A Comparative Study Of Working Memory In Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Short-term or working memory - the capacity to hold and manipulate information mentally over brief periods of time - plays an important role in supporting a wide range of everyday activities, particularly in childhood. Children with weak working memory skills often struggle in key areas of learning and, given its impact on cognitive abilities, the identification of working memory impairments is a priority for those who work with children with learning disabilities. Working Memory and Neurodevelopmental Disorders supports clinical assessment and management of working memory deficits by summarising the current theoretical understanding and methods of assessment of working memory. It outlines the working memory profiles of individuals with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders (including Down's syndrome, Williams syndrome, Specific Language Impairment, and ADHD), and identifies useful means of alleviating the anticipated learning difficulties of children with deficits of working memory. This comprehensive and informative text will appeal to academics and researchers in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and developmental psychology, and will be useful reading for students in these areas. Educational psychologists will also find this a useful text, as it covers the role of working memory in learning difficulties specific to the classroom.

This comprehensive text summarises the working memory profiles of individuals with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, and identifies means of alleviating the anticipated learning difficulties of children with working memory deficits.

Interest in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders has grown exponentially in recent years across a range of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, education and neuroscience. The research itself has become more sophisticated, using multidisciplinary methods to probe interdisciplinary questions. Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Research Challenges and Solutions provides a thorough overview of the key issues involved in researching neurodevelopmental disorders. The volume includes 14 chapters, arranged over three sections. Chapters in the first section address general research challenges for the study of neurodevelopmental disorders. The second section draws upon specific disorders (such as Williams syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, ADHD, and Language Disorders) to consider the syndrome-specific issues or challenges that may be crucial to advancing our understanding of aspects of cognition and behavior associated with them. The final section considers how research evidence may be translated into practice to begin making an impact upon the lives of individuals who have neurodevelopmental disorders and their families. Each chapter in the book also includes ‘practical tips’ for either conducting research with individuals who have neurodevelopmental disorders or considering wider practical issues. The book will be indispensable reading for advanced students, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology, special needs education, neuropsychology, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

This comprehensive volume brings together international experts involved in applying and developing understanding of Working Memory in the context of a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders, neurocognitive disorders, and depressive disorders. Each chapter provides a description of the disorder and investigates the Working Memory and related Executive Function deficits. It goes on to provide a neurological profile, before exploring the impact of the disorder in daily functions, the current debates related to this disorder, and the potential effects of medication and intervention. Through combining coverage of theoretical understanding, methods of assessment, and different evidence-based intervention programs, the book supports clinical assessment and management of poor Working Memory. It is essential reading for students in neurodevelopmental disorders, atypical development and developmental psychopathology as well as allied health professionals, clinicians and those working with children in education and healthcare settings.

Using the highly influential working memory framework as a guide, this textbook provides a clear comparison of the memory development of typically developing children with that of atypical children. The emphasis on explaining methodology throughout the book gives students a real understanding about the way experiments are carried out and how to critically evaluate experimental research. The first half of the book describes the working memory model and goes on to consider working memory development in typically developing children. The second half of the book considers working memory development in several different types of atypical populations who have intellectual disabilities and/or developmental disorders. In addition, the book considers how having a developmental disorder and/or intellectual disabilities may have separate or combined effects on the development of working memory. The Development of Working Memory in Children is for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in development/child psychology, cognitive development and developmental disorders.

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?

Written expressly for non-neuropsychologists, this book offers a concise, friendly introduction to the developing brain and its functions. Stephen R. Hooper renders complex concepts accessible as he describes the structure of the brain and the workings of the nervous system. The book explains how findings from neuropsychological assessments can help educators and clinicians to better understand and remediate children's difficulties. A range of neurodevelopmental and medical conditions that affect learning and behavior from early childhood through adolescence are explored through a neuropsychological lens. Helpful features include key Take-Home Points distilled from the chapters and recommended print and online resources.