Author: Brett McCardel, MS, CCC-SLP
When treating alexia at the sentence-level, syntax and morphology are areas that might be contributing to reading difficulties. ๐ โฃ
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Treatments targeting these areas may then include:โฃ
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๐ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ (Schwartz, 1994): this approach focuses on retraining thematic roles within sentences (e.g., WHO is doing WHAT). A heavy emphasis is placed on identifying the agent, theme, and verb of a sentenceโฃ
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๐ง๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐จ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐น๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ (Thompson, 2005): in this treatment, a variety of complex sentence types are trained that allow for generalization to simpler, linguistically-related sentences. This treatment employs principles of the Complexity Account of Treatment Efficacy, which allows for such nice generalization effects!โฃ
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๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ (Faroqi-Shaw, 2008): this approach targets verb inflection through sentence-picture matching and sentence production tasks. Suffixes such as present progressive -ing or regular past tense -ed can really make text difficult to understand if morphological skills are compromised!โฃ
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Other treatments not focused solely around morphosyntax include:โฃ
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๐ ๐๐น๐๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด (Kim and Russo, 2010): this treatment uses top-down processing to increase reading rate and accuracy for a text (@tactustherapy has a fantastic guide on how to do this!)โฃ
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๐ข๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฎ (Cherney, 2005): a reading protocol that emphasizes repetitive reading of a sentence and identification of individual words. A nice technique to use in conjunction with single-word treatment approaches!โฃ
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While these protocols are all options to consider for alexia treatment, make sure to pick reading stimuli that your client enjoys reading as well!โฃ
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(In fact, the picture for this post is TUF material I used recently for a session with a HUGE Harry Potter fan)โฃ
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Be on the lookout for free step-by-step guides on how to complete the TUF and ORLA protocols from Archways, and check out our resource page for a treatment guide at the single word-level (link in bio)!โฃ
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#aphasia #aphasiatherapy #neurorehabilitation #medslp #alexia
Looking for aphasia therapy in the Seattle, WA area? Click here to learn more about the services we provide, or contact us at (206) 395-4259 / Brett@archwaysrehab.com