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BackgroundReading and math constitute important academic skills, and as such, reading disability (RD or developmental dyslexia) and math disability (MD or developmental dyscalculia) can have negative consequences for children’s educational progress. Although RD and MD are different learning disabilities, they frequently co-occur. Separate theories have implicated the cerebellum and its cortical connections in RD and in MD, suggesting that children with combined reading and math disability (RD + MD) may have altered cerebellar function and disrupted functional connectivity between the cerebellum and cortex during reading and during arithmetic processing. MethodsHere we compared Control and RD + MD groups during a reading task as well as during an arithmetic task on (i) activation of the cerebellum, (ii) background functional connectivity, and (iii) task-dependent functional connectivity between the cerebellum and the cortex. ResultsThe two groups (Control, RD + MD) did not differ for either task (reading, arithmetic) on any of the three measures (activation, background functional connectivity, task-dependent functional connectivity). ConclusionThese results do not support theories that children’s deficits in reading and math originate in the cerebellum. 

Phonological processing skills have not only been shown to be important for reading skills, but also for arithmetic skills. Specifically, previous research in typically devel- oping children has suggested that phonological processing skills may be more closely related to arithmetic problems that are solved through fact retrieval (e.g., remembering the solution from memory) than procedural computation (e.g., counting). However, the relationship between phonological processing and arithmetic in children with learning disabilities (LDs) has not been investigated. Yet, understanding these relationships in children with LDs is especially important because it can help elucidate the cognitive underpinnings of math difficulties, explain why reading and math disabilities frequently co-occur, and provide information on which cognitive skills to target for interventions. In 63 children with LDs, we examined the relationship between different phonological processing skills (phonemic awareness, phonological memory, and rapid serial naming) and arithmetic. We distinguished between arithmetic problems that tend to be solved with fact retrieval versus procedural computation to determine whether phonological processing skills are differentially related to these two arithmetic processes. We found that phonemic awareness, but not phonological memory or rapid serial naming, was related to arithmetic fact retrieval. We also found no association between any phono- logical processing skills and procedural computation. These results converge with prior research in typically developing children and suggest that phonemic awareness is also related to arithmetic fact retrieval in children with LD. These results raise the possibil- ity that phonemic awareness training might improve both reading and arithmetic fact retrieval skills.