Neuropsychological aspects of reading and spelling performance in children with learning disabilities

Abstract

For a sample of 1347 (1004 boys, and 343 girls) learning disabled children, scores on the Halstead‐Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (HRNB) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children‐Revised (WISC‐R) were regressed on both reading and spelling subtests of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT). The results showed 39% of reading and 33% of spelling variability was accounted for by neuropsychological functioning. Common neuropsychological predictors were found to be the most salient for both areas of achievement. Scores on neuropsychological measures were regressed on an index which conceptualized reading and spelling on a continuum. The results suggest that reading and spelling should be viewed as separate functions that share some common neuropsychological elements.