ABSTRACT
Introduction Reading diffi culties have frequently been reported following unilateral brain damage acquired during childhood. For example, Alajouanine and Lhermitte (1965) reported diffi culties with reading to be a common problem in children with acquired aphasia. Of the 32 children with mostly left-hemisphere lesions reported in their study, 56.3% had diffi culties with reading and 28.1% of these children were reported to be severely dyslexic. Cranberg, Filley, Hart, and Alexander (1987) observed severe reading diffi culties in 62.5% of the children reported in their series at least 1 year post-onset, with 25% of the children experiencing milder diffi culties with processing written language. However, although these studies report severe and persistent diffi culties with reading following left-hemisphere damage acquired in childhood, others report a rapid and complete recovery. For example, Hecaen (1983) reported disorders of reading in 40% of a group of 34 children with lefthemisphere lesions, but only in the acute stages. A rapid recovery of reading was also reported by Dennis (1980) in a 9-year-old girl who suffered a left-hemisphere stroke. Age-appropriate scores for reading were attained within 3 months postonset, despite the girl’s spoken language processing being relatively impaired.
