Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

New Language Disorder Lab Joins CSD Department

Wednesday, September 28, 2016, By Elizabeth Droge-Young
Share
College of Arts and SciencesResearch and Creative

The Communications Sciences and Disorders department is host to a new research lab, led by Assistant Professor Ellyn Riley. Work will focus on the language disorder aphasia, which is most often caused by stroke. Riley and lab members will investigate how personal factors influence aphasia recovery.

Ellyn Riley

Ellyn Riley

“Dr. Riley has done an excellent job developing the aphasia lab, which brings a new area of research to our department, and fits in well with the neuroscience integrated learning major program at SU,” says department chair Karen Doherty.

Aphasia is a common language disorder that, in addition to stroke, can be caused by other attacks on the brain’s language centers, such as traumatic brain injury, infection, brain tumor or neurodegenerative diseases. The condition causes sufferers to have difficulty expressing and understanding language. Diagnosis by a speech-language pathologist or neurologist involves brain imaging and speech and language tests. Speech therapy is the primary treatment, but Riley will be investigating additional, supportive modalities to aid recovery.

Riley’s interest in aphasia was sparked when her grandmother experienced a stroke, leading to aphasia, “She recovered quite well, but I remember the difficulty she experienced with communication, which was particularly frustrating for her as a former writer,” Riley says.

In her 11 years of research in the aphasia field, Riley has worked on linguistic complexity theory, specifically a model called “Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy” (CATE). The model turned current speech therapy strategy on its head, suggesting language therapy first focus on producing more difficult sentences, words, or speech sounds. “Because of the way we think language is organized in the brain, when you learn to produce more difficult language structures, your brain is able to make connections to related structures without having to build each piece separately. The net result of this is more efficient learning—clients are able to learn simpler structures without additional training.” Riley says. Riley’s previous research expanded CATE from speaking to reading when she successfully developed a new “complex first” treatment for acquired alexia, a reading disorder that can develop following stroke.

Current work in the Riley lab, which includes four undergraduate and four master’s students, focuses on identifying influences of patients’ personal factors on aphasia recovery. “Most aphasia treatment research focuses on figuring out what to do differently within the therapy session to make treatment more effective. However, relatively little is known about how other factors can influence an individual’s recovery or how they might predict outcomes of treatment,” Riley says.

Riley explains that treating aphasia’s co-occurring sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, may hold the key for improved speech therapy outcomes. “We know that poorly managed sleep disorders can lead to reduced cognitive function, but that treating sleep disorders can help cognitive function in general. But we don’t know what effects this might have on aphasia recovery—perhaps treating an underlying sleep disorder could result in faster, greater improvements during therapy,” she says.

Riley hopes that her new lab will inspire more students in the department to pursue research careers. “Dr. Riley has made an impressive effort to include many undergraduate and graduate students in her lab, which has been a terrific experience for the students,” Doherty says.

Riley adds, “I encourage my students to be involved in all aspects of the research process and think about our research as a piece of a larger puzzle. Many students in our field seem to think research is only for Ph.D.s, but I want them to realize that research doesn’t have to be inaccessible.”

  • Author

Elizabeth Droge-Young

  • Recent
  • Newhouse Creative Advertising Students Win Big at Sports and Entertainment Clios
    Friday, May 30, 2025, By News Staff
  • Syracuse University Libraries’ Information Literacy Scholars Produce Information Literacy Collab Journal
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Syracuse Spirit on Display: Limited-Edition Poster Supports Future Generations
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By News Staff
  • Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025, By News Staff
  • Syracuse University, Lockerbie Academy Reimagine Partnership, Strengthen Bond
    Friday, May 23, 2025, By News Staff

More In STEM

University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy

This month at the All Island Bioeconomy Summit held in Co. Meath, Ireland, it was announced that BiOrbic, Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy, comprising 12 leading Irish research universities in Ireland, signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dynamic Sustainability…

Professor Bing Dong Named as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The College of Engineering and Computer Science has named Bing Dong as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowed professorship is made possible by a 1998 gift from the late Fritz Traugott H’98 and his wife, Frances….

Physics Professor Honored for Efforts to Improve Learning, Retention

The Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has made some big changes lately. The department just added an astronomy major approved by New York State and recently overhauled the undergraduate curriculum to replace traditional labs with innovative…

ECS Team Takes First Place in American Society of Civil Engineers Competition

Civil and environmental engineering student teams participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Sustainable Solutions and Steel Bridge competitions during the 2025 Upstate New York-Canada Student Symposium, winning first place in the Sustainable Solutions competition. The symposium was…

Chloe Britton Naime Committed to Advocating for Improved Outcomes for Neurodivergent Individuals

Chloe Britton Naime ’25 is about to complete a challenging and rare dual major program in both mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Even more impressive? Britton…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.