Does strategy knowledge influence working memory in children with mathematical disabilities?

This study investigated the relationship between working memory (WM), decla rative strategy knowledge, and math achievement in children with and withou t mathematical disabilities ND), Experiment I examined the relationship bet ween strategy knowledge, verbal WM, and visual-spatial WM in children with MD as a function of initial, gain, and maintenance conditions. The results showed that after partialing the influence of reading, stable strategy choi ces rather than specific strategy knowledge was related to verbal and visua l-spatial WM span in high demand (maintenance) conditions. Experiment 2 com pared children with MD to a group of chronological age-matched children and a group of math ability-matched children on the same conditions as Experim ent 1. Age-matched children's verbal and visual-spatial WM performance was superior to that of children with MD, whereas WM performance was statistica lly comparable between children with MD and younger children matched on mat h ability. The selection of expert strategies was related to high WM span s cores in the initial conditions. After controlling for reading achievement in a regression analysis, verbal and visual-spatial WM, stable verbal strat egy choices, and expert strategy choices related to visual-spatial processi ng all contributed independent variance to math achievement. Overall, these results suggest that WM and math achievement are related to strategy knowl edge.