Working Memory Deficits as They Relate to Academic Growth of Students with RD Olga Jerman, Ph.D. Director of Research Frostig Center, Pasadena, CA Minyi Shih, Ph.D. California State University, Los Angeles FrostigCenter PCRC 2010 San Diego, CA

Abstract The study investigated whether (a) growth patterns related to cognitive processing (working memory, updating, inhibition) differed in subgroups of children with reading disabilities (RD), and (b) if growth in WM (executive processing) predicted growth in other cognitive areas, such as reading and math. 81 children (ages 7 to 17) categorized as poor decoders, poor comprehenders, or average readers were administered a battery of achievement and cognitive measures for three consecutive years. HLM showed that growth in executive processing (inhibition) in children with RD constrained growth in reading and math. The results support the notion that development in the executive system underlies performance on reading and math measures. FrostigCenter

Working Memory & Reading  Working Memory is: A system that simultaneously processes and stores information for a brief period of time Responsible for a range of cognitive functions, such as maintaining attention, inhibiting irrelevant information, switching between different stimuli, and updating. There are different models of working memory and different tasks to assess working memory  Dyslexia Average intelligence; Below average score on standardized reading measures; Scores on math tasks within average range. FrostigCenter

Baddeley’s model of WM Central Executive Visuospatial Sketchpad Episodic Buffer Phonological Loop Visual Semantics LTM Language FrostigCenter

Research Questions: 1.Does growth in the executive components of WM or WM span differ as a function of reading ability? 2.Do deficits in the executive components of WM (or WM span) constrain RD students’ growth on measures related to crystallized intelligence (reading and math)? FrostigCenter

Methods  Participants: 73 students Gender: 24 girls and 49 boys Mean age 12.20; range 7.8 – 17.0 SES: middle-upper to upper class Ethnicity: 57 Caucasian; 6 African- American; 5 Hispanic; 5 other FrostigCenter

Subgroups 1.Poor decoders (PD); N = 25 Reading fluency (WRAT-3) < 25 th percentile (90 SS) Math (WRAT-3) > 80 SS 2.Poor comprehenders (PC); N = 23 Reading fluency (WRAT-3) > 25 th percentile Comprehension (WRMT) < 25 th percentile Math (WRAT-3) > 80 SS 3.Control group (C); N = 25 Reading fluency (WRAT-3) > 40 th percentile Comprehension (WRMT) > 40 th percentile Math (WRAT-3) > 80 SS FrostigCenter

Does Growth in WM Differ As a Function of Reading Ability? WM growth rates among Poor decoders, Poor comprehenders, and Average readers are comparable for the younger students FrostigCenter

Results of Multilevel Models for Change in Sentence Span FrostigCenter

DC AGE Students’ Performance on Sentence Span FrostigCenter Note: Age is given in months, WM performance presented in span scores

Younger and Older Students Across 3 Waves on Sentence Span FrostigCenter

Do Deficits in WM Span or Executive System Constrain Growth on Measures Related to Reading and Math?  Growth in WM span did not explain any additional variance in students’ reading and math performance and did not account for the growth in these areas.  On the other hand, measures of Executive processing were found to have an important influence in children’s growth in math and reading. FrostigCenter

Growth Models for Reading (TOWRE Real Word and Non-word Reading) FrostigCenter

Growth Models for Math (WISC-R Arithmetic Subtest) FrostigCenter

Growth Models with Executive Activity (EA) as a Predictor of Math FrostigCenter

Growth Models with Executive Activity (EA) as a Predictor of Reading FrostigCenter

Conclusion Functions of the Executive system of WM, specifically inhibition and/or updating of the new information, contribute significantly to students’ reading and math growth. Students with RD show deficits in these areas, which constrain their ability to learn new material, comprehend written text, and problem-solve. FrostigCenter

Implications  Theoretical implications: Findings suggest that specific aspects of the Central Executive, rather than general WM impairments, are deficient in RD students. Functions of the Central Executive are critical for successful learning in school. Deficits in executive functions result in developmental lag in reading and math acquisition.  Practical implications: Modification of classroom instruction and curricular materials:  Minimize the amount of irrelevant info; reduce switching between tasks & activities; slower pace of introducing new info (updating). FrostigCenter