Executive Function Deficits and Reading Comprehension in Pupils with Dyslexia in Lagos State Schools

This study empirically examines the relationship between executive function deficits and reading comprehension difficulties in primary school pupils diagnosed with dyslexia in Lagos State, South West Nigeria. Dyslexia is among the most prevalent learning disabilities affecting Nigerian children, yet the neuropsychological underpinnings of its academic manifestations, particularly the role of executive functions such as working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control, remain underexplored in local research. The study employs a case-control design, comparing 80 pupils with confirmed dyslexia diagnoses to 80 matched typically developing peers across eight private and public schools in Lagos Mainland and Lagos Island. The Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment (NEPSY-II) executive function battery and the Gray Oral Reading Test were used as instruments. Data were analysed using multivariate analysis of covariance and path analysis. Findings reveal that pupils with dyslexia demonstrate significantly weaker working memory and phonological processing compared to controls, with working memory emerging as the strongest individual executive function predictor of reading comprehension scores within the dyslexic group. Cognitive flexibility showed a moderate predictive relationship with inferential comprehension. These results advance the understanding of dyslexia's cognitive architecture within the Nigerian school context and have implications for assessment and intervention design. Educational psychologists in Lagos State are advised to incorporate executive function profiling into dyslexia assessment protocols to guide more targeted remediation. Keywords: executive function, dyslexia, reading comprehension, primary school, Lagos State.