Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Constraint Induced Language Therapy for Alzheimer Disease

Impaired verbal communication is a cardinal symptom of Alzheimer Disease (AD) and the source of enormous distress and disability. Effective therapies for this deficit are lacking. In light of the emerging literature demonstrating that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) improves general cognition in subjects with Alzheimer Disease (AD), the investigators propose to study the effectiveness of TMS as a therapy for impaired verbal communication. The hypothesis to be tested is that TMS combined with Constraint Induced Language Therapy (CILT) improves verbal communication more than sham TMS and CILT. A second aim is to use state-of-the-art neuroimaging to understand the mechanisms underlying any beneficial effect of the treatment.