Specific contribution of short-term memory for serial order information to early reading acquisition: A longitudinal study

Early reading acquisition skills have been linked to verbal short-term memory (STM) capacity. However, the nature of this relationship remains controversial. Here we distinguished between STM for item and order information based on recent studies showing that STM for order is an important and independent predictor of oral language development. Tasks maximizing STM for serial-order or item information and reading tests were administered to 42 children from kindergarten through 1st grade. Results showed that order STM capacity measured at kindergarten predicted phonological recoding abilities at 1st grade. Implications of poor serial-order STM for reading acquisition in dyslexia are discussed.