Auditory and visual working memory in dyslexic students: before and after intervention

Working memory has a important role in the academic performance of the students with reading disability. However educational researchers have reported different results in the effectiveness of existing programs. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of working memory educational program on enhancing working memory performance of dyslexic students. This education considered both auditory and visual dimension. This study was Quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test, and fallow-up. The statistical population was all the primary school students with dyslexia who went to learning disorders centers in Tehran, 30 of them were selected by convenience sampling and were assigned by random in experimental and control groups. The experimental group experienced the working memory educational program in 24 sessions, 25 to 30minutes. Working Memory Test Battery for Children (Gathercole & Pickering, 2001) was taken before and after education and also two months after finishing the program it was taken for both experimental and control group. Multi-variable variance analysis with repeated measures were used for data analyzing. Results showed significant differences between experimental and control group in post-test and also stability of these differences in follow-up test. In conclusion effectiveness of working memory educational program for dyslexic children is determined in enhancing their ability of auditory and visual working memory.