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. 2013 Apr;19(4):390-9.
doi: 10.1017/S1355617712001579. Epub 2013 Feb 7.

Effect of preschool working memory, language, and narrative abilities on inferential comprehension at school-age in children with spina bifida myelomeningocele and typically developing children

Meredith Pike  1 , Paul Swank, Heather Taylor, Susan Landry, Marcia A Barnes
Affiliations

Effect of preschool working memory, language, and narrative abilities on inferential comprehension at school-age in children with spina bifida myelomeningocele and typically developing children

Meredith Pike et al. J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2013 Apr.

Abstract

Children with spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM) are more likely to display a pattern of good-decoding/poor comprehension than their neurologically intact peers. The goals of the current study were to (1) examine the cognitive origins of one of the component skills of comprehension, bridging inferences, from a developmental perspective and (2) to test the effects of those relations on reading comprehension achievement. Data from a sample of children with SBM and a control group (n = 78) who participated in a longitudinal study were taken from age 36-month and 9.5-year time points. A multiple mediation model provided evidence that three preschool cognitive abilities (working memory/inhibitory control, oral comprehension, narrative recall), could partially explain the relation between group and bridging inference skill. A second mediation model supported that each of the 36-month abilities had an indirect effect on reading comprehension through bridging inference skill. Findings contribute to an understanding of both typical and atypical comprehension development, blending theories from the developmental, cognitive, and neuropsychological literature.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Multiple mediation model of bridging inferences skill. (a) unstandardized path estimates for the total effect of group on bridging inferences skill (controlling for SES and decoding skill) and (b) unstandardized path estimates for the indirect effects of group on bridging inferences skill (controlling for SES and decoding skill. +p<.10; *p<.05; **p<.01.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mediation model of paragraph comprehension with multiple IVs (a) unstandardized path estimates for the total effect of preschool predictors on paragraph comprehension (controlling for group, SES, and decoding skill) and (b) unstandardized path estimates for the indirect effects of preschool predictors on paragraph comprehension (controlling for group, SES, and decoding skill). +=p<0.10; *=p<0.05; **=p<0.01.
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