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Acquired learning disability for reading after left temporal lobe damage in childhood

From the Neurology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

A 6-year-old boy developed hemorrhage in the left temporal lobe and subsequently underwent left temporal lobectomy. Afterwards, he was completely unable to learn to read or write. Psychological tests showed impairment in verbal learning and memory, with right ear and right visual field superiority in verbal perception. A Wada test showed no aphasia after right carotid injection. We conclude that damage to the speech-dominant temporal lobe resulted in the inability to learn to read or write. Despite the lesion, speech remained strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere, accounting for the right-sided advantage in verbal perception. Some patients with developmental dyslexia may have dysfunction of a strongly dominant left hemisphere rather than a delay or incompleteness of language lateralization.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Levine, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114.

Supported in part by NIH Fellowship No. NS 05887 (Dr. Calvanio), NIH Fellowship No. NS 05917 (Dr. Hier), NIH grant No. NS 13102 (Dr. Levine), and a grant from the Rowland Foundation (Dr. Levine).

Accepted for publication June 12, 1980.

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