A preliminary on the working memory abilities of Chinese elementary-school students with words writing difficulties

• Main Authors: Chen, Hsiao-Yi, 陳曉依
• Other Authors: Chaou, Wun-Tsong
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/62528857534017254505

碩士 === 國立臺北護理健康大學 === 聽語障礙科學研究所 === 100 === Dyslexia and dysgraphia are both included in the writing difficulties in Chinese language. In order to understand the nature of the differences between dyslexia and dysgraphia in Chinese-speaking children, the present study investigates the differences and characteristics of the working memory architecture in three groups of elementary school children: those with dyslexia, those with dysgraphia and those with normal literacy development. In the present study, the respondents were recruited from outpatient services in Puli Christian Hospital and Puli Elementary School in Nantou country, Taiwan. In total, thirty elementary school students from second to sixth grades were recruited in this study, and the students with visual, auditory, speech-language, emotional/behavioral impairments and/or mental retardation were excluded. The respondents were divided into three groups according to their word reading and writing abilities: dyslexia, dysgraphia and normal. Each group had ten respondents, and each respondent was paired based on the gender, intelligence quotient (IQ) and the grade in the school. The respondents’ working memory architecture abilities (i.e. phonological word forms, orthographic word forms, phonological loop, orthographic loop and central executive function) were assessed using ten tests, and their results were compared in terms of differences and characteristics. The error types of dictation between Chinese dyslexia and dysgraphia were also examined. The main results of this study suggested that all the working memory architecture abilities of the dyslexic group were significantly poorer than the normal group. The dysgraphic group was significantly poorer than the normal group in orthographic word forms, orthographic loop and central executive function. Comparing the dyslexic group to the dysgraphic group, the latter was significantly better than the former in phonological word forms, orthographic word forms and phonological loop, however their orthographic loop and central executive function were similar. Overall, the main deficits of dysgraphia in the working memory architecture may involve with orthographic word forms, orthographic loop, and central executive functuin. The deficits of dyslexia in the working memory memory architecture may involve with phonological and orthographic word forms, phonological loop, orthographic loop and central executive function. The present study has discussed the differences in the working memory architecture tests and the error types of dictation between the dyslexic group and the dysgraphic group. The clinical implications and suggestions for the future studies were further discussed. Key words: writing difficulty, dyslexia, dysgraphia, working memory.