Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ashley Mayhew

Date

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Meisinger

Committee Member

Pia Banerjee

Committee Member

Kris Berlin

Committee Member

Randy Floyd

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the role of executive function (EF) skills (i.e., working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition) in supporting the development of reading fluency in elementary school students with dyslexia. Participants were 47 students (i.e., second to sixth grade) attending a private school in the Mid-South region of the United States that provides an intensive day-treatment program for students diagnosed with dyslexia. Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) was used to explore the concurrent and predictive relation between EF and oral reading fluency across a school year. Overall, results from the study indicated that executive function skills (i.e., working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition) did not significantly predict growth in reading fluency scores across the school year, and only inhibition emerged as a significant predictor for baseline reading fluency scores in the fall. More surprisingly, initial reading scores at the beginning of the school year did not predict the amount of growth across the fall or spring semesters. Given the potential impact of methodological limitations (i.e., sample size, collapsing data across grades, and not accounting for potential covariates) on these results, conclusions from this study should be drawn with caution. However, this study illuminates the need for additional research on the complex relation between executive function and reading fluency.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest

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