Temporal resolution of auditory perception in relation to perception, memory, and language skills in typical children

This study examined temporal resolution of auditory perception (TRAP) in relation to speech perception and phonological working memory in one experiment and in relation to measures of rapid naming, understanding of grammatical contrasts, and phonological awareness in a second experiment. In the TRAP test, 6- to 9-year-old children discriminated four pairs of two sine tones, 878 Hz and 1350 Hz, presented in blocks with stepwise decreasing interstimulus intervals from 256 ms to 8 ms. In Experiment 1, weak but significant correlations between TRAP and speech perception and phonological working memory were found, as well as a significantly lower TRAP performance by girls. Experiment 2 indicated a significant relation between TRAP and the phonological awareness task. The results give qualified support to the notion of a weak relationship between TRAP and speech perception and language skills among typical children. However, the gender differences in TRAP performance, the limited variance explained by the regression models, and the finding that only one of the language parameters correlated with TRAP do not support the notion of a causal relationship between language skills and TRAP. The possibility that TRAP is connected to general neurological maturation rather than specifically to language abilities is discussed.     

Verbal Short-Term Memory Span in Speech-Disordered Children: Implications for Articulatory Coding in Short-Term Memory

One influential explanation of the development of verbal short-term memory in children argues that short-term memory capacity is a direct function of speech rate. This theory predicts that children with pathologically slow speech will show reduced verbal short-term memory capacity and will show less evidence of speech-base coding on verbal memory tasks. To test this prediction, verbal short-term memory span was assessed using a task that did not require a verbal response in 37 speech-disordered children and 37 age- and sex-matched controls (age range 4-15 years). The speech-disordered group had a significantly lower short-term memory capacity, a smaller word length effect, and reduced speech-motor activity during rehearsal periods. Covariance analyses revealed that these differences were not a function of general intellectual or motor speed differences between the groups, and that speech rate as a covariate abolished group differences in short-term memory. These results suggest that speech rate may be a causal determinant of verbal short-term memory capacity.     

Relationships among rapid digit naming, phonological processing, motor automaticity, and speech perception in poor, average, and good readers and spellers

In this article, we explore the relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and other cognitive processes among below-average, average, and above-average readers and spellers. Nonsense word reading, phonological awareness, RAN, automaticity of balance, speech perception, and verbal short-term and working memory were measured. Factor analysis revealed a 3-component structure. The first component included phonological processing tasks, RAN, and motor balance. The second component included verbal short-term and working memory tasks. Speech perception loaded strongly as a third component, associated negatively with RAN. The phonological processing tests correlated most strongly with reading ability and uniquely discriminated average from below- and above-average readers in terms of word reading, reading comprehension, and spelling. On word reading, comprehension, and spelling, RAN discriminated only the below-average group from the average performers. Verbal memory, as assessed by word list recall, additionally discriminated the below-average group from the average group on spelling performance. Motor balance and speech perception did not discriminate average from above- or below-average performers. In regression analyses, phonological processing measures predicted word reading and comprehension, and both phonological processing and RAN predicted spelling.     

Deaf children and children with ADHD in the inclusive classroom: working memory matters

This study compared the working memory functioning of deaf children, children with ADHD and typically developing children. Working memory is involved in the storage and mental manipulation of information during classroom learning activities that are crucial for the acquisition of complex skills and knowledge. Thus, it is important to determine how these groups compare in this regard as this has implications for teaching them together in an inclusive classroom. Simple and complex visuo-spatial and verbal working memory were assessed in 24 children with ADHD and 20 control children with no diagnosed ADHD, to determine whether any differences existed between these groups. A second comparison occurred between the simple and complex visuo-spatial working memory of the latter two groups, as well as 24 deaf children, all matched on age, gender and home language. The control group scored significantly higher than the deaf children and the children with ADHD on all components of simple and complex working memory. The implications of this finding are that children with ADHD and deaf children may share similar working memory profiles, making it easier to accommodate both sets of children together in the inclusive classroom. Suggestions are given for how educators could assist these children by reducing the demands on working memory.     

