Therapy for Reading Problems in Adults After Brain Injury - Full Text View

Purpose

Adults who sustain brain damage due to stroke, head injury, or traumatic surgery may develop difficulty reading. This study examines the effectiveness of behavior-based programs to improve reading ability in these individuals.

Condition	Intervention
Dyslexia, Acquired Brain Injuries Cerebrovascular Accident	Behavioral: Cognitive Therapy to Improve Reading

MedlinePlus related topics:

Traumatic Brain Injury

U.S. FDA Resources

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Treatment, Non-Randomized, Open Label, Active Control, Parallel Assignment, Efficacy Study

Official Title:	Cognitively-Based Treatments of Acquired Dyslexias

Further study details as provided by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):

Primary Outcome Measures:

Improved accuracy and/or speed of reading individual words aloud.

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Improved accuracy and/or speed of reading text aloud.

Estimated Enrollment:	58
Study Start Date:	August 2002
Estimated Study Completion Date:	July 2007

Detailed Description:

Acquired disorders of reading (acquired dyslexia) are common in patients with aphasia subsequent to left hemisphere stroke. Even when language functions recover sufficiently to enable the patient to return to work, continuing dyslexia often interferes significantly with job performance. This study will evaluate cognitive therapies for the treatment of acquired dyslexia.

Each therapy is based upon a cognitive neuropsychological model of reading; the therapies target specific types of reading deficit and stem from the question of re-learning versus re-organization of function. The therapies focus on dyslexic disorders stemming from the following underlying deficits: 1) impaired access to the orthographic word form from the visual modality (pure alexia); 2) impaired orthographic/phonologic connections (phonologic/deep dyslexia); and 3) decreased ability to hold phonologic codes in memory (phonologic text alexia).

Participants in this study will undergo a comprehensive and detailed battery of reading and reading-related tests to determine the underlying impairment causing the reading deficit. Based upon the results of these tests, the patient's dyslexic disorder will be characterized and, if appropriate, the patient will be assigned to one of the treatment programs devised specifically for that type of deficit. Treatment programs are evaluated for efficacy by comparing the accuracy and speed of reading pre- and post-treatment.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	18 Years and older
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Reading deficit subsequent to stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain surgery, or other brain damage
Ability to attend 2-3 sessions per week for several months at Georgetown University in Washington, DC

Exclusion Criteria

History of developmental dyslexia or learning disabilities
Best corrected vision less than 20/40
Less than 10 years of formal education
Significant memory or comprehension problems

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00064805

Contacts


Contact: Sarah F. Snider, MA, SLP		sfs24@georgetown.edu

Contact: Nora L. Watson, BS		nlw9@georgetown.edu

Locations


United States, District of Columbia
	Georgetown University Medical Center	Recruiting
	Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20057

Sponsors and Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Investigators


Principal Investigator:	Rhonda B. Friedman, Ph.D.	Georgetown University Medical School

More Information

Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab at Georgetown University Medical Center This link exits the ClinicalTrials.gov site

Publications:

Friedman RB, Lott SN. Rapid word identification in pure alexia is lexical but not semantic. Brain Lang. 2000 May;72(3):219-37.

Nitzberg Lott S, Friedman RB. Can treatment for pure alexia improve letter-by-letter reading speed without sacrificing accuracy? Brain Lang. 1999 May;67(3):188-201.

Friedman RB, Sample DM, Lott SN. The role of level of representation in the use of paired associate learning for rehabilitation of alexia. Neuropsychologia. 2002;40(2):223-34.

Marchand Y, Friedman RB. Impaired oral reading in two atypical dyslexics: a comparison with a computational lexical-analogy model. Brain Lang. 2005 Jun;93(3):255-66. Epub 2004 Dec 15.

Study ID Numbers:	R01HD36019
First Received:	July 14, 2003
Last Updated:	September 11, 2008
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00064805
Health Authority:	United States: Federal Government

Keywords provided by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):

Cognitive therapy

Aphasia therapy

Alexia

Acquired dyslexia

Phonological deficits

Orthographic deficits

Brain disorders

Brain injury

Stroke

Study placed in the following topic categories:

Craniocerebral Trauma

Dyslexia, Acquired

Cerebral Infarction

Disorders of Environmental Origin

Brain Diseases

Cerebrovascular Disorders

Signs and Symptoms

Mental Disorders

Mental Disorders Diagnosed in Childhood

Brain Ischemia

Brain Injuries

Dementia

Neurobehavioral Manifestations

Delirium

Aphasia

Stroke

Wounds and Injuries

Vascular Diseases

Language Disorders

Dyslexia

Central Nervous System Diseases

Trauma, Nervous System

Learning Disorders

Ischemia

Cognition Disorders

Delirium, Dementia, Amnestic, Cognitive Disorders

Neurologic Manifestations

Brain Infarction

Infarction

Communication Disorders

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Nervous System Diseases

Cardiovascular Diseases

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on November 30, 2008

Sponsored by:	Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Information provided by:	Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00064805