WORKING MEMORY AND LEARNING DIFFICULTIES: COEXISTENCE OR A STRONG RELATIONSHIP?

This research paper addressed the relationship between Learning Difficulties and Working Memory of a sample of primary students in 10 schools at 4 cities of Cyprus. Students with poor working memory have a low academic achievement, facing difficulties in reading and mathematical thinking. The main objective of the current research is to investigate the possibility of a causative interaction between working memory and the occurrence of learning difficulties in primary school students. Evaluating working memory in students with SLD, the analysis showed that it was significantly lower (p=,000), indicating a strong correlation between working memory and learning difficulties. Specifically, the analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation (p≤.001) between working memory and the variables of digit span, picture memory, pattern memory, grapheme discrimination, phoneme discrimination, and phoneme composition. Adding to the research, the current study stress that in students with learning difficulties the deficits in working memory are in a strong relationship with difficulties in specific types of both Sequence Working Memory and Grapheme-phoneme’s Awareness