Working memory performance of Italian students with foreign language learning difficulties

It has been suggested that the ability to learn a foreign language is related to working memory. However, there is no clear evidence about which component of working memory may be involved.Two experiments investigated working memory problems in groups of seventh and eighth grade Italian children with difficulties in learning English as a second language. They were compared with control groups of children matched for age, education, school, and intelligence who differed for foreign language learning ability.Experiment 1 focused on clarifying how modality-specific the memory problem of children with a foreign language learning difficulty (FLLD) is. Verbal working memory tasks (forward and backward digit span) were proposed together with visuospatial working memory (VSWM) tasks. Groups showed a significant difference only in the more passive verbal working memory task, that is, the forward digit span.Experiment 2 focused on clarifying how central the verbal working memory problem of students with an FLLD is. A nonword repetition task and an Italian version of the listening span test were proposed. Groups differed significantly in both tasks. However, differences in the listening span test disappeared when nonword repetition performance was partialed out. It was concluded that a difficulty in learning a foreign language is mainly related to the more passive aspects of verbal working memory, typically associated with the articulatory loop.     

An evaluation of the discrepancy definition of dyslexia.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children with dyslexia, that is, children whose reading levels were significantly lower than would be predicted by their IQ scores, constituted a distinctive group when compared with poor readers, that is, children whose reading scores were consistent with their IQ scores. The performance of children with dyslexia, poor readers, and normally achieving readers was compared on a variety of reading, spelling, phonological processing, language, and memory tasks. Although the children with dyslexia had significantly higher IQ scores than the poor readers, these two groups did not differ in their performance on reading, spelling, phonological processing, or most of the language and memory tasks. In all cases, the performance of both reading disabled groups was significantly below that of nondisabled readers. The findings were similar whether absolute difference or regression scores were used. Reading disabled children, whether or not their reading is significantly below the level predicted by their IQ scores, experience significant problems in phonological processing, short-term and working memory, and syntactic awareness. On the basis of these data, there does not seem to be a need to differentiate between individuals with dyslexia and poor readers. Both of these groups are reading disabled and have deficits in phonological processing, verbal memory, and syntactic awareness.     

Phonological processing,speech perception,and reading disability: An integrative review

Relations between phonological processing and speech perception skills in reading-disabled children and adults are considered. Following Wagner and Torgesen (1987), phonological processing is comprised of at least three distinct though interrelated abilities--phonemic awareness, phonological recoding in lexical access, and short-term verbal memory skills. Speech perception skills may also represent two domains, speech perception and short-term memory. Studies of speech perception and word reading are critiqued. The interactions of speech perception, phonological processing skills, and word-reading abilities with development are considered in a preliminary model of reading. Although studies of phonological processing and speech perception in poor readers have thus far developed separately, experimenters in these isolated domains could benefit from the research findings in each and the unique paradigms each uses to investigate deficits in poor readers.     

Sensory, cognitive, and linguistic factors in the early academic performance of elementary school children: The Benton-IU project

Standardized sensory, perceptual, linguistic, intellectual, and cognitive tests were administered to 470 children, approximately 96% of the students entering the first grade in the four elementary schools of Benton County, Indiana, over a 3-year period (1995--1997). The results of 36 tests and subtests administered to entering first graders were well described by a 4-factor solution. These factors and the tests that loaded most heavily on them were reading-related skills (phonological awareness, letter and word identification); visual cognition (visual perceptual abilities, spatial perception, visual memory); verbal cognition (language development, vocabulary, verbal concepts); and speech processing (the ability to understand speech under difficult listening conditions). A cluster analysis identified 9 groups of children, each with a different profile of scores on the 4 factors. Within these groups, the proportion of students with unsatisfactory reading achievement in the first 2 years of elementary school (as reflected in teacher-assigned grades) varied from 3% to 40%. The profiles of factor scores demonstrated the primary influence of the reading-related skills factor on reading achievement and also on other areas of academic performance. The second strongest predictor of reading and mathematics grades was the visual cognition factor, followed by the verbal cognition factor. The speech processing factor was the weakest predictor of academic achievement, accounting for less than 1% of the variance in reading achievement. This project was a collaborative effort of the Benton Community School Corporation and a multidisciplinary group of investigators from Indiana University.     

