Working Memory Profiles of Children With Dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder, or Both

What is it about?

Working memory is a powerful predictor of learning (Alloway, 2009; Maehler & Schuchardt, 2016). Because many between-group studies show that children with dyslexia and developmental language disorder score lower than their peers with typical development on working memory tasks, working memory is often assumed to be a concomitant deficit in these children. Our study, which employed a comprehensive, theoretically-based set of working memory measures, showed that working memory profiles were not synonymous with learning disabilities group and in fact, that a small percentage of children with TD also appeared to have working memory deficits. These results suggest that working memory assessments could contribute important information about children’s cognitive function over and above typical psychoeducational measures.

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