Strategies to Improve Working Memory in Children
How to support my child’s working memory:
Working Memory is part of your child’s short-term memory. It is the part of the brain that helps with briefly holding onto, working with, and prioritizing small bits of information. Children with weaker working memory skills (compared to their other strengths) can struggle or demonstrate inconsistencies with tasks that require them to hold onto information while also doing something else. For example, they may struggle with following through with your requested multi-step list of simple chores as they attempt to avoid the distraction of the T.V, play room, and dog while they run upstairs to complete them. In school, the child may make seemingly silly errors for a math calculation sequence despite their math problem solving strengths or have difficulties with listening to instruction while writing down notes. Without skill building or support, these children can be perceived as being avoidant, distracted, or not paying attention to even seemingly simple or routine requests/information. In reality, their brain is struggling to juggle, hold onto, fully complete, and/or recall what they were supposed to do. When children have uneven or weaker development of their working memory, which contributes to the “cognitive proficiency” part of the brain, it impacts their efficiency with executing tasks (and feeling competent/confident) despite their wonderful intellectual, academic, adaptive, interpersonal, and other strengths. In return, their brain may experience something called cognitive overload, which can impact their distress tolerance, coping, and problem solving during times when their working memory gets “too full.”
Five Daily Strategies to Support Working Memory
Briefly assess/observe factors that are causing discomfort
Children with weaker working memory and ability to juggle multiple thoughts, ideas, or sensory experiences, may be prone to cognitive overload if they are uncomfortable. While this may impact all individuals when trying to think, it can have a more profound impact for children with weaker working memory. Therefore, if your child is struggling, briefly assess factors that could cause physical or sensory discomfort such as headaches, extreme temperature/noise of room, uncomfortable seating arrangements, hunger, sickness, etc. If they report or you suspect that something additional is causing distress, address (or at minimum validate) this factor first, then begin with important requests/prompts.
Recruit attention/minimize distractions
When a child with working memory weaknesses is attempting to work or follow through on tasks, eliminating distractions is necessary as these distractions can clog/interfere with the minimal capacity they have at the time. First, recruit attention with a primer, such as “I am going to tell you two important things that you need to do prior to starting your homework.” Then, do your best to eliminate controllable distractions such as T.V, background noise, additional requests/conversations from adults, or interesting activities/toys nearby.
Reduce number of demands/prompts and create momentum
Remember, the goal in supporting weaker working memory skills is to reduce the information/task overload of this part of the brain. Therefore, it is important to begin with smaller, more manageable chunks of information so the brain can build momentum rather than overwhelm/avoidance/forgetfulness. Even if the request of 3-4 steps is simple, (e.g., go upstairs, grab your shoes, brush your teeth, and grab your backpack) think of each “simple step” as a piece of information the brain has to hold onto and prioritize. While it may seem like you are “taking a step backwards” by saying only 1 or 2 steps at a time, it is a better investment than getting frustrated and repeating yourself multiple times for a child to not follow through. When too much information is presented in a lesson, during a prompt, or presented on a page/list (20+ simple math problems on one page for homework) the working memory can be overloaded. Children with weaker working memory may tend to rely on repetition, adult intervention, or rushing strategies to complete a task. Their brains may have a natural weakness in producing the “feel good/accomplished” dopamine rush that comes with checking off something from a to-do list or competently following through on something they know they can complete. Therefore, we have to train the brain to achieve that feeling by reducing the number of commands/prompts so their brain can better work with and accomplish tasks. Focus on the break down or chunking of larger sequences into bits. When their brain feels that “accomplished” feeling it creates momentum, declutters the working memory, and can better move on to subsequent steps or requests. As your child builds momentum here, add more prompts.
Build working memory into already established routines (particularly ones they are motivated to do)
Working memory capacity and ability can improve when we incorporate less fluent multi-step routines or tasks into their daily habits. Routines and habits typically get stored as “one” rather than 3+ steps. For example, “get ready for school” could be a steady single routine but if not consistent, your prompts to get ready for school (e.g., put on shoes, grab coat, pack lunch, brush teeth, grab water bottle, grab backpack) can be 5+ steps for the working memory to have to sequence and 5+ steps that have transitions for distractions. Therefore, if your child already has a motivating or established routine that they excel at with greater consistency (e.g., video game after school, remembering water bottle, playing after dinner) add one extra routine/request and build upon the routine. For example, prior to video games, your child must feed the dog.
Read and Play
Reading, audio books, and interactive play is a simple (yet often lost art in the rapid world of technology) way to naturally support working memory in children. Reading aloud for even 10 minutes a day helps your child juggle multiple bits of information at a time, such as listening to the words, recalling what is said, anticipating next steps, picturing images/scenes, etc. It also helps with the back and forth reciprocal engagement between parent/child when experiencing or sharing a story of interest. Interactive and reciprocal play with others also helps build upon working memory, as your child can engage, interact, follow-through, and navigate the pacing/actions/requests of others in a non-directive manner. Engagement in structured sports, clubs, or other activities is helpful as it provides a natural opportunity outside of “skill building from parents and school” for your child to feel competent, successful, and a sense of pride with following through on tasks of enjoyment in a kinesthetic environment with modeling from peers. As mentioned, children, adolescents, and even adults with weaker working memory can so often feel frustrated, fatigued, or have low confidence with their ability to “complete” and feel successful with following through on tasks. If this is their baseline, the working memory is already feeling a sense of overload prior to any instructions. Therefore, finding natural and healthy ways to get the natural dopamine that the brain loves and needs for healthy regulation and mental health is important. It helps build this sense of competency with children while they build their working memory in less desirable or higher stress settings.
Have questions about your child’s working memory or looking to learn more information? Contact Dr. Bobal today!