Imagery deficits in nonverbal learning disabilities

This study reports the observations gathered from 11 children referred to consulting services because of learning difficulties at school and diagnosed with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). These children had an average verbal IQ, but a WISC-R performance IQ lower than the verbal IQ by at least 15 points and experienced difficulties especially in mathematics and drawing. The children completed a battery of four tasks requiring visuospatial working memory and visual imagery: a memory task composed of pictures and their positions (Pictures task), a task that required them to memorize the positions filled in a matrix (Passive Matrix task), a task that required them to imagine a pathway along a matrix (Active Matrix task) and a task that required them to learn groups made up of three words, using a visual interactive imagery strategy (TV task). In comparison to a control group of 49 children, children with NVLD scored lower in all the tasks, showing deficits in the use of visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. By contrasting subgroups of children of different ages in the control group, it was possible to show that some tasks did not show a clear developmental trend. Thus the deficits shown by the children with NVLD cannot simply be attributed to a developmental delay of these children, but seem to reflect a more severe disability.     

The specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in hypermedia learning

Many models have hypothesized that multimedia comprehension requires the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information by limited information processing systems. However, in spite of the emphasis devoted to the concurrent processing of verbal and visuospatial information, little research has so far investigated the specific role played by verbal and visuospatial abilities in multimedia comprehension. The present paper aims to study the specific involvement of verbal and visuospatial working memory in multimedia learning. Ninety‐two students (39 boys and 53 girls) from a middle school in a small city in the northeast of Italy, were asked to learn new information on the physical and social geography of Germany from a hypermedium. Participants were also required to perform a reading comprehension test, two short‐term memory tasks, and two working memory tasks, which assessed either verbal or visuospatial memory. The results support the hypothesis that both verbal and visuospatial working memory sub‐components play a role in hypermedium processing, but with specific and distinct functions: the performance in the verbal working memory task was able to predict the semantic knowledge children can derive from hypermedia learning. In contrast, visuospatial working memory seemed to have lower connections to the semantic knowledge children derived from a hypermedia document, whereas its role emerged in the ability to construct a representation of the document structure.     

Models of Speech Perception and Phonological Processing in Reading

Multiple measures of speech perception, phonological awareness, naming speed, verbal short-term memory, and word reading were concurrently administered to 136 third- and fourth-grade children. Structural equation modeling was used to contrast 5 models of the relations of speech perception and phonological processing skills to reading with IQ controlled. The best-fitting model, the Indirect Model, was one in which the effect of speech perception on reading was mediated by its relations with phonological processing abilities. Naming speed was particularly highly associated with speech perception, possible evidence for the Motor Theory. Phonological awareness was also substantially correlated with speech perception.     

Reading and reading-related skills in children using cochlear implants: prospects for the influence of cued speech

We assessed the reading and reading-related skills (phonemic awareness and phonological short-term memory) of deaf children fitted with cochlear implants (CI), either exposed to cued speech early (before 2 years old) (CS+) or never (CS-). Their performance was compared to that of 2 hearing control groups, 1 matched for reading level (RL), and 1 matched for chronological age (CA). Phonemic awareness and phonological short-term memory were assessed respectively through a phonemic similarity judgment task and through a word span task measuring phonological similarity effects. To assess the use of sublexical and lexical reading procedures, children read pseudowords and irregular words aloud. Results showed that cued speech improved performance on both the phonemic awareness and the reading tasks but not on the phonological short-term memory task. In phonemic awareness and reading, CS+ children obtained accuracy and rapidity scores similar to CA controls, whereas CS- children obtained lower scores than hearing controls. Nevertheless, in phonological short-term memory task, the phonological similarity effect of both CI groups was similar. Overall, these results support the use of cued speech to improve phonemic awareness and reading skills in CI children.     

