Do Reading and Arithmetic Fluency Share the Same Cognitive Base?

Executive functions underlie word reading and reading fluency in Chinese children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, reading disabilities, and comorbid attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and reading disabilities

The current study examined the executive function (EF) deficits and their roles in reading in one hundred and four Cantonese-speaking children with typical development, reading disabilities (RD), ADHD, and comorbid ADHD and RD (ADHD + RD). Children's EF and reading skills were measured. Analysis of variance results showed that all children with disorders manifested deficits in verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory and behavioral inhibition. Moreover, children with ADHD and ADHD + RD also exhibited deficits in inhibition (IC and BI) and cognitive flexibility. These findings demonstrated that the EF deficits in Chinese children with RD, ADHD, and ADHD + RD are similar to those in their counterparts using alphabetic languages. However, children with ADHD + RD displayed more severe deficits in visuospatial working memory compared to children with RD and ADHD, which was inconsistent with that observed in children using alphabetic languages. Regression analysis results showed that verbal short-term memory was a significant predictor for both word reading and reading fluency in children with RD and ADHD + RD. Moreover, behavioral inhibition significantly predicted reading fluency in children with ADHD. These findings also agreed with previous studies. Collectively, the results of the current study showed that the EF deficits and their roles in reading found in Chinese children with RD, ADHD, and ADHD + RD are mainly consistent with children using alphabetic languages. However, more studies are still needed to confirm these findings, especially comparing the severity of working memory among these three disorders.

Processing Speed Deficit and Its Relationship with Math Fluency in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

OBJECTIVES

(1) To determine the processing speed (PS) deficit in children with ADHD; and (2) To investigate if PS deficit was the primary cause of daily dysfunction in ADHD by testing the direct and indirect effects via working memory (WM) of PS on math fluency (MF).

METHOD

Seventy-eight children (52 children with ADHD and 26 controls) were tested on their motor, perceptual, cognitive, and verbal PS, WM, and MF.

RESULTS

Children with ADHD performed worse than controls on all PS, suggesting a general PS deficit. Moreover, cognitive PS was a significant predictor for MF. Mediation analysis showed that cognitive PS had direct and indirect effects via WM on MF, suggesting PS deficit might be the primary cause of MF difficulties in ADHD.

CONCLUSION

Findings of this study suggested a general PS deficit in ADHD. Due to the importance of PS in MF, interventions for MF underachievers should include assessment and training of PS.

Early rapid naming longitudinally predicts shared variance in reading and arithmetic fluency

A number of cognitive factors have been suggested to underlie development in reading and arithmetic skills. Although the two domains are strongly linked, only a few studies have investigated the processes that are shared between them during the early school years. Rapid automatized naming (RAN) has been identified as a strong predictor of a common fluency factor in reading and arithmetic. In the current study with 232 Norwegian children, we examined how RAN in preschool and Grade 1 relates to the shared and nonshared variance in arithmetic fluency and reading fluency in Grade 3. Furthermore, we examined whether related processing skills (phoneme awareness, working memory, speed of processing, and symbol knowledge) can account for the relationship between RAN and shared fluency-or if they predict variance that is unique to each domain. Our results show that RAN in both preschool and Grade 1 is a strong predictor of shared variance between reading fluency and arithmetic fluency measured several years later, whereas other predictors mainly relate to the nonshared parts of variance in the fluency outcomes. That is, control variables with the theoretical potential to explain some of RAN's relation to the overlap between reading and arithmetic fluency do not in fact account for this relationship. Our findings provide a starting point for future investigations of the mechanisms of rapid naming.

A-B-3-Associations and dissociations of reading and arithmetic: Is domain-specific prediction outdated?

Reading and arithmetic are core domains of academic achievement with marked impact on career opportunities and socioeconomic status. While associations between reading and arithmetic are well established, evidence on underlying mechanisms is inconclusive. The main goal of this study was to reevaluate the domain-specificity of established predictors and to enhance our understanding of the (co-)development of reading and arithmetic. In a sample of 885 German-speaking children, standard domain-specific predictors of reading and arithmetic were assessed before and/or at the onset of formal schooling. Reading and arithmetic skills were measured at the beginning and end of second grade. Latent variables were extracted for all relevant constructs: Grapheme-phoneme processing (phonological awareness, letter identification), RAN (RAN-objects, RAN-digits), number system knowledge (number identification, successor knowledge), and magnitude processing (non-symbolic and symbolic magnitude comparison), as well as the criterion measures reading and arithmetic. Four structural equation models tested distinct research questions. Grapheme-phoneme processing was a specific predictor of reading, and magnitude processing explained variance specific to arithmetic. RAN explained variance in both domains, and it explained variance in reading even after controlling for arithmetic. RAN and number system knowledge further explained variance in skills shared between reading and arithmetic. Reading and arithmetic entail domain-specific cognitive components, and they both require tight networks of visual, verbal, and semantic information, as reflected by RAN. This perspective provides a useful background to explain associations and dissociations between reading and arithmetic performance.