Abstract
BackgroundIt is important to improve verbal Working Memory (WM) in reading disability, as it is a key factor in learning. There are commercial verbal WM training programs, which have some short-term effects only on the verbal WM capacity, not reading. However, because of some weaknesses in current verbal WM training programs, researchers suggested designing and developing newly structured programs that particularly target educational functions such as reading skills. In the current double-blind randomized clinical trial study, we designed a new Verbal Working Memory-Balance (VWM-B) program which was carried out using a portable robotic device. The short-term effects of the VWM-B program, on verbal WM capacity, reading skills, and postural control were investigated in Iranian children with developmental dyslexia.ResultsThe effectiveness of the VWM-B program was compared with the VWM-program as a traditional verbal WM training. In comparison with VWM-program, the participants who received training by the VWM-B program showed superior performance on verbal WM capacity, reading skills, and postural control after a short-term intervention.ConclusionsWe proposed that the automatized postural control resulting from VWM-B training had a positive impact on improving verbal WM capacity and reading ability. Based on the critical role of the cerebellum in automatizing skills, our findings support the cerebellar deficit theory in dyslexia.Trial registration: This trial was (retrospectively) registered on 8 February 2018 with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT20171219037953N1).
Highlights
It is important to improve verbal Working Memory (WM) in reading disability, as it is a key factor in learning
In the current research, we aimed to examine the effectiveness of the Verbal Working Memory-Balance (VWM-B) program on verbal WM capacity, reading ability, and postural control in children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD)
We suggest investigating the effectiveness of the Verbal Working Memory (VWM)-B program on attention using suitable measurements such as eye-tracking studies to investigate visual attention [112] and eye-movement changes, especially fixation [113] as an indicator for improving attention in DD
Summary
It is important to improve verbal Working Memory (WM) in reading disability, as it is a key factor in learning. The short-term effects of the VWM-B program, on verbal WM capacity, reading skills, and postural control were investigated in Iranian children with developmental dyslexia. Many studies have supported that reading difficulties in children with DD are due to phonological deficits, explained by the phonological deficit theory [1, 5, 6]. This theory has suggested that children with DD have a specific impairment in the representation, storage, and retrieval of speech sounds (phonological awareness problems) [7]. Children with DD usually have deficits in verbal WM in addition to problems in phonological awareness, grapheme–phoneme decoding and segmentation [9, 10]. Sufficient improvement of the verbal WM capacity in children with DD is necessary [24,25,26]
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