Alexia is the inability to read due to damage to the brain.
Alexia is the inability for a person to read. The concept emanates from the French neologism alexie which, for its part, has its etymological origin in Greek. And this language took the two parts that compose it: the prefix a- which means "without" and the term legein which is translated as "read" and "diction."
Alexia is characterized by the inability to read texts and occurs as a result of an injury to the brain area . This is the loss of the reading skill when it had already been acquired. When a specialist diagnoses it, they usually also detect a picture of agraphia , that is, a noticeable lack of writing ability even when the person retains their language and understands what is said to them.
Research on alexia
In 1881 , the French neurologist Joseph Jules Dejerine ( 1849 – 1917 ) managed to determine that those who suffer from both alexia and agraphia cannot identify the terms that are spelled out loud to them or spell a certain word themselves.
Various investigations have shown that in childhood the prospect of recovery is greater in relation to adulthood when a brain injury occurs, a situation that seems to confirm the hypothesis that the right hemisphere of the little ones has the skills to carry out the language functions if there is damage to the left hemisphere .
In the face of alexia, therapists recommend performing simple exercises based on proposing to join different letters (for example, a consonant followed by a vowel) and, when the child has mastered this process, moving on to more complex exercises that include structures. auditory-vocalic type.
Alexia is a female name carried by the Spanish soccer player with the last name Putellas and other public figures.
Classification according to type
Specifically, experts in the field determine that there are three different types of alexia. Thus, first of all, we should talk about the so-called alexia without spelling , also called pure. This is one that a person has who has an absolute inability to read but who, however, does not have a deficit in writing.
Secondly, there is alexia with agraphia or central alexia, which is defined by the fact that the individual who suffers from it has lost all capacity for both reading and writing.
And finally we have frontal alexia , which is one that affects the central lobe of the brain. This means that the person in question has very poor spelling, has problems identifying words and is also likely to suffer from profound dyslexia . In this case, it is recommended as a treatment to start with simple letter exercises and then, little by little, introduce more complicated tasks.
Alexia as a name
On the other hand, Alexia is also the name of an Italian singer born on May 19, 1967 , who achieved great success in the '90s with her songs in English. Starting in 2002 , he began to stand out with songs sung in his native language. Alexia Putellas , meanwhile, is a Spanish soccer player who won the Ballon d'Or , The Best award and other awards.
Finally, we can mention Alexia Ashford , a fictional character created for the video game Resident Evil Code: Veronica . She is the matriarch of the last generation of the Ashfords .