Aphasia, Alexia, and Oral Reading

Alexia is an acquired disturbance in reading. Alexias that occur after left hemisphere damage typically result from linguistic deficits and may occur as isolated symptoms or as part of an aphasia syndrome. This article presents an overview of the classification of the alexias, including both the traditional neuroanatomical perspective and the more recent psycholinguistic approach. Then, assessment procedures are reviewed, followed by a summary of treatment approaches for alexia. Finally, two case studies illustrate how oral reading of connected language (sentences and paragraphs rather than single words) has been used as a technique for treating alexia in patients with aphasia.