The contribution of executive skills to reading comprehension.
Although word recognition deficits (WRD) are a known cause of reading comprehension deficits (RCD), other contributions to RCD, including executive function (EF), have not been fully explored. We examined the contribution of EF (working memory and planning), along with attention, decoding, fluency, and vocabulary to reading comprehension in 60 children (including 16 WRD and 10 RCD), ages 9-15 years. After controlling for commonly accepted contributors to reading comprehension (i.e., attention, decoding skills, fluency, and vocabulary), EF continued to make a significant contribution to reading comprehension but not to word recognition skills. These findings highlight the need for consideration of the role of EF in RCD.
Sesma
Heather Whitney
HW
Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
Mahone
E Mark
EM
Levine
Terry
T
Eason
Sarah H
SH
Cutting
Laurie E
LE
D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D032882:Comprehension; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011932:Reading; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary; D014888:Wechsler Scales