Web-based rehabilitation of a visual problem after stroke called hemianopic alexia

Hemianopic Alexia (HA) is a condition that damages one half of a patient’s vision (a hemianopia), and is usually caused by a stroke.

English readers make use of visual information to the right-hand-side of the word that they are looking at to help plan their reading eye-movements across a line of text. Patients with HA are robbed of this information and compensate by making very inefficient eye-movements, causing them to read very slowly. Some patients abandon reading or lose their jobs because they cannot read quickly enough.

One therapy for HA consists of practising reading scrolling text. The team have therefore created a website that delivers a form of this therapy for free. Visit the Hemianopic Alexia (HA) Research Project website.

The researchers will extend this website, making it interactive so that patients and/or their carers/therapists can use it for diagnosis and rehabilitation. They will also investigate whether this type of web-based rehabilitation can produce an important clinical benefit.

Scientific Title: Web-based rehabilitation of hemianopic alexia

Classification:
Rehabilitation, Carers and Patients

back to top|