alexia

an acquired inability to read. It is due to disease in the left hemisphere of the brain in a right-handed person. In agnosic alexia (word blindness) the patient cannot read because he is unable to identify the letters and words, but he retains the ability to write and his speech is normal. This is a form of agnosia . A patient with aphasic alexia (visual asymbolia) can neither read nor write and often has an accompanying disorder of speech. This is a form of aphasia . See also dyslexia .