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Alexia

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

  • 29 Accesses

Synonyms

Acquired reading disorder

Short Description or Definition

The term alexia is applied to acquired disorders of reading produced by neurological injury in individuals with normal premorbid literacy skills. We differentiate here from developmental dyslexia which reflects a failure to attain normal reading skills. Clinically, patients with alexia have difficulty in recognizing, pronouncing, or comprehending written words. Although alexia can occur in relative isolation, it is more frequently encountered in the context of spoken language dysfunction or aphasia. Most individuals with alexia have concomitant spelling impairment, suggesting that reading and spelling rely on shared cognitive representations and neural substrates.

Categorization

Alexia is not a single clinical entity. Instead, there are several distinct forms of alexia characterized by specific combinations of impaired and preserved reading abilities and associated with unique lesion profiles. The three most common...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Health Sciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX, USA

    Angel Ball

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  1. Angel Ball
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Correspondence to Angel Ball .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Independent Practice, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Ball, A. (2018). Alexia. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_852

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