Clinical Practice (assessment, diagnosis, treatment, knowledge translation/EBP, implementation science, program development)

Brain Injury

Symposium

(636960) Alexia and Agraphia Treatment:  Applying Theory to Practice

Presenter(s)

• 

  Karen Hux, PhD, CCC-SLP

  Director of Research
  Quality Living, Inc.
  Omaha, Nebraska
• 

  Jessica Brown, PhD, CCC-SLP

  Assistant Professor
  University of Arizona
  Tucson, Arizona

A subset of people with acquired brain injury experience problems with basic word decoding and spelling that practitioners may feel unprepared to address. The purpose of this symposium is to (a) describe characteristics of surface, phonological, deep, and global alexia and agraphia; (b) link symptoms to a theoretical model of written language processing; (c) review evidence-based treatments including tactile-kinesthetic input, recognition drills for high frequency words, formation of key word-single letter associations, Multiple Oral Reading, Anagram and Copy Treatment, and Copy and Recall Treatment; and (d) describe through two case studies ways of combining treatments to meet individual needs.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the characteristics of surface, phonological, deep, and global alexia and agraphia.
• link symptoms of central alexia and agraphia to a theoretical model of written language processing.
• describe alexia and agraphia treatments incorporating tactile-kinesthetic input, high frequency words drills, formation of key word-single letter associations, Multiple Oral Reading, Anagram and Copy Treatment, and Copy and Recall Treatment.
• describe ways of combining evidence-based treatments for alexia and agraphia to design interventions matching clients’ unique characteristics.