Alexia is a disorder that manifests itself in a lack of reading and sometimes writing skills. Usually it is caused by some kind of brain damage and we talk about acquired alexia, but there are also cases of congenital alexia. How is it that a person suddenly stops understanding the written word? Is it possible to cure alexia?
Alexiacan occur in a person who has suffered damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, specifically the left parietal lobe, but also the middle part of the occipital lobe, temporal lobe and corpus callosum. A number of factors lead to such damage, such as a head injury. Alexia can also appear from a stroke, brain tumor, or other medical condition. It happens that a person is born with alexation, but in this case the mechanism of the disorder is not known.
People suffering from alexia are characterized by anomy - the problem with the correct choice of words. It is observed in situations where the patient wants to, for example, report on an event, tell a movie.
We distinguish between partial alexation, without agraphia (also known as pure word blindness), which is characterized by the inability to read whole words, while maintaining the ability to spell and write, and complete alexation, which also includes writing disorders, i.e. agraphia. Partial Alexia is also often accompanied by right-sided hemianopia. Interestingly, an ill person with this type of alexia is able - on dictation - to write, but cannot read it later. This is usually due to a stroke and damage to the middle occipital lobe, temporal lobe, and the posterior part of the corpus callosum. Damage to the left parietal lobe usually results in complete alexation.
alexia therapy
A person who develops reading and writing disorders should be under the care of doctors as soon as possible. To make a diagnosis, you will need the opinion of an ENT specialist, neurologist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Only after the diagnosis of alexia and the stage of the disorder has been diagnosed, rehabilitation can be started. It works best with the support of the patient's family. Relatives should show a great deal of empathy and patience, but above all understand that a sick person suffering from alexia does not havehearing problems (talking louder or clearer to him does not make sense), neither sight nor understanding. He sees but is unable to interpret what he sees.
What is rehabilitation?
In the first stage, it takes place under the supervision of a specialist. Later, you can take the therapy home. The patient's family must be properly trained to know what exercises to perform. The patient learns to name letters, then combines them into short and longer words, and finally into sentences. It is a very difficult and arduous process that requires the involvement of both parties. During rehabilitation, it is important to systematically repeat and consolidate the acquired information, and to read aloud. When working with a person with alexia, you can use pictures, photos, and magnetic letters. In order not to overload the patient with work, it is worth interweaving more difficult tasks with easier ones, as well as practicing seemingly completely different skills, such as searching the field of view (looking for something among other objects), visual coordination and visual-spatial skills. These later translate into progress in reading and understanding words. It is extremely difficult to regain full fitness in this area, but you can achieve very good results.