STM-Suite, an Online Platform for the Assessment of Memory Functions Discriminates among Subgroups of Children with Different Types of Specific Learning Disorders

Abstract

A deficit in short-term memory (STM) functions characterizes many neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular, specific learning disorders. Hence, there is a need to develop a web-based platform capable of testing specific variables and administration conditions in a controlled manner. The platform herein presented allows for the assessment of short-term memory (STM) items and order components in a series of different conditions. Stimulus types, presentation, and response modalities were appropriately selected to assess the impact of those variables on memory performances. The usefulness of such a systematic, fine-grained analysis of STM functions was tested by applying the complete assessment in a group of 100 school-age children (47 Typically Developing children and 53 children with learning disorders) and evaluating the capacity of the software to highlight different specific memory processes activated during reading, writing, and calculation. A cluster analysis was applied to the learning performances of the whole group, and a four-cluster solution representing the best division into subgroups of learning disorders (affecting reading, writing, and mathematical skills, variously combined) also showed clear-cut differences in the children’s STM profiles. This confirms the potential and the usefulness of the tool for the characterization of STM in school-age children.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 0 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.