Training Working Memory in Children with Dyslexia

Learning to read and write draws on a set of adaptive mental operations: how we perceive symbols, where we direct attention, and what we hold in mind. These processes do not run in isolation. When reading fails to develop normally, the breakdown might sit in one isolated function, in a chain of steps that feed into each other, or in the way several processes running at once interfere with one another.

This paper looks specifically at working memory and the part it plays in reading and writing. The research on children with dyslexia points to a measurable shortfall in working memory, and that body of evidence is reviewed here.

Beyond documenting the deficit, there is a second line of findings worth laying out. When particular working memory functions are trained directly, children with dyslexia show real gains in how well they read and write. The improvement is substantial rather than marginal.

By Prof. Dr. Evelin Witruk, Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Germany.