Equipping school and child psychologists, and neuropsychologists with critical information on the role of working memory in learning and achievement, Working Memory and Academic Learning offers guidance on assessment tools, interventions, and current evidence-based best practices. Its specific, step-by-step guidance and hands-on case studies enables you to identify how working memory relates to academic attainment and how to apply this knowledge in professional practice.
Improve academic learning outcomes with accurate working memory assessment and evidence-based interventions Essentials of Working Memory Assessment and Intervention is an accessible, practical guide to accurately and efficiently assessing working memory. This comprehensive resource explains the theories of working memory, with an emphasis on cognitive load theory, and provides step-by-step guidelines for organizing a cross-battery assessment, selecting appropriate instruments, interpreting results, and formulating individualized interventions and educational programming. In-depth case studies illustrate typical profiles found in children and adolescents with working memory deficits, and the companion CD features worksheets, testing charts, and other useful resources. Reader-friendly design elements including Rapid Reference, Caution, and Don't Forget boxes, and practice questions, bullet points, and icons make this guide useful for both study and desk reference. Working memory deficits are the main reason why students with disabilities are unable to successfully respond to regular education interventions. Given the strong relationship between working memory and all areas of academic learning, a deeper understanding of working memory and the related assessments and interventions can facilitate greater achievement. This book helps readers: Understand the development and neuroanatomy of working memory Learn techniques for improving working memory in the classroom Examine strategies for brain-based working memory training Effectively utilize working memory assessment measures By examining the critical functions of working memory and its relationship with specific learning disabilities, then providing strategies for assessment and detailed intervention guidance, this book helps educatorsand professionals guide their students and clients toward improved cognitive functioning, , reduced frustration, and improved academic performance . For those seeking a practical approach to working memory, Essentials of Working Memory Assessment and Intervention provides the tools and information they need.
Dr Tracy Alloway has been awarded the prestigious Joseph Lister Award from the British Science Association. ′The authors have written a guide for practitioners that is both highly practical, and yet based upon sound theoretical principles....This book achieves a successful, yet often elusive, link between theory, research and practice, and deserves to have a high readership. I will have no hesitation in recommending it to a range of readers′ - Jane Mott, Support for Learning ′This book fulfils its aim to explain working memory and the limits it places on children′s classroom learning. For teachers it gives a very clear guide and fills a gap in understanding that can only lead to more child-centred approaches to teaching and learning′ - Lynn Ambler, Support for Learning ′A clear and accessible account of current theory and research, which is then applied to children′s learning in the classroom....The range of strategies...are well grounded in theory derived from research and sit within a coherent conceptual model′ - The Psychologist ′An easy to read yet informative book that explains the concepts clearly and offers practitioners ways to support those with poor working memory in the classroom′ - SNIP `The topic of working memory nowadays tends to dominate discussions with teachers and parents, and both groups can helpfully be directed to this easy-to-read but serious text ... (it) is likely to prove a turning-point in the management and facilitation of hard-to-teach children. In a situation muddied by ever-multiplying syndromes and disorders, this book delivers a clarifying and reassuring isolation of the major cognitive characteristic that cuts across all the boundaries and leaves the class teacher and SENCO empowered. I think very highly of the book and shall be recommending it steadily′ - Martin Turner, Child Center for Evaluation and Teaching, Kuwait Susan Gathercole is winner of the British Psychological Society′s President′s Award for 2007 A good working memory is crucial to becoming a successful learner, yet there is very little material available in an easy-to-use format that explains the concept and offers practitioners ways to support children with poor working memory in the classroom. This book provides a coherent overview of the role played by working memory in learning during the school years, and uses theory to inform good practice. Topics covered include: - the link between working memory skills and key areas of learning (such as literacy & numeracy) - the relationship between working memory and children with developmental disorders - assessment of children for working memory deficits - strategies for supporting working memory in under-performing children This accessible guide will help SENCOs, teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists to understand and address working memory in their setting.
