Strategies to Help ADHD kids with Working Memory Issues
- Beth Skaret
- Feb 10, 2019
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 8
Have you been wondering what working memory is all about and how it affects your child’s adhd……?
Imagine this:
You ask your child to finish their homework, clear their dishes, brush their teeth and feed the dog.
Your child says okay while still writing on their homework page.
You come back 20 minutes later and find they have finished their homework, brushed the dog and and the dishes are still sitting on the table….no evidence of teeth having been brushed at all.
This is a case of working memory issues.
Problems with working memory make it very hard to do things that require more than one step.
The brain has trouble holding onto the various steps or gets them out of order.
Combine that with the attention problems that come with ADHD and you’ve got a doozy of a problem!
In this post we take a closer look at:
What exactly working memory is,
How it is affected by ADHD and
Learn some strategies to help your ADHD child with working memory issues.
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Let’s find out more..
1. What is Working Memory?
“Working memory is sort of a category above attention,” says Dr. Matthew Cruger, senior director of the Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute. “It’s keeping in mind anything you need to keep in mind while you’re doing something.”
Peg Rosen describes it this way, “Working memory is like a temporary sticky note in our brain. It holds new information in place so the brain can work with it briefly and perhaps connect it with other information.”
Going back to the example above where your child had to keep track of a mental to do list, working memory would be the place in their mind where your child stored that list until he/she could do each thing and then mentally cross it off the list.
When a person has problems with working memory, it is like they have a much smaller mental sticky note than a typical person.
They may not be able to fit all of the items on the sticky note or may write them down out of order or paired with the wrong details.
Instead of:
finish their homework, clear their dishes, brush their teeth and feed the dog.
Your child remembered :
The first thing - homework, the last thing - dog, and either forgot or mixed up the middle pieces.
Issues with working memory cause the brain to forget, leave out, or mix up the pieces of information that we are holding in our short term memory.
It also causes problems when that information needs to be used right away.
Your child may remember all of the pieces, but forget what they are supposed to do with them.
So, the working memory is important to help us keep track of short lists of information and what we need to do with the information.
2. How is working memory affected by ADHD?
ADHD usually causes problems with attention.
It can look like:
difficulty focusing, remembering and organizing information.
a problem with controlling hyperactivity and impulsiveness.
or it can be a combination of both issues.
When a child with ADHD has problems with attention and working memory it is like a double whammy!
A child with a “too small sticky note,” or decreased working memory, has trouble keeping all the information that was perceived (seen, heard, or modeled) in their minds and remembering what to do with it.
A child with attention issues may not have perceived all the information in the first place, nevermind being able to remember all the pieces and know what to do with them.
Having ADHD and working memory issues is a compound problem...but not one that cannot be improved.
3. Strategies to Help ADHD Kids with Working Memory Issues:
In order to help ADHD kids improve their ability to retain and use information in their working memories, the need to first ensure that all the information is getting in their heads in the first place.
Make Sure they Perceive ALL the information:
Make sure that they are ready to listen and hear you before you give a set of directions.(give them a 3 minute warning so they can transition their focus, make sure you have eye contact, make sure that you are not competing with other things that would draw their attention away).
Limit your directions to no more than 3 single steps.(instead of clean your room ,- say put your dirty clothes in the hamper, toys in the toy box, books on the shelf).
Keep your directions very specific and simple (instead of put your toys away, say put your toys in the toybox).
Make sure you repeat the directions multiple times (2-3).
Have them repeat the directions back to you.
Supervise, praise and redirect.
In another post, I go into more detail about how to help ADHD kids follow directions. If you’d like to read more about that please check out the post.
Part of the problem with working memory issues is that the information gathered cannot be held onto for very long.
To deal with this issue you need to find a way to get the information out of their short term “sticky note” and into a place where they can hang onto it.
Move information from Short term “Sticky Note” to a more stable location:
Write it down for them
Written directions for multi step projects- (chores, school projects, etc.)
Checklists for daily procedural activities (getting ready for school, getting ready for bed, homework routine, etc).
Actual post it notes or text messages for quick one time or infrequent tasks - (call grandma, pick up your little brother’s homework from his teacher, etc.).
Help them move it to Long Term memory
To move it to long term memory it needs to be “packaged” or “organized” in some way.
Tie it to a meaningful event or item (Remember how proud you were when Grandma complimented you for having such a clean room the last time she was here? Let’s see if you can do that again.)
Relate it to something that they value (put your toys in the toy box, dirty clothes in the hamper and books on the shelf so that you can (reward of high value).
Put it in a meaningful context: Rather than explaining a math problem with random numbers and operations, put it in the context of a situation they can relate to. Context provides meaning and purpose. It makes it easier to keep track of.
Use mnemonic devices: Mnemonic devices are little tricks you can use to help tie new information to things already stored in your long term memory OR shrink wrap them into a size that can be held on the “short term sticky note.”
(ie. making words into a song with a familiar tune helps you memorize words that would otherwise not have a familiar context - Books of the Bible Song, State Capitals Song).
To Review:
Working memory is like a temporary mental stick note where you store information to be used immediately.
Problems with working memory make it hard to hold onto the information or to remember what to do with it.
Attention issues that come with ADHD make it hard for the information to make it into working memory in the first place.
Strategies to help ADHD kids with Working Memory Issues include
Ensuring you have their attention before giving instruction
Limiting directions
Keep directions specific and simple
Repeat directions
Write directions down
Help move directions from the short term to long term.
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Like what you read here?
Check out the rest of my website and blog for more practical ideas to deal with daily ADHD issues and to find encouragement and support in this Journey: www.bethskaret.com
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