Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Dyslexia. 2022 Feb;28(1):20-39. doi: 10.1002/dys.1699. Epub 2021 Sep 27.
The primary purpose of this study was to compare the working memory performance of monolingual English-speaking second grade children with dyslexia (N = 82) to second-grade children with typical development (N = 167). Prior to making group comparisons, it is important to demonstrate invariance between working memory models in both groups or between-group comparisons would not be valid. Thus, we completed invariance testing using a model of working memory that had been validated for children with typical development (Gray et al., 2017) to see if it was valid for children with dyslexia. We tested three types of invariance: configural (does the model test the same constructs?), metric (are the factor loadings equivalent?), and scalar (are the item intercepts the same?). Group comparisons favoured the children with typical development across all three working memory factors. However, differences in the Focus-of-Attention/Visuospatial factor could be explained by group differences in non-verbal intelligence and language skills. In contrast, differences in the Phonological and Central Executive working memory factors remained, even after accounting for non-verbal intelligence and language. Results highlight the need for researchers and educators to attend not only to the phonological aspects of working memory in children with dyslexia, but also to central executive function.
本研究的主要目的是比较有阅读障碍的单语英语为母语的二年级儿童（N=82）与具有典型发展的二年级儿童（N=167）的工作记忆表现。在进行组间比较之前，重要的是要证明两组之间的工作记忆模型不变，否则组间比较将是无效的。因此，我们使用已经过验证的适用于具有典型发展的儿童的工作记忆模型（Gray 等人，2017）进行不变性测试，以确定其是否适用于患有阅读障碍的儿童。我们测试了三种不变性：结构不变性（模型是否测试相同的结构？）、度量不变性（因素负荷是否相等？）和标度不变性（项目截距是否相同？）。组间比较表明，所有三种工作记忆因素都有利于具有典型发展的儿童。然而，在注意力焦点/视觉空间因素方面的差异可以用非语言智力和语言技能方面的组间差异来解释。相比之下，即使考虑到非语言智力，语音和中央执行工作记忆因素的差异仍然存在。研究结果强调了研究人员和教育工作者不仅要关注阅读障碍儿童工作记忆的语音方面，还要关注中央执行功能。
