Cognitive and emotional challenges in children with reading difficulties

Aim: Dyslexia is characterised by a primary difficulty in both reading and cognitive control. Children with reading difficulties also experience a broad range of social and emotional difficulties, such as low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. The aim of the study was to determine whether there is a linkage between emotional and cognitive-control difficulties and challenges in reading in children with reading difficulties compared to typical readers. Methods: Children eight years to 12 years of age (N = 98) either with reading difficulties or typical readers participated in the current study. Cognitive control, specifically executive functions, and emotional and reading abilities were compared between the two groups and correlated. Results: Children with reading difficulties showed significantly lower executive functions and emotional abilities compared to typical readers. Decreased reading ability was related to decreased executive functions and emotional abilities. Conclusion: The results provide insight regarding the relationship between cognitive, emotional and reading abilities: executive functions difficulties may cause emotional stress, which in turn decreases the ability to monitor, inhibit and pay attention to the written material, which impair reading to a greater degree. Results support the need for an emotional evaluation in children with reading difficulties that can be performed in a paediatrician's consulting room.