Working memory is more important to academic success than IQ, according to recent research.  Why is that important to ADHD parents and what the heck is working memory anyway?

Working memory is the ability to keep information in awareness until a task is accomplished. An example would be when you tell your child to do three things and only two get done ( if  you’re lucky). People with ADHD have very poor working memory, so your child’s difficulties in school are likely related to difficulties with working memory.

The research was recently published in The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology by Dr. Tracy Alloway. It indicates that working memory is more important to academic success than IQ. Working memory is also the best predictor of reading,spelling and math

IQ is a very unreliable predictor of academic performance. Indeed, if I only had a nickel for every time a parent has told me– “He’s  very smart , he just doesn’t get good grades.”

So, the bad news is that here’s another problem for ADHD kids.

The good news is that working memory is something we know how to improve. The research on neuroplasticity indicates that the brain adapts and adjusts to the demands we make on it.

Computerized Cognitive Retraining(CCR) is a very effective, well-researched and efficient approach to improving working memory. We have known that CCR improves working memory,but we haven’t had direct evidence that it impacts education directly. Now we do.

This research also explains why tutoring for ADHD kids is frequently not effective. It’s not aimed at the right target. Its not designed to, nor does it improve working memory.

CCR can specifically target working memory and improve it . The improvements take 20-30 sessions of CCR to become noticeable and they last because you’re training and structurally changing your brain. MRI studies show that CCR causes growth in the specific part of the brain targeted by the program.

The part of your brain that’s involved in working memory actually gets bigger and more dense. (Density is good in this case because it means more dendritic connections, that is your neurons are talking to each other better.)

If you have questions about CCR and ADHD and/or school performance, feel free to contact me.

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ADHD kids are plagued by emotions that are frequently out of control. They are emotionally labile–happy one minute, enraged the next. They appear to have little control over their emotions.

This is a cause of significant distress for the child and everyone around him or her.

One of the characteristics of ADHD children who are sucessful in later life is the ability to deal with and manage emotions.

A useful set of techniques for dealing with emotion is cognitive behavioral therapy. The basic assumption of CBT is that our emotions are generated by the way we think about situations and events, not by the situations or events themselves.

This could obviously be a little abstract for a very young child, but it can be simplified by focusing on what the child is thinking rather than on what he’s feeling or shouldn’t be doing.

The discussion following an emotional outburst can then become a discussion of what you were thinking and how what you were thinking caused you to feel. Emphasis is always on you having responsibility for your emotions because you generate your emotions.

It takes time for the child to be able to use this technique. The major step is getting awareness of the link between thought and emotion  and acceptance of the responsibility for the emotion.

The second assumption of CBT is that if we change our thinking we change our emotions. Exaggerated emotions are caused by exaggerated (unrealistic or irrational) thinking.

Changing our thinking to more realistic and logical thoughts will result in more modulated emotions. It doesn’t mean you’ll never get irritated or frustrated  again, but it does mean that episodes of eyeball bulging, vein popping rage should be much less frequent.

Technique-after a meltdown,
1. help the child identify the emotion. Were you angry at Billy or afraid your friends would like him better than you?
2. help him identify the exaggerated thoughts–nobody will ever like me, I’ll be all alone forever. Billy’s a poop-head.
3.help him establish some emotional distance–through humor, exaggeration, distraction.
4.help him come up with more rational, logical thoughts–Billy’s not really a poop-head, I actually like him. I just didn’t like what he did today.Or even if my friends all played with Billy today, he won’t be here tomorrow and they’ve been my friends for years, so we’ll probably play again. And no, I won’t be alone forever.
This is a useful technique that improves with age and experience. It gives the ADHD child one set of tools for dealing with emotions. It’s also helpful for ADHD parents!

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ADHD Brains–Internal Structure

December 1, 2009

Disorganization is one of the hallmarks of the ADHD brain. We’ve already talked about the need for external structure to improve performance for ADHD’ers.
This is the first step in developing an internalized ability to organize. For a child with ADHD to learn to be a reasonably organized person, he or she must experience organization and [...]

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Training ADHD Brains–Structure

November 19, 2009

Chaos without reinforces chaos within.  ADHD Brains are different.
ADHD kids live with chronic chaos–in their brains. Their innner experience is frequently disorganized, unfocused  and not particularly goal oriented.
When scientists look at their brain functions, ADHD kids have underactive frontal lobes  and generate more of the brain waves associated with disorganized thinking.
They, more so than other [...]

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Training the ADHD Brain–Meditation

September 22, 2009

When I was a boy psychologist first learning about ADHD, I thought meditation, relaxation training and/or hypnosis  should be an effective treatment because it trains the mind to focus.
One of the attempts to define hypnosis even calls it a state of heightened focus. Additionally, my patients were reporting heightened abilities to concentrate after starting one [...]

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Training the ADHD Brain–Neurofeedback

September 8, 2009

Another drug-free approach to improving cognitive performance is neurofeedback.
It is a biofeedback methodology that gives the individual feedback about the kind of brainwaves being generated and trains the individual to produce the appropriate brain waves.
The brain waves associated with focused attention are called Beta. The brain waves associated with disorganized thinking are called Theta. With [...]

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Training the ADHD Brain-Computerized Cognitive Retraining

September 1, 2009

Training the ADHD brain to better control attentional processes is now possible and it doesn’t require medication. Your child or husband can learn to improve attention, consistency and behavior by exercising his or her brain with computerized cognitive retraining.
CCR has  two major features–1. it involves training based on neuroplasticity and 2. it is  not medication-based.
Neuroplasticity [...]

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Training the ADHD Brain

August 25, 2009

In the years since I was a boy psychologist,we have discovered that it is possible to train people’s brains to improve attention,memory, working memory and almost every other cognitive function. More recently we’ve discovered that it also works for ADHD!
Different training techniques improve different brain functions without medication. In some cases medication is discontinued, in [...]

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STRATEGIC PARENTING

July 25, 2009

As parents of attention-deficit-disorder (ADD) and/or learning-disabled (LD) children, we are so busy dealing with daily crises that we sometimes lose sight of what we’re trying to accomplish with our offspring. With all the hassles of getting up, getting off to school, getting books and homework assignments home and then getting them done, dealing temper [...]

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Raising children who will be successful adults

July 23, 2009

Studies on children with ADD/LD who have grown into successful adults list a variety of characteristics and skills that are essential. They boil down to three essentials
1. Positive self-esteem
2. Effective support systems
3. Skills to set goals and cope with emotions.
In this post, let’s focus on the first element, positive self esteem.
Positive self-esteem –
Positive self-esteem involves [...]

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