Developmental associations between verbal and visual short-term memory andthe acquisition of decoding skill

This study longitudinally investigated the relationships between verbal and visual short-term memory (STM) and the acquisition of decoding from the pr e-reading through the early acquisition stages in 63 Hebrew-speaking childr en. Test waves occurred in kindergarten, first grade and second grade. IQ, visual and verbal STM and decoding ability were assessed. The data indicate d that while both verbal and visual STM in kindergarten were significantly correlated to later decoding skill, pre-reading visual STM was a stronger p redictor. The results further showed that pre-reading performance on the WI SC-R Block Design test predicted later decoding ability, while performance on the MSC-R Vocabulary test did not. Lastly, decoding skill in grade I was found to predict only visual in grade 2. These results indicate that visua l parameters may make a crucial contribution to the acquisition of decoding skills. The size of pre-reading visual STM capacity appears to play a role in this process. The relationship between visual STM and decoding may be b idirectional, as learning to decode appears to develop visual STM. It is su ggested that either language-related or task-related factors may account fo r these counter-to-mainstream results.