Can Memory Training Help Your Child Diagnosed with ADHD?

Can Memory Training Help Your Child Diagnosed with ADHD?
Veronica Davis
4/12/2014
Updated:
4/23/2016

Children diagnosed with ADHD are seen to have many challenges and difficulties trying to accomplish tasks such as learning and performing well at school. Therefore it’s necessary for parents and guardians to pay special attention to help them progress in academics. If your little one is diagnosed with ADHD or showing similar symptoms, it’s important to remember they'll likely not be able to perform equivalent to other children of their age, be it at school or at home. That means you should try not to put too many expectations and burden on them, or things can get just bad. Emotional stress and abuse and mental trauma are a couple factors that contribute to the development of ADHD. This disease is also characterized by having weak memory and learning skills.

You have to realize that children suffering from this hyperactivity disorder need special attention and care so that they can grow up as normal as possible. Several research papers have shown that the hyperactivity disorder fades away as the child enters the early twenties, but in some cases that does not happen.

Understanding Working Memory

The brain has a section known as Working Memory, which is directly linked to intelligence quotient, aging and mental health. Important pieces of information required to do certain tasks are stored in this region of the brain. ADHD diagnosed individuals have a lower capacity of this memory, whereas an exceptionally intelligent person might have a larger size allocated. Thus we can directly imply that because of under developed working memory, certain children or individuals are unable to grasp information as fast as others of the same age. Working memory is not fixed and can vary from person to person.

Working memory was researched very well in the 1980s. After rigorous research in this field, it was concluded that working memory is a fixed characteristic of an individual and cannot be changed. A person with low working memory cannot do much to increase that capacity, although new computer based working memory training programs have been shown to potentially help. Various researchers from universities and around the world have studied the effects that are caused on brain by the computer based training.

ADHD memory training was proven in 2012 to have positive effect on the patient’s short term memory. The improvement was not significant, but it was enough to add a little improvement in the life of the person affected.

Cogmed Company released their computer based memory training program in 2002 which was tested on a number of children having ADHD. A lot of research and study followed the release. The study clearly revealed that such working memory training improved reasoning and attention spans.

Indicators to help you identify if your child needs working memory training

Pre-School children are quite interested in learning alphabets and are very curious about things around them. If you see that you child in unwilling and unable to focus, then it might be time to visit a doctor. While in school, if you find your child’s grades to be down or they’re having a hard time remembering studied information or they lack social interaction, then this can indicate that working memory needs training. Lack of social interaction and participation in group activities are also indicators of rusted memory. The feeling of being bored all the time is the biggest indicator that either the working memory is not being utilized to its fullest or there’s an actual lack of working memory.

Cogmed and several other companies provide online programs to improve working memory. A detailed description for all age groups is given on Cogmed.

Veronica is a wife and work at home mom. Her and her husband live in Missouri with their three boys. She has been a freelance writer for over fiver years, and has since ventured into many areas of working online and marketing online. She loves being in the kitchen, discovering new dishes the family loves and hopes to go to culinary school some day. A former Marine and ex-whitewater rafting guide, she loves the outdoors and sports.
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