Research Byte: Executive function and early reading skills

PT J
AU Foy, JG
Mann, VA
AF Foy, Judith G.
Mann, Virginia A.
TI Executive function and early reading skills
SO READING AND WRITING
AB The purpose of this study was to examine how executive function skills
in verbal and nonverbal auditory tasks are related to early reading
skills in beginning readers. Kindergarteners (N = 41, aged 5 years)
completed verbal (phonemes) and nonverbal (environmental sounds)
Continuous Performance tasks yielding measures of executive function
(misses, false alarms, and shift) as well as reaction time and D-Prime
(sensitivity). Year-end measures of early reading skill included tests
of phoneme awareness, letter knowledge, as well as reading (words and
nonwords). The children made more errors on the verbal than the
nonverbal tasks, suggesting that executive function abilities may differ
by task. Adding to the literature on the role of inhibitory skills in
reading, verbal inhibitory executive function skills were tied more
closely to early reading than other verbal or nonverbal skills when age,
short-term memory, and vocabulary were controlled.
PD MAR
PY 2013
VL 26
IS 3
BP 453
EP 472
ER