Treatment for Alexia With Agraphia Following Left Ventral Occipito-Temporal Damage: Strengthening Orthographic Representations Common to Reading and Spelling.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

Damage to left ventral occipito-temporal cortex can give rise to written language impairment characterized by pure alexia/letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, as well as surface alexia and agraphia. The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic effects of a combined treatment approach to address concurrent LBL reading with surface alexia/agraphia.

METHOD:

Simultaneous treatment to address slow reading and errorful spelling was administered to 3 individuals with reading and spelling impairments after left ventral occipito-temporal damage due to posterior cerebral artery stroke. Single-word reading/spelling accuracy, reading latencies, and text reading were monitored as outcome measures for the combined effects of multiple oral re-reading treatment and interactive spelling treatment.

RESULTS:

After treatment, participants demonstrated faster and more accurate single-word reading and improved text-reading rates. Spelling accuracy also improved, particularly for untrained irregular words, demonstrating generalization of the trained interactive spelling strategy.

CONCLUSION:

This case series characterizes concomitant LBL with surface alexia/agraphia and demonstrates a successful treatment approach to address both the reading and spelling impairment.

• Authors: Esther S Kim, Kindle Rising, Steven Z Rapcsak, Pélagie M Beeson
• Journal: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR (J Speech Lang Hear Res) Vol. 58 Issue 5 Pg. 1521-37 (Oct 2015) ISSN: 1558-9102 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 26110814 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Agraphia (etiology, therapy)
• Alexia, Pure (etiology, therapy)
• Case-Control Studies
• Female
• Humans
• Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery (complications)
• Language Therapy (methods)
• Male
• Patient Satisfaction
• Reading
• Temporal Lobe
• Time Factors
• Treatment Outcome