related to aphasia. My current research takes an applied historical approach to theoretical problems in neurolinguistics.

I am a Clinical Specialist in neurological physiotherapy and FES and have worked in the Department of Clinical Science and Engineering at Salisbury District Hospital for the past 7 and a half years. For the previous 7 years I worked as a senior physiotherapist in acute neurology at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, treating a wide range of neurological conditions. My current work involves the clinical application of FES to patients with neurological conditions such as stroke. Multiple Sclerosis, traumatic head injury and cerebral palsy, research into the effectiveness of FES and teaching courses on FES to other health professionals, mainly physiotherapists. I also give lectures and seminars on FES to post graduate physiotherapy students and present research papers at national and international conferences. I am very happy to give talks to smaller groups with a special interest in a particular condition in an effort to bring FES to as many people as possible.

Jane Marshall qualified as a speech and language therapist in 1987. She worked in the aphasia unit of an acute hospital for three years before doing a PhD about sentence production problems in aphasia.

Since then she has investigated numerous other aspects of aphasia including: more work on sentences, jargon aphasia, proper name impairments (or problems with the names of people and places), using writing and drawing in therapy and aphasia in users of British Sign Language.

Jane is particularly interested in clinical issues related to aphasia, and especially therapy.

Jane is Joint Head of the Department of Language and Communication Science, City University, which qualifies over 100 speech and language therapists each year.

She is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Aphasiology.

Friedemann Pulvermüller is Senior Scientist in the cognitive neuroscience of language at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, UK, and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Wales, Bangor, UK. His main interest is in the neurobiological basis of language. He developed a model of language processing in the human brain that specifies the neural circuits that process words, meaning and syntax. His experimental research focuses on the brain mechanisms that underlie language, which he has studied using a range of imaging techniques, including magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance tomography. Another focus of his work is the alterations of language processes brought about in the brain by transcranial magnetic stimulation, focal cortical lesion and the presentation of linguistic information to different parts of the visual field. In his laboratory, the results of neuroscientific studies were successfully used in the development of new rehabilitation techniques, especially for the treatment of language deficits after stroke. He published 3 books and ~150 scientific papers. His most recent book, The Neuroscience of Language, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2003.

I trained as an Occupational Therapist at St. Loyes School of Occupational Therapy in aagh! 1976. After one year in a rotational post I moved to RAF Headley Court treating a variety of orthopaedic, cardiac and neurological conditions. This was my first introduction to head injuries. I then worked abroad in the Sultanate of Oman. On my return to the U.K. I worked as a Community Occupational Therapist in a cardiac unit at St. Georges Hospital, Tooting, before finally moving to Worcestershire. After a 5 year role with the National Traumatic Brain Injury Study I continued to work as a Community O.T. with the Acquired Brain Injury Service. Having moved to the ABI Education Service 3 years ago I have now attained the role of Head of the ABI Education Service here at Evesham College. So, although I’m pretty old now, please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.

I work at Aintree Hospitals Trust in Liverpool, and as a senior lecturer in Speech Pathology at Manchester Metropolitan University, part time.
I specialise in aphasia and in working with younger people in neuro rehabilitation. I am particularly interested in the psychological impact of aphasia. I am also very interested in supported conversation and in how we might help staff and families communicate most effectively with people with aphasia.

I completed my training in Neurology in Greece in 2004. Currently, I work at the Institute of Neurology, University College Hospital, London, as a member of the team investigating the mechanisms underlying stroke recovery. To do that we use a safe and non-invasive method for stimulating the brain, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). In particular, I am exploring the possibility of using repetitive TMS as an adjunctive treatment to improve motor impairment in chronic stroke patients.

Patricia Theisen is a Neuro-Perceptual Specialist. She launched the Perceptual Enrichment Program in the mid 80s after ten years of research on the brain and early development. Some ten years later people, all around the world, started training to facilitate her program. Patricia's research continues today as facilitators seek answers to the growing number of problems that children and adults exhibit. A new book, written by Patricia, will be out this year clarifying many of these problems.

Rosemary Varley is Reader in neuropsychology at the University of Sheffield. She is a Speech and Language Therapist with research interests in apraxia of speech, and the relationship between language and thinking in people with severe aphasia. She is co-author, with David Crystal, of an internationally used textbook on language pathology. Previous posts have included three years at the University of Hong Kong, where she was involved in establishing a new programme for the training of speech and language therapists in a Chinese context. She is co-author (with Professor David Crystal) of an internationally used textbook of language pathology, and is also the author of many book chapters and academic journal articles.

Dr Welding is a Consultant Physician with an interest in stroke. He heads Cotswold & Vale PCT stroke group. He is based from Cheltenham General and Cirencester Hospitals.

Highly Specialist SLT and Principal SLT of the Frenchay Computer Assessment & Training Service.

I have been working in the field of Augmentative & Alternative Communication for almost 10 years now and helped to set up the Frenchay CATS in 2000. In the past I have also worked on a dedicated stroke ward and as part of a multi-disciplinary team for patients with head injuries. The field of aphasia is therefore an area I have always enjoyed working in.

I became a private practitioner some 8 years ago having spent 13 years in one shape or form in the public sector. My posts have been varied and interesting including Dysphasic Group Co-ordinator at City University and Research Therapist.