Recent findings show that children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) tend to have reduced performance on several tasks involving working memory, attention and executive control. In addition, researchers argue for the effectiveness of training of these same cognitive skills as a way to ameliorate children’s EF skills as well as scholastic outcomes. To investigate possible training effects and to study the impact of SES on scholastic achievement in Brazilian children, we trained 61 children for 5-7 weeks and compared their performance with that of 60 age-matched peers on measures of executive functions and reading. Our results demonstrate a general effect of SES for the dependent variables. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate a positive near transfer effect on a working memory and a selective attention test and a far transfer effect on the words and pseudowords reading measure.
Ler e escrever são direitos essenciais, que envolvem dimensões individuais e coletivas (UNESCO, 2005). No entanto, os transtornos de leitura e déficits em funções executivas podem tornar essa atividade árdua. Buscamos investigar o desenvolvimento da competência leitora de 43 alunos do 3º ano em escolas da rede pública de Natal-RN e sua relação com a capacidade de memória de trabalho, através da Provinha Brasil e de testes de memória de trabalho (AWMA – Automated Working Memory Assessment). As Provinhas Brasil dos alunos, participantes do Projeto ACERTA – Avaliação de Crianças em Risco de Transtornos de Aprendizagem (CAPES/OBEDUC) – foram analisadas e comparadas aos escores dos testes de memória de trabalho. Os resultados indicam que a competência leitora dos alunos está ligada à sua capacidade de memória de trabalho, principalmente no que diz respeito ao componente fonológico.
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