Working memory and learning in children with developmental coordination disorder and specific language impairment

The authors compared 6- to 11-year-olds with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and those with specific language impairment (SLI) on measures of memory (verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory) and learning (reading and mathematics). Children with DCD with typical language skills were impaired in all four areas of memory function for their age level, and this pattern was also found to be characteristic of a larger DCD group with varied language abilities. SLI-group deficits in standard scores were observed for the verbal versions of the short-term and working memory tasks only. There were also differential links between memory and attainment between the two groups, with visuospatial working memory strongly related to numeracy in the SLI group and all of the memory measures correlated with at least one attainment measure in the DCD group. Reasons for why working memory contributes to learning in these two developmental groups are discussed.     

Phonological processing skills and deficits in adult dyslexics

This article presents 4 experiments aimed at defining the primary underlying phonological processing deficit(s) in adult dyslexia. 5 phonological processes, all involving spoken language, were studied: phoneme perception, phoneme awareness, lexical retrieval of phonology, articulatory speed, and phonetic coding in verbal short-term memory. 2 differently ascertained adult dyslexic groups, familial dyslexics (n = 15) and clinic dyslexics (n = 15), were the subjects in each experiment. These dyslexic groups were chosen because deficits that persist until adulthood and that are found in differently ascertained dyslexic groups are more likely to be primary. Each dyslexic group was compared to 2 control groups, chronological age (CA) controls who were similar in age and sex, and younger reading age (RA) controls who were similar in reading age and sex. The main finding was a clear deficit in phoneme awareness in both dyslexic groups, with each dyslexic group performing significantly worse than both CA and RA controls. Moreover, performance on the 2 phoneme awareness tasks together uniquely accounted for substantial variance in nonword reading. The clinic but not the familial dyslexics appeared to have an additional deficit in verbal short-term memory. No clear deficits were found in either dyslexic group in phoneme perception, lexical retrieval, or articulatory speed.     

The role of sentence recall in reading and language skills of children with learning difficulties

The present study explores the relationship between sentence recall and reading and language skills in a group of 7–11-year-old children with learning difficulties. While recent studies have found that performance on sentence recall tasks plays a role in learning, it is possible that this contribution is a reflection of shared resources with working memory. In order to investigate whether sentence recall was uniquely associated with reading and language skills, differences associated with IQ and working memory capacity were statistically controlled. A sample of 72 children was tested on measures of verbal complex memory, verbal short-term memory, sentence recall, expressive vocabulary, verbal and performance IQ, reading and language skills. Both sentence recall and verbal complex memory shared unique links with reading skill, and sentence recall was uniquely associated with language skills. This finding indicates that resources in long-term memory also play an important diagnostic role in reading and language abilities. The implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Processing of rapid auditory stimuli in school-age children referred for evaluation of learning disorders

Tallal hypothesized that reading disabled children have a domain-general deficit in processing rapidly occurring auditory stimuli that degrades speech perception, thereby limiting phonologic awareness and thus reading acquisition. She predicted they would be disproportionately affected by rapidly presented auditory stimuli. In this study, one hundred 7- to 11-year-old children with learning impairment (LI) and 243 non-learning impaired (NLI) children were evaluated on a two-tone auditory discrimination paradigm. LI committed more errors, but effects of timing were comparable. The same result was obtained for a subsample of good and poor readers. Task performance predicted reading, spelling, and calculation. Neural processes underlying perception of speech and other auditory stimuli may be less effective in poor readers; however, contrary to Tallal's hypothesis, rate may not be specifically affected.     

