Authors:

GRAHAM, N.L. & PATTERSON, K.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2004

CBU number:

5702

Abstract:

In Alzheimer's initial report of a patient with this disease (1907, translated in 1977), both reading and writing deficits were noted. The study of these deficits in dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) was, however, limited until the 1980s, when research on the neuropsychological features of DAT proliferated. Examination of reading and writing in DAT was initially done in the context of investigations focused on clinical issues or general language functioning, and the assessments were, therefore, somewhat superficial. Nevertheless, these studies established that agraphia is a common early symptom in DAT (Appell et al., 1982; Cummings et al., 1985; Faber-Langendoen et al., 1988; Murdoch et al., 1987). The findings on reading have been less consistent. Early work gave rise to the traditional view that reading aloud is well-preserved in DAT (Bayles et al., 1992; Code and Lodge, 1987; Cummings et al., 1986; Friedman et al., 1992; Nelson and McKenna, 1975; Sasanuma et al., 1992; Sevush, 1984), but it has subsequently been demonstrated that this usually applies only to certain types of words (see below). The greatest progress in assessment of the nature of the reading and spelling impairments in DAT came when cognitive neuropsychological models were applied to the design and interpretation of relevant studies. In following this approach, researchers sought to specify the underlying processes involved in reading and spelling, and to identify those which may be disturbed. These models will now be outlined, and their application to the study of reading and spelling impairments in DAT will then be described.