App-delivered therapy for Arabic readers with Hemianopic Alexia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
App-delivered therapy for Arabic readers with Hemianopic Alexia
IRAS ID
150817
Contact name
Jenny Crinion
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Sponsor Representative Joint Research Office (part of the Research Support Centre, UCL
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Hemianopia refers to compromised vision in one half of the visual field, in either one or both eyes. Hemianopic Alexia (HA) is a reading disorder related to such impairment, usually caused by stroke or head injury. In order to read, you have to move your eyes along a line of text three to four times per second. Such eye movements are called saccades. One makes use of peripheral visual information to the right (if reading from left to right, e.g., in English) or to the left (if reading from right to left, e.g., in Arabic) of words. HA patients are deprived of much of this information. They require far more saccades, which slows their reading significantly and often prevents them from reading efficiently for work or pleasure. It follows that the reading ability of those who read left-to-right would be compromised more by right-sided HA, and in those who read right-to-left by a left-sided HA. This study proposes to explore the rehabilitation of left-sided HA following stroke, in Arabic readers. An online treatment package has been developed in English (http://www.readright.ucl.ac.uk/). Currently, no assessment or treatment resources exist for the condition in right-to-left readers. The aim is to develop novel Arabic reading tests and rehabilitation material. The current project proposes to 1) translate this package into Arabic, 2) develop new Arabic reading test materials and 3) collect data from Arabic reading stroke patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial. The hope is to develop an effective, novel, and empirically supported reading treatment package for Arabic readers with HA.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
15/WA/0085
Date of REC Opinion
9 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion