Slot Esther M, van Viersen Sietske, de Bree Elise H, Kroesbergen Evelyn H
Department of Education, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands.
Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2016 Jun 10;7:803. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00803. eCollection 2016.
High comorbidity rates have been reported between mathematical learning disabilities (MD) and reading and spelling disabilities (RSD). Research has identified skills related to math, such as number sense (NS) and visuospatial working memory (visuospatial WM), as well as to literacy, such as phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN) and verbal short-term memory (Verbal STM). In order to explain the high comorbidity rates between MD and RSD, 7-11-year-old children were assessed on a range of cognitive abilities related to literacy (PA, RAN, Verbal STM) and mathematical ability (visuospatial WM, NS). The group of children consisted of typically developing (TD) children (n = 32), children with MD (n = 26), children with RSD (n = 29), and combined MD and RSD (n = 43). It was hypothesized that, in line with the multiple deficit view on learning disorders, at least one unique predictor for both MD and RSD and a possible shared cognitive risk factor would be found to account for the comorbidity between the symptom dimensions literacy and math. Secondly, our hypotheses were that (a) a probabilistic multi-factorial risk factor model would provide a better fit to the data than a deterministic single risk factor model and (b) that a shared risk factor model would provide a better fit than the specific multi-factorial model. All our hypotheses were confirmed. NS and visuospatial WM were identified as unique cognitive predictors for MD, whereas PA and RAN were both associated with RSD. Also, a shared risk factor model with PA as a cognitive predictor for both RSD and MD fitted the data best, indicating that MD and RSD might co-occur due to a shared underlying deficit in phonological processing. Possible explanations are discussed in the context of sample selection and composition. This study shows that different cognitive factors play a role in mathematics and literacy, and that a phonological processing deficit might play a role in the occurrence of MD and RSD.
据报道，数学学习障碍（MD）与阅读和拼写障碍（RSD）之间的共病率很高。研究已经确定了与数学相关的技能，如数感（NS）和视觉空间工作记忆（视觉空间WM），以及与读写能力相关的技能，如语音意识（PA）、快速自动命名（RAN）和言语短期记忆（言语STM）。为了解释MD和RSD之间的高共病率，对7至11岁的儿童进行了一系列与读写能力（PA、RAN、言语STM）和数学能力（视觉空间WM、NS）相关的认知能力评估。儿童组包括发育正常（TD）的儿童（n = 32）、患有MD的儿童（n = 26）、患有RSD的儿童（n = 29）以及同时患有MD和RSD的儿童（n = 43）。假设是，根据对学习障碍的多重缺陷观点，将发现至少一个MD和RSD的独特预测因素以及一个可能的共同认知风险因素，以解释读写能力和数学症状维度之间的共病情况。其次，我们的假设是：（a）概率多因素风险因素模型比确定性单风险因素模型更能拟合数据；（b）共同风险因素模型比特定多因素模型更能拟合数据。我们所有的假设都得到了证实。NS和视觉空间WM被确定为MD的独特认知预测因素，而PA和RAN都与RSD相关。此外，以PA作为RSD和MD的认知预测因素的共同风险因素模型最能拟合数据，这表明MD和RSD可能由于语音处理方面的共同潜在缺陷而同时出现。在样本选择和构成的背景下讨论了可能的解释。这项研究表明，不同的认知因素在数学和读写能力中发挥作用，并且语音处理缺陷可能在MD和RSD的发生中起作用。