“This book will be a valuable resource for psychologists and educators who work with children or adolescents who are having difficulties with memory and learning. Translating theory and research into practice is a talent that Dr. Dehn possesses and we will benefit from his professional skills.” — From the Foreword by Daniel C. Miller, PhD, ABPP, ABSNP, NCSP AN INDISPENSABLE GUIDE THAT EXAMINES THE EFFECT OF LONG-TERM MEMORY FUNCTIONS ON CHILDREN’S LEARNING Long-Term Memory Problems in Children and Adolescents: Assessment, Intervention, and Effective Instruction is the first book of its kind for psychologists, school psychologists, and special education teachers who need an overview of long-term memory as it relates to learning and education. It presents the best practices for assessing long-term memory functions, as well as selecting and using evidence-based instructional practices with memory-impaired students. This useful and timely guide bridges theory and practice to provide professional guidance with coverage of: Risk factors that can lead to long-term memory impairments How long-term memory relates to other types of memory The subcomponents and processes of long-term memory and how they relate to academic achievement What is known about the neuroanatomy of how memories are formed The developmental trajectory of memory and learning Common types of memory dysfunction Memory assessment strategies, interventions for memory problems, and instructional practices that support memory Author Milton Dehn draws on his extensive experience as a trainer and workshop presenter, school psychologist, and educator to present both the theory and research on long-term memory in children and adolescents in this book. Specific, step-by-step guidance and hands-on case studies enable professionals to identify how memory can be assessed as well as the interventions that can be linked to the results of the assessment.
A hands-on memory-training program for children and adolescents featuring dozens of practical, evidence-based memory exercises A practical workbook designed to assist students whose academic learning is suffering due to a memory deficit or ineffective utilization of their memory capabilities, Helping Students Remember provides numerous strategies and methods to strengthen memory, including chunking, organization, keyword, self-testing, pegword, loci, and mnemonics. Drawing on the author's extensive training and experience, this useful resource presents effective techniques and lessons on: How memory works Memorization methods Goals for improving memory Repetition Using cards to build memory Grouping words by category Study skills that help memory Using arithmetic to build memory Using music to remember Improving recall during tests Creating and using review sheets Picturing verbal information Using context cues Plans for using memory strategies With an accompanying CD containing all of the worksheets and word lists for reproduction, Helping Students Remember is the first workbook of its kind for general psychologists, school psychologists, and special education teachers, offering practical, easy-to-implement, and evidence-based methods for working with children with memory impairments.
Dr Tracy Alloway has been awarded the prestigious Joseph Lister Award from the British Science Association. ′The authors have written a guide for practitioners that is both highly practical, and yet based upon sound theoretical principles....This book achieves a successful, yet often elusive, link between theory, research and practice, and deserves to have a high readership. I will have no hesitation in recommending it to a range of readers′ - Jane Mott, Support for Learning ′This book fulfils its aim to explain working memory and the limits it places on children′s classroom learning. For teachers it gives a very clear guide and fills a gap in understanding that can only lead to more child-centred approaches to teaching and learning′ - Lynn Ambler, Support for Learning ′A clear and accessible account of current theory and research, which is then applied to children′s learning in the classroom....The range of strategies...are well grounded in theory derived from research and sit within a coherent conceptual model′ - The Psychologist ′An easy to read yet informative book that explains the concepts clearly and offers practitioners ways to support those with poor working memory in the classroom′ - SNIP `The topic of working memory nowadays tends to dominate discussions with teachers and parents, and both groups can helpfully be directed to this easy-to-read but serious text ... (it) is likely to prove a turning-point in the management and facilitation of hard-to-teach children. In a situation muddied by ever-multiplying syndromes and disorders, this book delivers a clarifying and reassuring isolation of the major cognitive characteristic that cuts across all the boundaries and leaves the class teacher and SENCO empowered. I think very highly of the book and shall be recommending it steadily′ - Martin Turner, Child Center for Evaluation and Teaching, Kuwait Susan Gathercole is winner of the British Psychological Society′s President′s Award for 2007 A good working memory is crucial to becoming a successful learner, yet there is very little material available in an easy-to-use format that explains the concept and offers practitioners ways to support children with poor working memory in the classroom. This book provides a coherent overview of the role played by working memory in learning during the school years, and uses theory to inform good practice. Topics covered include: - the link between working memory skills and key areas of learning (such as literacy & numeracy) - the relationship between working memory and children with developmental disorders - assessment of children for working memory deficits - strategies for supporting working memory in under-performing children This accessible guide will help SENCOs, teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists to understand and address working memory in their setting.
