Correlation between attention deficits and reading and writing deficits

Abstract

In addition to other factors, processes of attention are essential in the acquisition of reading and writing. The present study examined, by means of special tests, different components of attention in children with deficits in reading and writing. For this purpose, 32 children of the third and fourth grades in primary school with deficits in reading and writing were tested and compared with 31 children without those symptoms. All these children completed the same computer-controlled tasks concerning attention to test intensity, selectivity, control functions, as well as directing spatial attention. The results of these tests demonstrated a direct relation between deficits in reading and writing and a lack of attention capacities. In comparison to the group of children without symptoms, deficits were found concerning intensity of attention, spatial attention, as well as of controlling attention.We conclude that there must be a relation between deficits in attention and the deficits in reading and writing.