Relationship of word- and sentence-level working memory to reading and writing in second, fourth, and sixth grade.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of working memory at the word and sentence levels of language to reading and writing outcomes.


METHODS
Measures of working memory at the word and sentence levels, reading and writing, were administered to 2nd (N = 122), 4th (N = 222), and 6th (N = 105) graders. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate whether the 2 predictor working memory factors contributed unique variance beyond their shared covariance to each of 5 outcome factors: handwriting, spelling, composing, word reading, and reading comprehension.


RESULTS
At each grade level, except for handwriting and composing in 6th grade, the word-level working memory factor contributed unique variance to each reading and writing outcome. The text-level working memory factor contributed unique variance to reading comprehension in 4th and 6th grade.


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical significance of these findings for assessment and intervention is discussed.
Berninger
Virginia W
VW
322 Miller, Box 353600, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3600, USA. vwb@u.washington.edu
Abbott
Robert D
RD
Swanson
H Lee
HL
Lovitt
Dan
D
Trivedi
Pam
P
Lin
Shin-Ju Cindy
SJ
Gould
Laura
L
Youngstrom
Marci
M
Shimada
Shirley
S
Amtmann
Dagmar
D
D000124:Achievement; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014956:Writing