Alexia - improvement possible, but a definite cure is yet to be discovered

Alexia is a rare condition where a person cannot read written or printed words. This is why it is also called “word blindness”. This happens due to brain injury, damage, or trauma. Specialists say alexia is an acquired disorder where affected patients can spell and write words and sentences, but cannot read or comprehend written language. So, writing skills, speech production, and comprehension may be retained in many cases.

Alexia is a result of brain injury or damage. This happens, generally, from cerebral vascular accidents affecting the dominant hemisphere. This disorder is usually associated with other comprehension defects like 1) agraphia, that is, inability to write, 2) acalculia, that is, inability to complete arithmetic, 3) aphasia, i.e., spoken language and language recognition deficit, Studies have found that alexia without agraphia, that is pure alexia, means the loss of ability to understand written language but maintain the ability to spell and write. In this case, patients can write a full sentence, but then they cannot read back what was just written.

How to evaluate the status of the problem
First, to go for a physical examination to assess reading frequency and comprehension, and spelling level by allowing a patient to read a short story and then assessing her/his comprehension ability of the material. Secondly, patients have to undergo neuroimaging with a computed tomography (CT) scan or MRI to localize the affected area, severity, and acuity in both eyes. There are a few more tests, if needed, to assess the problems when complexity arises for diagnosis.

Treatment or management for the disease
The treatment and management of alexia are focused on rehabilitation strategies to improve reading. The treatment modality for alexia depends on the neuroanatomical area affected. Patients can recognize letters, then a letter-by-letter approach to reading is used, where each letter is sounded out. These tactics will increase the reading speed. It is known that multiple oral therapies and tDCS therapy may have sped up the improvement of reading recovery with pure alexia.

The treatment and management of alexia are focused on rehabilitation strategies to improve reading. The treatment modality for alexia depends on the neuroanatomical area affected. Patients can recognize letters, then a letter-by-letter approach to reading is used, where each letter is sounded out. These tactics will increase the reading speed. It is known that multiple oral therapies and tDCS therapy may have sped up the improvement of reading recovery with pure alexia. Another has been a multi-component programme. This includes sight word drills, modified multiple oral reading procedures, functional reading tasks, and modified, etc. These have effectively promoted substantial improvements. Additionally, audiovisual reading training has effects on improving reading speed and behavioural changes of the patients.

It is to be noted that although several methods of treatment can improve the condition of the patients with alexia, a definite cure for the disorder is yet to be discovered.