Your child is smart and has a high IQ, but struggles academically. A poor working memory can impact success more than intelligence.

What is Working Memory?

What if working memory is a better predictor of success than a high IQ? Working memory is the ability to hold two or more pieces of information in your mind at once. While trying to solve a problem, working memory is how we manipulate one piece of information while pulling other information from long term memory. Day to day struggles with a weak working memory may look like difficulty following multi-step directions, remembering what was said, difficulty with reading comprehension, learning math facts or with spelling.

Training Working Memory

The brain can only be trained with what it already knows, while it is relaxed and not in fight, flight, or freeze mode. Therefore we do not use spelling or math facts that a child struggles with. Instead, we use fun games that strategically increase in difficulty to train the foundational processing of the brain.  Just this morning in a training session, a mom and her daughter were playing a card game. They were very quick naming only the number on each card. But then I asked them to take turns naming the number, then the color. Before long both the child and parent were saying, “Wait, what comes next, the number or color? What did you say?” Alternating between pieces of information is working memory and both could feel their brains working.   Cognitive Development Training seeks to identify and strengthen the areas of the brain that are weak. Basic evaluations and checklists help identify which process is weak: auditory (how they hear), visual (how they see) or language (how they express themselves).  Parents are included in each step of the training process and experience first hand what working memory is, alongside their child.

Applying Working Memory

A strong working memory can impact success more than IQ. You might even say, working memory is the new IQ. One parent mentioned her son could only remember to do one thing she told him of multi-step directions. We worked on employing in sessions and at home Dr. Carol Brown’s Equipping Minds “I See You” strategy where the parent says, “I see you brushing your teeth, getting dressed and making your bed. What do you see yourself doing?” And the child answers, “I see myself brushing my teeth, getting dressed and making my bed.” A few weeks into cognitive training and using “I see you” for daily tasks the mom was amazed her son could remember five directions at once. This is real life application that parents can genuinely appreciate! In More to Grow Cognitive Development Training we encourage and equip parents to work with their children so they can both be successful and reach their full God-given potential by training foundational neurodevelopmental and cognitive development necessary for academic and personal success. The skills gained while playing fun games with processing and working memory naturally connect with the classroom and real life scenarios like multi-step directions, spelling, reading, math facts, and remembering what was said.