title: Treatment for Alexia With Agraphia Following Left Ventral Occipito-Temporal Damage: Strengthening Orthographic Representations Common to Reading and Spelling.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.forename: Esther S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kindle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rising
authors.forename: Steven Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Rapcsak
authors.forename: Pélagie M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Beeson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000381:Agraphia / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D020237:Alexia, Pure / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020762:Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications*; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011932:Reading; D013702:Temporal Lobe; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome