title: Cognitive profile of adolescents with math disabilities: are the profiles different from those with reading disabilities?
abstract: Adolescents (ages 14-17) with math disabilities (MD, n=12), reading disabilities (RD, n=19), math+reading disabilities (MD+RD, n=12), and average achievers (n=15) were compared on measures of visual-spatial processing, random generation (inhibition), writing speed, short-term memory (STM), and working memory (WM). Adolescents with MD performed significantly lower than adolescents with RD on measures of visual-spatial processing and visual WM. Adolescents with MD outperformed adolescents with RD +MD on measures of random generation and motor speed. Performance of all three low-achieving groups was inferior to average achievers on measures of random generation, motor speed, and verbal WM. The results were interpreted within a multicomponent model that attributed deficits related to MD in adolescents to deficits related the visual-spatial sketchpad of WM.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. lee.swanson@ucr.edu
authors.forename: H Lee
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Swanson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D060705:Dyscalculia / Q000523:psychology; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception