Verbal Working Memory Deficits in Children with Chinese Developmental Dyslexia

Previous research indicated the association of working memory deficits and English developmental dyslexia. This study investigates whether verbal working memory deficits also associate with Chinese developmental dyslexia. Verbal working memory involves storing and processing of verbal information. In the study, Chinese dyslexic children were compared with their non-dyslexic counterparts in sentence listening and sentence reading tests that measured working memory capacity and assessed sentence processing ability. The results of the study show that Chinese dyslexic children performed significantly worse than their controls in word recall, sentence recall and sentence comprehension in both spoken and written forms. The findings of the study reveal that Chinese developmental dyslexia, similar to English developmental dyslexia, is connected with weak verbal working memory. It is suggested that training of verbal working memory needs to be considered in language education for Chinese dyslexics.