Abstract
Working memory capacity, an essential prerequisite for language learning and the development of arithmetic skills, has been reported as deficient in children with reading disorder (RD) and attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder (AD(H)D). However, few studies to date have explored potential associations of working memory impairments and foreign language learning, mathematical skills and school achievement in these groups, in particular in children with a comorbidity of both. In the present study, we assessed working memory, language learning, arithmetic fluency and academic achievement in children (N = 166; Mage = 14.3, range 8–18 y), including typically-developing children (n = 89), subjects with RD (n = 27), AD(H)D (n = 43), and a comorbidity (n = 15). While children with AD(H)D performed similar to typically developing children on all tasks, RD children performed weakly on various language learning and working memory tasks, with major deficits in non-word span, phonetic memory and vocabulary learning. Combining weaknesses of the two groups, children with a comorbidity further performed significantly worse on arithmetic skills, learning of sound-symbol combinations and simple digit span forward. The findings suggest a reconsideration of working memory and learning impairments in AD(H)D, while highlighting the additional weaknesses of comorbid children and pointing out severe foreign language learning difficulties in RD children.
Highlights
Developmental learning disorder with impairments in reading and written expression is one of the most frequently diagnosed learning disabilities affecting 5–10% of school-aged children[2,3]
The general interdependencies of the assessed variables were analysed in typically-developing children (TD) children, since this group was considered to be most representative for the normal population; in contrast, in the three disorder groups interdependencies might be distorted by deviations of specific scales from the norm
Children with reading disorder (RD) or a comorbidity of RD and AD(H)D considered themselves less gifted for learning foreign languages, struggled with various aspects of language learning and underperformed TD and AD(H)D children in almost all tasks related to working memory (WM) and language learning
Summary
Developmental learning disorder with impairments in reading and written expression (synonymous to developmental dyslexia; RD1) is one of the most frequently diagnosed learning disabilities affecting 5–10% of school-aged children[2,3]. About 31.9% of children with AD(H)D have been found to suffer from WM impairments[33], both in phonological short-term memory, visuospatial WM and executive processes[34,35] It has been suggested by Kofler et al, that reading problems in children with AD(H)D are attributable, at least partly, to underdeveloped working memory[36] and reading performance is linked to inattention[37]. Comparing AD(H)D and RD college students in one study, Sparks et al have shown that AD(H)D and learning-disabled children perform in the average to above-average range on all measures of cognitive ability and academic achievement[51] In another large study by Gooch et al, AD(H)D was characterized by deficits in time perception and executive function, while RD was characterized by phonological problems and weaknesses in duration discrimination[52]. Helland et al found language impairments in the majority of children with AD(H)D and RD, i.e., a comorbid diagnosis, and in more than 40% of children with only one diagnosis[54]
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