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.
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!