Executive Function and Planning Features of Students With Different Types of Learning Difficulties in Chinese Junior Middle School

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the executive function and planning features of students with different types of learning difficulties. Students with mathematics difficulty (MD; n = 17), reading difficulty (RD; n = 12), their commonalities (MDRD; n = 22), and their typically academically developing peers (TD; n = 22) were evaluated on an array of cognitive measures (working memory, inhibition, and planning) individually. Results revealed significant differences among groups on various cognitive measures. Students in the MD, RD, and MDRD groups showed poorer performance compared to the TD group on all of the working memory, inhibition, and planning tasks. The MDRD group showed an overall weakness when comparing to other groups, indicating severe cognitive deficits in students with MDRD. The RD group showed deficits in inhibition and planning on tasks requiring verbal skills; MD students showed deficits in inhibition and planning on digit-related tasks. However, no salient difference was found between the MD, RD, and TD group on working memory. Results have implications for understanding the cognitive features of MD, RD, and MDRD, and intervention programs targeting inhibition and planning may be beneficial for improving reading and mathematics achievement in students with learning difficulties.

Effect of Executive Function on Event-Based Prospective Memory for Different Forms of Learning Disabilities

“…Students with RDs experienced updating deficits, whereas students with RDMDs suffered from extensive executive function deficits in shifting, inhibition, and updating. These findings were consistent with previous studies that have indicated impaired executive functioning in students with RDMDs ( Sluis et al, 2004 ; Wang et al, 2008b ; Peng et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2016 ; Deng et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Compared to typical students, RD students performed worse in the inhibitory control and attention switching tasks ( Hari and Renvall, 2001 ; Leong et al, 2007 ). Students with comorbid disabilities were generally deficient in WM updating, inhibition, and shifting of executive function ( Sluis et al, 2004 ; Wang et al, 2008a ; Peng et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2016 ; Deng et al, 2018 ). Based on previous findings, it was found that different types of LDs may have heterogeneous cognitive defects heterogeneity ( Andersson, 2010 ; Peng and Fuchs, 2014 ).…”

What Predicts First‐ and Second‐Language Difficulties? Testing Language and Executive Functioning Skills as Correlates

“…Peng et al (2013) also found that Chinese children with reading difficulties at age 11 exhibited deficits in working memory, inhibition control, and rapid naming. Similarly, Deng et al (2020) showed that Chinese children with reading difficulties aged 12-15 performed poorly in inhibition control. None of these studies have examined the EF skills of working memory and inhibition control with L1 and L2 language skills together as correlates of Chinese and English word reading difficulty in a longitudinal study, so the interacting roles of each of these skills lack rigorous study especially for poor readers.…”

Executive functions in Chinese kindergarten children with early reading problems

“…48 children (25 boys and 23 girls; aged 5.87) whose word reading scores fell into the bottom 25% of all children in our sample were identified as poor readers. The cut‐off value of 25% was chosen because it was commonly used to identify poor readers in previous research (Darney, Reinke, Herman, Stormont, & Ialongo, 2013; Deng, Cai, Zhou, & Leung, 2020; Limbrick, Wheldall, & Madelaine, 2012; Liu et al, 2010; McBride‐Chang et al, 2013). And among the remaining children in the sample ( n = 142), 48 children (25 boys and 23 girls; aged 5.89) were selected as the normal readers by a matching procedure.…”