Working memory and reading disabilities

This longitudinal study assessed (a) whether performance changes in working memory (WM) as a function of dynamic testing were related to growth in reading comprehension and (b) whether WM performance among subgroups of children with reading disabilities (RD; children with RD only, children with both reading and arithmetic deficits, and low verbal IQ readers) varied as a function of dynamic testing. A battery of memory and reading measures was administered to 78 children (11.6 years) across three testing waves spaced 1 year apart. WM tasks were presented under initial and dynamic testing conditions (referred to as gain and maintenance testing). The important results were that (a) WM performance as a function of maintenance testing was a significant moderator of growth in reading comprehension and (b) WM performance of children with RD was statistically comparable within subgroups of RD but inferior to that of skilled readers across all testing conditions. The results support the notion that children’s WM performance under dynamic testing conditions was related to the rate of growth in reading comprehension but unrelated to subgroup differences in reading.

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PRELIMINARY WORK IN DETERMINING WHETHER DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT OF WORKING MEMORY HELPS IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF STUDENTS WITH READING DISABILITIES

Research in Secondary Schools - Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities ◽

10.1016/s0735-004x(04)17009-2 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 221-242

Author(s):

Crystal B Howard ◽

H.Lee Swanson

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Reading Disabilities ◽

Dynamic Assessment ◽

Preliminary Work

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Does Growth in the Executive System of Working Memory Underlie Growth in Literacy for Bilingual Children With and Without Reading Disabilities?

Journal of Learning Disabilities ◽

10.1177/0022219415618499 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 50 (4) ◽

pp. 386-407 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

H. Lee Swanson ◽

Michael J. Orosco ◽

Milagros Kudo

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Working Memory ◽

Reading Disabilities ◽

Fluid Intelligence ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Naming Speed ◽

Significant Group ◽

L2 Reading ◽

Executive System ◽

Not At Risk

This cohort-sequential study explored the components of working memory (WM) that underlie second language (L2) reading growth in 450 children at risk and not at risk for reading disabilities (RD) whose first language is Spanish. English language learners designated as balanced and nonbalanced bilinguals with and without risk for RD in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 were administered a battery of cognitive (short-term memory, WM, naming speed, and inhibition), vocabulary, and reading measures in Spanish and English. These same measures were administered 1 and 2 years later. Two important findings occurred: First, growth in the WM executive component was significantly related to growth in English word identification and passage comprehension when competing measures (phonological processing, naming speed, inhibition, and fluid intelligence) were entered into the multilevel growth model. Second, children defined as at risk for RD in Wave 1 had lower intercepts than children not at risk at Wave 3 across several measures of cognition, language, and achievement. However, except on measures of the executive component of WM, no significant group differences in linear growth emerged. These findings suggest that growth in L2 reading was tied to growth in the executive system of WM.

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A Cross-Modal Working Memory Binding Span Deficit in Reading Disability

Journal of Learning Disabilities ◽

10.1177/0022219418786691 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 99-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Enrico Toffalini ◽

Mara Marsura ◽

Ricardo Basso Garcia ◽

Cesare Cornoldi

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Reading Disability ◽

Reading Disabilities ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Phonological Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Memory Binding ◽

Span Tasks ◽

Significant Deficit ◽

The Difference

Successful reading demands the ability to combine visual-phonological information into a single representation and is associated with an efficient short-term memory. Reading disability may consequently involve an impaired working memory binding of visual and phonological information. The present study proposes two span tasks for assessing visual-phonological working memory binding. The tasks involved memorizing cross-modal associations between nonsense figures and nonwords, and they were administered, with other working memory measures, to children with and without a reading disability. The tasks required recognizing which figure was associated with a given nonword and recalling which nonword was associated with a given figure. Children with a reading disability had a similar significant deficit in both cross-modal binding tasks when compared with the control children, and the difference remained significant even after controlling for other verbal and nonverbal working memory measures. The cross-modal binding tasks described here seem to capture a core aspect of working memory associated with reading and may be a useful procedure for assessing reading disabilities.

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