Inhibition, Updating Working Memory, and Shifting Predict Reading Disability Symptoms in a Hybrid Model: Project KIDS

Abstract

Recent achievement research suggests that executive function (EF), a set of regulatory processes that control both thought and action necessary for goal-directed behavior, is related to typical and atypical reading performance. This project examines the relation of EF, as measured by its components, Inhibition, Updating Working Memory, and Shifting, with a hybrid model of reading disability (RD). Our sample included 420 children who participated in a broader intervention project when they were in KG-third grade (age M = 6.63 years, SD = 1.04 years, range = 4.79–10.40 years). At the time their EF was assessed, using a parent-report Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), they had a mean age of 13.21 years (SD = 1.54 years; range = 10.47–16.63 years). The hybrid model of RD was operationalized as a composite consisting of four symptoms, and set so that any child could have any one, any two, any three, any four, or none of the symptoms included in the hybrid model. The four symptoms include low word reading achievement, unexpected low word reading achievement, poorer reading comprehension compared to listening comprehension, and dual-discrepancy response-to-intervention, requiring both low achievement and low growth in word reading. The results of our multilevel ordinal logistic regression analyses showed a significant relation between all three components of EF (Inhibition, Updating Working Memory, and Shifting) and the hybrid model of RD, and that the strength of EF’s predictive power for RD classification was the highest when RD was modeled as having at least one or more symptoms. Importantly, the chances of being classified as having RD increased as EF performance worsened and decreased as EF performance improved. The question of whether any one EF component would emerge as a superior predictor was also examined and results showed that Inhibition, Updating Working Memory, and Shifting were equally valuable as predictors of the hybrid model of RD. In total, all EF components were significant and equally effective predictors of RD when RD was operationalized using the hybrid model.

Home activities and cognitive skills in relation to early literacy and numeracy: testing a multifactorial model in preschoolers

“…The authors actually found that reading and math skills were less related in transparent compared to opaque languages and that they were more related in timed vs. untimed reading and math tasks. Evidence of literacy and numeracy interrelations opens the way to more complex reflections regarding the possible role of domain-general skills, with particular attention to the role of executive functions (EFs) as suggested by previous studies, that found relationships between EFs and academic achievement (Best et al, 2011;Chiappe & MacDonald, 2005), as well as with literacy (Cummine et al, 2018;Daucourt et al, 2018), numeracy (Mazzocco & Kover, 2007), or both (e.g., Davidse et al, 2014).…”

Open Science in Education Sciences

“…For example, to examine if students’ scores on executive functioning measures predicted reading disabilities, Daucourt and colleagues (2018) combined eight different data sets. The original data sets included student achievement data from reading intervention studies.…”

“…In this particular example, Daucourt and colleagues (2018) were able to capitalize on existing data to run a relatively low-cost study. By using the already collected reading achievement data from the original intervention studies, they avoided having to unnecessarily spend resources on assessments and were able to append these data with the parent questionnaire.…”

Funcionamiento ejecutivo conductual y acceso al léxico: un estudio longitudinal

“…Evalúa los problemas en 8 escalas de FE que se agrupan en dos índices (regulación conductual y metacognición) y una puntuación total. Daucourt, Schatschneider, Connor, Al Otaiba y Hart (2018) analizaron la relación de tres de las escalas incluidas en el cuestionario (MT, inhibición y cambio) con un modelo de disfunción de acceso al léxico en una muestra de 420 niños, encontrado una clara relación entre las mismas. Similares son los resultados obtenidos utilizando otros instrumentos de evaluación ecológica del FE, como el Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI; Thorell y Nyberg, 2008).…”