This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0022219409331958v1 42/3/260    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Swanson, H. L. Articles by Jerman, O. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Swanson, H. L. Articles by Jerman, O. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Working Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Reading Disabilities

A Selective Meta-Analysis of the Literature

University of California-Riverside, lee.swanson{at}ucr.edu

Xinhua Zheng

University of California-Riverside

Olga Jerman

Frostig School-Pasadena

The purpose of the present study was to synthesize research that compares children with and without reading disabilities (RD) on measures of short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM). Across a broad age, reading, and IQ range, 578 effect sizes (ESs) were computed, yielding a mean ES across studies of —.89 (SD = 1.03). A total of 257 ESs were in the moderate range for STM measures (M = —.61, 95% confidence range of —.65 to —.58), and 320 ESs were in the moderate range for WM measures (M = —.67, 95% confidence range of —.68 to —.64). The results indicated that children with RD were distinctively disadvantaged compared with average readers on (a) STM measures requiring the recall of phonemes and digit sequences and (b) WM measures requiring the simultaneous processing and storage of digits within sentence sequences and final words from unrelated sentences. No significant moderating effects emerged for age, IQ, or reading level on memory ESs. The findings indicated that domain-specific STM and WM differences between ability groups persisted across age, suggesting that a verbal deficit model that fails to efficiently draw resources from both a phonological and executive system underlies RD.

Key Words: working memory • reading disabilities • meta-analysis • intelligence

This version was published on May 1, 2009

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 42, No. 3, 260-287 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0022219409331958


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?