Working Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Reading Disabilities: A Selective Meta-Analysis of the Literature

The purpose of the present study was to synthesize research that compares children with and without reading disabilities (RD) on measures of short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM). Across a broad age, reading, and IQ range, 578 effect sizes (ESs) were computed, yielding a mean ES across studies of —.89 (SD = 1.03). A total of 257 ESs were in the moderate range for STM measures (M = —.61, 95% confidence range of —.65 to —.58), and 320 ESs were in the moderate range for WM measures (M = —.67, 95% confidence range of —.68 to —.64). The results indicated that children with RD were distinctively disadvantaged compared with average readers on (a) STM measures requiring the recall of phonemes and digit sequences and (b) WM measures requiring the simultaneous processing and storage of digits within sentence sequences and final words from unrelated sentences. No significant moderating effects emerged for age, IQ, or reading level on memory ESs. The findings indicated that domain-specific STM and WM differences between ability groups persisted across age, suggesting that a verbal deficit model that fails to efficiently draw resources from both a phonological and executive system underlies RD.