Does dyslexia affect working memory?

Dyslexia can be associated with working-memory differences, especially on tasks involving spoken words, speech sounds and verbal sequences. However, this is not true for every person with dyslexia, and working memory is not used to diagnose dyslexia or explain it on its own.

Most of the evidence comes from research with children. It suggests that some working-memory tasks are more demanding, on average, for children with dyslexia than for comparison groups. The clearest pattern involves briefly holding speech-based information in mind.

What is working memory?

Short-term memory means holding information in mind briefly. For example, you might remember a phone number for a few seconds while entering it into a device.

Working memory involves holding information in mind while using it. A task might involve remembering the start of a spoken instruction while carrying out the first step, or holding part of a sentence in mind while making sense of the rest.

Working memory is not one single skill. It can involve different kinds of information. Verbal working memory concerns spoken words, numbers and speech sounds. The term phonological loop is sometimes used for the part of working memory that briefly holds speech-based information. “Phonological” simply means related to speech sounds.

Working memory can also involve visual and spatial information, such as patterns, shapes or locations. Research uses several different tasks to assess these areas, so findings need to be interpreted carefully.

What does the evidence suggest?

Across research reviews, children with dyslexia have scored lower on average than comparison groups on some verbal short-term-memory and working-memory tasks. This includes tasks that ask children to remember digit sequences, repeat unfamiliar sound sequences, or hold verbal information in mind while processing something else.

A review focused specifically on children with dyslexia identified differences in both verbal and visuospatial working-memory tasks. The largest difference in the evidence it included involved the phonological loop: briefly holding speech sounds in mind.

Broader evidence on children with reading difficulties points in a similar direction. Verbal working memory and short-term memory have repeatedly been associated with reading difficulties, particularly on tasks involving speech sounds and spoken sequences. These findings do not mean that working-memory difficulty is present in every child with dyslexia. They describe patterns across groups, not a fixed profile for an individual.

Someone may have dyslexia without noticeable difficulty on working-memory tests. Someone may also find working-memory tasks difficult without having dyslexia. For this reason, working memory cannot be used as a shortcut for identifying dyslexia.

Why are speech sounds especially relevant?

The most consistent findings concern verbal information, particularly speech sounds. Reading and spelling can involve noticing the sounds within words, connecting letters with sounds and keeping sound sequences in mind. This makes tasks involving verbal material relevant when considering dyslexia.

For example, a working-memory task may ask someone to repeat a sequence of digits, remember a series of sounds, or keep spoken information in mind while completing another part of the task. These are controlled assessment tasks rather than direct measures of everyday learning. A difference on such a task should not be used to assume that a particular child will have a specific classroom difficulty.

Working memory is also only one of several areas considered in research on reading. Phonological awareness — consciously noticing and working with sounds in words — has also shown substantial differences in groups with reading difficulties. Decoding and vocabulary are relevant too. When decoding and vocabulary were taken into account in broader reading research, the apparent relationship between working memory and reading comprehension became smaller.

This does not make working memory irrelevant. It means that reading comprehension should not be presented as a working-memory issue alone.

What about visual and spatial working memory?

Some evidence suggests that children with dyslexia may also score lower on average on visuospatial working-memory tasks. These tasks involve holding visual or spatial information in mind, such as patterns, shapes or locations.

The evidence in this area is less clear than it is for verbal information. Studies do not always use the same definition of visual, spatial or visuospatial memory. Some reviews have examined visuospatial memory rather than visuospatial working memory, which are related but not identical.

It would therefore be too broad to say that dyslexia affects visual memory as a general rule. The clearest recurring pattern in the available evidence concerns verbal and phonological working-memory tasks.

What might this mean for learning?

Working-memory demands can arise when a learner has to hold and use information at the same time. Examples may include remembering several spoken instructions, listening while taking notes, or holding speech sounds in mind while reading or spelling an unfamiliar word.

Experiencing difficulty in these situations does not establish dyslexia or a working-memory difficulty. The amount of information, the speed of instruction, familiarity with the topic and tiredness can all affect how manageable a task feels.

One practical way to reduce the amount that needs to be held in mind is to present instructions in smaller stages. A teacher might give the first step, check that it is understood, and then add the next step. Written instructions alongside spoken ones can also reduce the need to remember every detail from speech alone.

These approaches do not depend on a diagnosis. They are practical ways of making the task clearer when remembering several pieces of information is not the main skill being taught or assessed.

So, does dyslexia affect working memory?

Research suggests that dyslexia is associated with working-memory differences for some children, particularly on tasks involving spoken language and speech sounds. Some evidence also identifies visuospatial working-memory differences, although this pattern is less consistent.

Working memory is not a diagnostic feature of dyslexia and does not provide a complete explanation for reading or spelling difficulties. Most research in this area has involved children, so the same patterns should not automatically be assumed in adults with dyslexia. The most useful question is often practical: which tasks place a heavy memory demand, and what changes would make the information easier to manage?