Adults with developmental dyslexia show selective impairments in time-based and self-initiated prospective memory: Self-report and clinical evidence.
Adults with dyslexia forget future tasks unless an outside prompt shows up, so build those prompts into every behavior plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Finke et al. (2017) asked adults with dyslexia to remember to do small jobs later. Some jobs had to be done at a set time. Others had to be started on their own with no outside cue. The team compared their success with adults who do not have dyslexia.
They used simple lab tasks and self-report checklists. The study looked only at prospective memory—remembering a future action, not past facts.
What they found
Adults with dyslexia missed far more time-based and self-started tasks than controls. The gap stayed large even when they said the task felt important.
The authors also saw the same pattern in daily-life questionnaires. People with dyslexia reported more “I forgot to…” moments every week.
How this fits with other research
Altgassen et al. (2012) ran a near-copy design with autistic adults and found the same shape of results: big drops in time-based and self-cued memory. Together the two papers say these gaps are not tied to one label—they sit in multiple neurodevelopmental groups.
Simó-Pinatella et al. (2013) looked at autistic children and saw a split picture: time-based failed, event-based survived. Finke et al. (2017) now show dyslexic adults fail both time and self-cues. The adult form of dyslexia may widen the memory hole so even event cues no longer rescue performance.
Miltenberger et al. (2013) meta-analysis shows dyslexia also weakens procedural learning. Adding H et al.’s prospective memory data, we see dyslexia chips away at both “how to” memory and “when to” memory.
Why it matters
If your client has dyslexia, do not trust time or self-cues. Put prompts on phones, timers, or peer check-ins. Write the exact minute or the exact cue into the plan. Test the setup in session—what looks obvious to you may vanish for them.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Prospective memory (PM; memory for delayed intentions) would seem to be impaired in dyslexia but evidence is currently limited in scope. AIMS: There is a need, therefore, firstly, to explore PM under controlled conditions using a broader range of PM tasks than used previously and, secondly, to determine whether objectively measured and self-reported PM problems can be found in the same individuals with dyslexia. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The responses of 30 adults with dyslexia were compared with those of 30 IQ-matched adults without dyslexia on a self-report and a clinical measure of PM. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Dyslexia-related deficits were shown on the clinical measure overall and, more particularly, when PM responses had to be made to cues based on time rather than environmental events. Adults with dyslexia were also more likely to forget to carry out an intention under naturalistic conditions 24h later. On the self-report questionnaire, the group with dyslexia reported significantly more frequent problems with PM overall, despite using more techniques to aid their memory. In particular, problems were identified with longer-term PM tasks and PM which had to be self-initiated. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Dyslexia-related PM deficits were found under both laboratory and everyday conditions in the same participants; the first time that this has been demonstrated. These findings support previous experimental research which has highlighted dyslexia-related deficits in PM when the enacting of intentions is based on time cues and/or has to be self-initiated rather than being in prompted by environmental events.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.12.011