Differential relationships between language skills and working memory in Turkish–Dutch and native-Dutch first-graders from low-income families

In the Netherlands, Turkish–Dutch children constitute a substantial group of children who learn to speak Dutch at the age of four after they learned to speak Turkish. These children are generally academically less successful. Academic success appears to be affected by both language proficiency and working memory skill. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between language skills and working memory in Turkish–Dutch and native-Dutch children from low-income families. The findings revealed reduced Dutch language and Dutch working-memory skills for Turkish–Dutch children compared to native-Dutch children. Working memory in native-Dutch children was unrelated to their language skills, whereas in Turkish–Dutch children strong correlations were found both between Turkish language skills and Turkish working-memory performance and between Dutch language skills and Dutch working-memory performance. Reduced language proficiencies and reduced working-memory skills appear to manifest itself in strong relationships between working memory and language skills in Turkish–Dutch children. The findings seem to indicate that limited verbal working-memory and language deficiencies in bilingual children may have reciprocal effects that strongly warrants adequate language education.     

Do Language‐Based Processing Tasks Separate Children with Language Impairment from Typical Bilinguals?

We report results from 2 language‐based processing tasks designed to investigate the performance of linguistically diverse learners. The tasks were the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT) and Non‐Word Repetition (NWR). Participants were 100 school‐age children in 1 of 3 different experimental groups: monolingual English‐speaking children with specific or primary language impairment (LI), typical English‐only‐speaking children (EO), or typical Spanish–English bilingual children (BI). On both CLPT and NWR, EO group performance was best and LI group performance was poorest, with BI group performance falling in between. Likelihood ratios indicated that performance on these tasks does not provide compelling diagnostic power for separating typically developing bilinguals from monolingual children with LI. One exception is that children who obtained an NWR score of 93 percent or higher could be ruled out of the LI group with a high degree of confidence.     

Language and literacy in nonvocal children with cerebral palsy

Metalinguistic and literacy abilities were studied in twenty-seven nonvocal cerebral palsied school children. The participants of the study were presented four tests of phonological awareness: rhyme recognition, sound identification, phoneme synthesis and word length analysis. Their verbal comprehension was measured using a semantic and a syntactic task. Two tests of nonverbal memory: the visual sequential task from ITPA and Corsi blocks and the Digit Span task from WISC, were also included. These measures were related to their reading and spelling ability. The nonvocal children performed on a lower level on the reading and spelling tasks than did the children of two comparison groups, one matched for mental age and one for mental and chronological age. There were no differences in phonological awareness or in verbal memory. The disabled children performed worse on the verbal comprehension task than the children in the comparison groups. Although the reading and spelling results were low in the nonvocal group there were children showing some literacy skills. A within-group analysis performed in the nonvocal group showed that the reading children performed better on all memory tests, and on the sound identification and the word length analysis tasks than the nonreading ones. They also showed better results on verbal comprehension, the semantic task and used more symbols in their communication. Synthetic speech was more often used in reading and spelling education in the reading subgroup than in the nonreading. Metalinguistic abilities and possibility of acoustic rehearsal are discussed as important factors in reading and spelling acquisition in the nonvocal population.     

Short-term memory,phonological processing,and reading ability

Verbal short-term memory deficits are a common characteristic of children with reading problems and may markedly increase the difficulty of learning to read. Previous work suggests that the basis of the short-term memory deficit may involve limitations in phonetic coding. In the present paper, a series of experiments are reviewed which examined the role of phonological processes in short-term memory. First, a developmental study is described in which a significant relationship was found between phonetic processes and verbal memory span, but not between phonetic processes and nonverbal memory. Second, additional studies are reviewed which collectively found that children with reading problems are less accurate at phonetic encoding than are good readers, and that performance on phonetic processing corresponds with verbal memory span. No reading group differences were obtained on nonverbal perception or memory tasks. These findings suggest that both developmental and individual differences in verbal memory span are related to the efficiency of phonological processes. Practical implications of current cognitive research are discussed. The research was supported by NIH Grant HD-01994 to Haskins Laboratories.