Comparing the phonological, musical, and general cognitive profiles of early-emerging poor, average, and good readers of Chinese

The results reflect phonological deficits in early-emerging poor readers. Furthermore, phonological awareness and working memory were useful for identifying early-emerging poor and good readers, respectively. Clinically, these findings imply that early-emerging poor readers may benefit most from initial phonological awareness training, followed by working memory training. Moreover, working memory training may also be beneficial for early-emerging average readers seeking to improve their Chinese word reading.