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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT03662243

Treatment for Reading and Writing Deficits Following Acquired Brain Injury

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.

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Key information

Conditions

Acquired Brain Injury Agraphia Alexia Brain Diseases Brain Injuries Central Nervous System Diseases Communication Disorders Craniocerebral Trauma Dyslexia Language Disorders Learning Disabilities Mental Disorders Nervous System Diseases Neurobehavioral Manifestations Neurodevelopmental Disorders Neurologic Manifestations Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms Specific Learning Disorder Trauma, Nervous System Wounds and Injuries

Age range

14 year–70 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Quality Living, Inc.

Omaha, Nebraska, 68104, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Multicomponent reading and writing treatment

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.

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in score on Word Attack subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Achievement.

    Time frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks

    Subtest raw sores range from 0 to 32,with higher scores indicating better performance.

  2. Change in score on Passage Comprehension subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Achievement.

    Time frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks

    Subtest raw scores range from 0 to 47, with higher scores indicating better performance.

  3. Change in score on Word Reading subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test 4.

    Time frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks

    Subtest raw scores range from 0 to 70, with higher scores indicating better performance.

  4. Change in score on Spelling subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test 4.

    Time frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks

    Subtest raw scores range from 0 to 57, with higher scores indicating better performance.

  5. Change in score on Test of Silent Reading Speed and Efficiency.

    Time frame: Change from baseline at 8 weeks

    Raw scores range from 0 to 70, with higher scores indicating better performance.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Sight word decoding accuracy

    Time frame: One time per week for 8 weeks

    Percent of correct decoding on 315 words included in Dolch pre-primer, primer, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, and nouns lists. Each word is scored as correct or incorrect, and a percent correct score is computed based on this scoring.

  2. Oral reading rate of passages

    Time frame: As the first of five tasks of each session for 8 weeks (each session is 1 hour).

    Words per minute (wpm) during independent oral reading of passages. The criteria for progression to subsequent passages is a reading rate of 80wpm or better.

  3. Decoding errors during oral reading of passages

    Time frame: As the first of five tasks of each session for 8 weeks (each session is 1 hour).

    Percent of uncorrected word decoding errors in a specified passage. The criterion for progression to subsequent passages is fewer than 5% uncorrected words production errors.

  4. Oral spelling of words

    Time frame: As the second of five tasks of each session for 8 weeks (each session is 1 hour).

    Number of words spelled correctly on lists containing 15 words each. Introduction of a new word list will occur only after a participant correctly spells all words on the current list.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Quality Living, Inc.

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2020
Study completion
2020
First posted
Sep 7, 2018
Registry last updated
Mar 10, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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