Treatment for Reading and Writing Deficits Following Acquired Brain Injury

NCT ID: NCT03662243

Last Updated: 2021-03-10

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Total Enrollment: 2 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2018-08-30
• Study Completion Date: 2020-09-15

Brief Summary

Many people with acquired brain injuries have deficits in reading decoding, reading comprehension, and written expression. Alexia is a phenomenon in which a person who previously could read has trouble doing so after having sustained a brain injury; likewise, agraphia is an acquired writing problem affecting one or more aspects of written communication. Alexia and agraphia sometimes co-occur with one another and/or with other language challenges, but they can also occur as isolated phenomena. Methods to treat alexia and agraphia often focus on single intervention techniques that address aspects of reading or writing in isolation-such as matching written and spoken letters or letter sounds, performing choral reading, tracing letters, etc. Existing research suggests that the effectiveness of these techniques is limited. However, when used in combination, such techniques may promote improved reading and written communication skills. As such, the purpose of this research is to determine the extent to which a multicomponent intervention program improves the reading and writing capabilities of people with acquired alexia and/or agraphia.

Conditions

Acquired Brain Injury; Alexia; Agraphia

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: CASE_ONLY
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

Acquired brain injury participants

People with acquired alexia and/or agraphia secondary to brain injury who participate in the reading/writing intervention.

Multicomponent reading and writing treatment

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Intervention procedures incorporated into the program include drilling on sight words to improve immediate recognition of common words; engaging in Multiple Oral Reading procedures to increase reading fluency; practicing oral spelling of sight words to improve spelling accuracy; generating written sentences to improve accurate spelling and use of written conventions (e.g., punctuation, capitalization); and summarizing and subsequently writing sentences about read material to establish strategies to enhance reading comprehension and promote written expression.

Interventions

Multicomponent reading and writing treatment

Intervention procedures incorporated into the program include drilling on sight words to improve immediate recognition of common words; engaging in Multiple Oral Reading procedures to increase reading fluency; practicing oral spelling of sight words to improve spelling accuracy; generating written sentences to improve accurate spelling and use of written conventions (e.g., punctuation, capitalization); and summarizing and subsequently writing sentences about read material to establish strategies to enhance reading comprehension and promote written expression.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Survivor of acquired brain injury
• Exhibits alexia and/or agraphia
• Past or current client of Quality Living, Inc., Omaha, Nebraska
• Fluent speaker of English

Exclusion Criteria

• Vision impairment prohibiting reading of 24-point text
• Auditory comprehension problems precluding understanding of consent/assent information

• Minimum Eligible Age: 14 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 70 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Quality Living, Inc.

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Karen Hux

Director of Research

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Karen Hux, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Quality Living, Inc., Omaha, Nebraska

Locations

Quality Living, Inc.

Omaha, Nebraska, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

Reading/writing treatment

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id