Improving working memory in children with low language abilities.

Joni Holmes,Linda Kashikar,Sally Butterfield,Leanne Ruggero,Anita Van Loenhoud,Francesca Cormack,Susan Gathercole

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00519

Abstract

This study investigated whether working memory training is effective in enhancing verbal memory in children with low language abilities (LLA). Cogmed Working Memory Training was completed by a community sample of children aged 8–11 years with LLA and a comparison group with matched non-verbal abilities and age-typical language performance. Short-term memory (STM), working memory, language, and IQ were assessed before and after training. Significant and equivalent post-training gains were found in visuo-spatial short-term memory in both groups. Exploratory analyses across the sample established that low verbal IQ scores were strongly and highly specifically associated with greater gains in verbal STM, and that children with higher verbal IQs made greater gains in visuo-spatial short-term memory following training. This provides preliminary evidence that intensive working memory training may be effective for enhancing the weakest aspects of STM in children with low verbal abilities, and may also be of value in developing compensatory strategies.

Highlights

Impairments in working memory are common in many developmental disorders (Martinussen et al, 2005; Carretti et al, 2009) and have been suggested to act as barriers to educational achievement (Swanson and Sachse-Lee, 2001; Gathercole and Alloway, 2006, 2008; Archibald and Joanisse, 2009)
This study compared the benefits of working memory training for children with low language abilities (LLA) and a comparison group with typical language skills
The LLA children scored at relatively low levels on verbal measures of both Short-term memory (STM) and working memory, and to the comparison group on visuo-spatial memory tasks

Summary

Introduction

Impairments in working memory are common in many developmental disorders (Martinussen et al, 2005; Carretti et al, 2009) and have been suggested to act as barriers to educational achievement (Swanson and Sachse-Lee, 2001; Gathercole and Alloway, 2006, 2008; Archibald and Joanisse, 2009). This has led to widespread interest in the possibility that the working memory abilities of children who are poor learners could be enhanced through intensive training in memory-taxing activities. The multi-component model developed originally by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) and elaborated by Training in poor language learners

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