Despite all our highly publicized efforts to improve our schools, the United States is still falling behind. We recently ranked 15th in the world in reading, math, and science. Clearly, more needs to be done. In The Learning Brain, Torkel Klingberg urges us to use the insights of neuroscience to improve the education of our children. The key to improving education lies in understanding how the brain works: that is where learning takes place, after all. The book focuses in particular on working memory--our ability to concentrate and to keep relevant information in our head while ignoring distractions (a topic the author covered in The Overflowing Brain). Research shows enormous variation in working memory among children, with some ten-year-olds performing at the level of a fourteen-year old, others at that of a six-year old. More important, children with high working memory have better math and reading skills, while children with poor working memory consistently underperform. Interestingly, teachers tend to perceive children with poor working memory as dreamy or unfocused, not recognizing that these children have a memory problem. But what can we do for these children? For one, we can train working memory. The Learning Brain provides a variety of different techniques and scientific insights that may just teach us how to improve our children's working memory. Klingberg also discusses how stress can impair working memory (skydivers tested just before a jump showed a 30% drop in working memory) and how aerobic exercise can actually modify the brain's nerve cells and improve classroom performance. Torkel Klingberg is one of the world's leading cognitive neuroscientists, but in this book he wears his erudition lightly, writing with simplicity and good humor as he shows us how to give our children the best chance to learn and grow.
Working memory refers to how we keep track of what we are doing moment to moment throughout our waking lives. This book brings together in one volume, state-of-the-science chapters written by the most productive and well known working memory researchers worldwide.
The last forty years of research have demonstrated that working memory (WM) is a key concept for understanding higher-order cognition. To give an example, WM is involved in reading comprehension, problem solving and reasoning, but also in a number of everyday life activities. It has a clear role in the case of atypical development too. For instance, numerous studies have shown an impairment in WM in individuals with learning disabilities (LD) or intellectual disabilities (ID); and several researchers have hypothesized that this can be linked to their difficulties in learning, cognition and everyday life. The latest challenge in the field concerns the trainability of WM. If it is a construct central to our understanding of cognition in typical and atypical development, then specific intervention to sustain WM performance might also promote changes in cognitive processes associated with WM. The idea that WM can be modified is debated, however, partly because of the theoretical implications of this view, and partly due to the generally contradictory results obtained so far. In fact, most studies converge in demonstrating specific effects of WM training, i.e. improvements in the trained tasks, but few transfer effects to allied cognitive processes are generally reported. It is worth noting that any maintenance effects (when investigated) are even more meagre. In addition, a number of methodological concerns have been raised in relation to the use of: 1. single tasks to assess the effects of a training program; 2. WM tasks differing from those used in the training to assess the effects of WM training; and 3. passive control groups. These and other crucial issues have so far prevented any conclusions from being drawn on the efficacy of WM training. Bearing in mind that the opportunity to train WM could have a huge impact in the educational and clinical settings, it seems fundamentally important to shed more light on the limits and potential of this line of research. The aim of the research discussed here is to generate new evidence on the feasibility of training WM in individuals with LD and ID. There are several questions that could be raised in this field. For a start, can WM be trained in this population? Are there some aspects of WM that can be trained more easily than others? Can a WM training reduce the impact of LD and ID on learning outcomes, and on everyday living? What kind of training program is best suited to the promotion of such changes?