In honor of the holiday season, I wanted to share this article, profiling the Miracle Minstrels, a choral group in the Sacramento area comprised largely of stroke survivors with aphasia. In the majority of people, language function is largely housed in the left hemisphere of the brain. A stroke or brain injury involving injury to these centers or pathways on the left side can result in language impairment. This is known as aphasia. Sometimes symptoms may be consistent with motor aphasia, also known as Broca’s aphasia, in which expressed language impairment exists while potentially sparing interpreted language (understanding what others are saying or retaining the ability to read written language). Sensory aphasia, also known as Wernicke’s aphasia, occurs when interpreted language is impaired, although the person may still speak fluently. However, the speech may not make sense to others. More commonly, there is at least some component of both aphasia types present, even if one aphasia type is more noticeable than the other. A speech therapist in California, Renee Garner, and a stroke survivor, Barbara LaPlaca, started a choral group of aphasic brain injury survivors as a way to provide social engagement and to continue rehabilitation beyond speech therapy sessions. The brain’s musicality section, where musical familiarity, […]