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working memory until it can be processed, organized, and put to use.
    When auditory-verbal working memory is limited (or has too short a functional span), the brain may fail to finish all the processing it needs to perform before this “internal speech tracing” fades away. The result is working memory overload , which causes symptoms like inaccurate language processing, slower language-based learning, problems with organization and task management, and the appearance of inattention during difficult work. Working memory overload resembles what happens when you try to run a memory-intensive software program on a computer with too little keyboard memory. At first the program runs more slowly; then it begins to flash error messages; and finally it jams up completely.
    Problems with working memory overload are very common in dyslexic students. They often first appear during the early elementary years, when complex tasks like reading, writing, and math are first introduced; peak again during the middle elementary years, when organization and study skills are first stressed; then cause another peak of challenges during middle and high school when language and organizational demands become even more complex.
    Importantly, working memory also plays a key role in other aspects of attention or “executive function” like organization, planning, implementation, and oversight of tasks. That’s why when working memory is limited due to problems with phonological processing, students can experience a whole range of challenges with attention. Often such students are diagnosed with inattentive ADHD.
    Problems with phonological processing are usually attributed to structural variations in the brain’s left hemisphere, particularly in the language areas of the left temporal lobe. The precise nature of these variations isn’t fully known. Some researchers believe they are caused by alterations in processes that take place very early in development, when brain cells organize themselves into functional networks. Because the networks don’t form in a well-integrated fashion, the processing of phonological information is impaired. 3 Other researchers have proposed that these impairments are caused by difficulties in learning rule-based procedures or by inherited variations in the structure of the brain’s circuitry. We’ll discuss these hypotheses in more detail in the rest of this chapter and the next.
    For the moment, however, let’s focus on the key question of whether phonological processing impairments by themselves seem capable of causing all the challenges and strengths associated with dyslexia. It shouldn’t take us long to see that they cannot. For example, there’s no direct relationship between poor phonological processing and common dyslexia-associated difficulties like problems with finger coordination for handwriting, eye movement control for reading, or speech muscle control for speech articulation. Even more importantly, phonological processing impairments provide no explanation for the kinds of dyslexic advantages or dyslexia-associated processing strengths that we saw in Kristen, Christopher, and James—such as their strong mechanical and spatial abilities or their strengths in spotting unusual connections.
    There must be some even more fundamental difference (or differences) in dyslexic brains that accounts for both phonological processing problems and the other patterns of challenges and strengths associated with dyslexia. Next, and in chapter 4, we’ll consider the remaining three dyslexia-related brain variations, each of which attempts to provide this more basic explanation.

Procedural Learning
    The next key difference between dyslexic and nondyslexic brains to consider involves the procedural learning system and procedural memory. 4 One of the leading experts on procedural learning and dyslexia, British psychologist Dr. Angela Fawcett, described procedural learning