Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Persons with Alexia and Aphasia

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This study examined word list and connected text oral reading fluency of persons with alexia and aphasia and whether fluency predicts reading comprehension abilities.

Method

Twelve individuals with chronic alexia and aphasia and twelve neurotypical, age- and education-matched individuals read aloud real and non word reading lists and paragraphs to elicit measures of fluency. Participants answered comprehension questions following the paragraphs. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze fluency and comprehension.

Results

Neurotypical adults read significantly more fluently than persons with alexia and aphasia for word lists and paragraphs. For both participant groups, comprehension was not found to be significantly influenced by oral non word list fluency, oral real word list fluency, or oral paragraph reading fluency.

Conclusions

Though results are interpreted with caution due to study limitations, the study provides an initial framework for characterizing fluency and comprehension of oral single word list and oral paragraph reading in persons with alexia and aphasia. Clinical implications include caution with use of list reading for assessing reading ability, as well as the need for better assessments for diagnosing alexia.

KEYWORDS:

• aphasia
• alexia
• oral reading
• fluency

Acknowledgments

This work was supported, in part, by the University of South Alabama Faculty Development Council Award (KS). The authors would like to thank Kayla Clark, Anna Ryan and Sydney Zari for their research assistance.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of South Alabama [University of South Alabama Faculty Development Co].