Assessment of Neglect Dyslexia With Functional Reading Materials

Background: Spatial neglect is a neurocognitive disorder that affects perception, representation, and/or motor planning. Neglect dyslexia in spatial neglect after right hemisphere damage may co-occur with, or be dissociated from, other spatial neglect signs. Previous neglect dyslexia research focused on word-level stimuli and reading errors. Using single words for assessment may leave some people with neglect dyslexia undiagnosed, and assessment materials that are closer to texts read in real life may better capture neglect dyslexia. Method: The authors tested reading in 67 right hemisphere stroke survivors with 4 types of text materials: words, phrases, an article, and a menu. Results: Accuracy on reading the menu and article texts was significantly poorer than reading the words and phrases. The hypothesis that assessment materials with ecological validity such as reading a menu and reading an article may be more challenging than reading single words and phrases was supported. Conclusion: Results suggest that neglect dyslexia assessment after stroke should include text materials comparable to those read in everyday life. Increasing the spatial extent of training materials in future research might also yield better functional generalization after right brain stroke.