Memory Games
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| What is it? | How is it implemented? | Key features and free DEMO | Customer log-in | Background and research |
What is it?
Memory Games is a comprehensive teacher/parent-led training course that has been shown to improve working memory. The term "working memory" refers to the capacity to store and manipulate information for short periods of time.
Learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and other learning difficulties often have poor working memory. Memory Games is software designed to train working memory and improve concentration and is user-friendly for learners, trainers and parents.
How is the training implemented?
| Preparation | Learners, parents and their trainers plan a simple, motivational reward system that will encourage the learner to persevere with their training and improve their working memory. |
| Training | Play the fun auditory and visual activities five days a week for five weeks. The games allow the learner to achieve yet be continually challenged, thus increasing their working memory capacity. |
| Rewards | Learners enjoy their weekly rewards for continuing training, along with the rewards within the software. |
| Assessment | Learners and trainers use the work book to record/discuss how the course is progressing. |
| Results | Review results in the software daily, weekly and at the end of the course. |
Key features of Memory Games
|
   |
Customer log-inCustomers who have purchased a copy of Memory Games have access to a secure area on this site where they can download extra files and resources for parents and trainers. If you have lost your username and password please contact us. |
|
Background and research
Below is a translation of a page from www.minneslek.se, reproduced here by kind permission of LäraMera AB, Leripa AB and Cognitive Kompaniet. (Translation originally generated by Google.)
Working memory
Working memory is a fundamental cognitive function that is
necessary for us to implement a series of mental activities, such as
reading, counting and solving problems. With the help of working
memory, we can
keep and use a limited amount of information in our heads for a short
time. For
example, we use working memory when we remember a phone number, or when
we follow an instruction. With a good working memory we can
concentrate and manage distractions better. Previously it was
thought that it
was impossible to train working memory. Today, research indicates that
it
is possible.
Training of attention
and working memory
A study by Semrud-Clikeman, Nielsen, Clinton, Sylvester, Parle
& Connor (1999) examined the effects of attention training in
children with ADHD. The training lasted for one hour per week for a
total of 18 weeks. The results of the study showed that children who
were placed in a training group improved significantly on a visual and
an auditive attention test, compared with children who were placed in
a control group.
A randomized controlled study by Klingberg et al (2005)
explored the effects of working memory training on children aged 7-12
years
with ADHD. Children in both treatment and control group trained about
40 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 5 weeks. The treatment
group used a version of the intervention where the severity and
ongoing training is automatically adjusted according to the user's
performance, while the control group was working the same exercises at
a
constant low difficulty level. The study showed that treatment
significantly improved their performance, in comparison with the
control group, on tests measuring visual and verbal working memory,
response inhibition and problem solving ability.
Rueda et al. (2005), in a number of studies, have shown how
children aged between 4 and 6 years old improved on the test measuring
controlled
attention, followed by computerized attention training. The training
lasted only for five days and consisted of attention exercises with
increasing difficulty, followed by the correct answer.
A study by Jaeggi et al. (2008) has shown that working memory training
can improve adults' performance on a test of non-verbal intelligence.
In the study, it also appears that the participants' improvement on the
intelligence test appears to be dose-dependent, i.e. more days (19
days) of ongoing training gave greater improvement on the intelligence
test than those that had fewer days' training (8 days).
References
Jaeggi, S.M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J., Perra, WJ (2008)
Improving fluid intelligence with training working memory.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America, 105 (19), 6829-6833
Klingberg, T., Fernell, E., Olesen, P., Johnson, M., Gustafsson,
P., Dahlström, K., Gillberg, CG, Forsberg, H., Westerberg, H. (2005)
computerized training of working memory in children with ADHD - a
randomized, controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44 (2): 177-186.
Semrud-Clikeman, M., Nielsen, KH, Clinton, A., Sylvester, L.,
Parle, N., & Connor, RT (1999). An intervention approach for
children with teacher-and parent-identified attentional difficulties.
Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32, 581-590.
Rueda, M.R., Roth Bart, M.K., McCandliss, BD, Saccomanno, L., &
Posner, M.I. (2005) Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the
development of executive attention. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 14931-14936.
Experience of Memory
Games
Between Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008 an evaluation of Memory Games took
place with 55 school children aged between 7 and 9 years in Lund and
Stockholm. The children in the study were randomly divided into control
and taining groups based on performance on Ravens matrices, a
non-verbal intelligence test. Children in the training group trained
with Memory Games for about 5 weeks in groups of varying size (between
2 and 8 children). All children were tested with four tests: two verbal
working memory tests (digit span forwards and backwards), a
visuo-spatial working memory test and an impulse test. The results
showed that children in the training group improved on both the verbal
test and the visuo-spatial test. The study also showed that the
children who were trained in pairs improved to a greater extent than
those trained in large groups. The results of the study indicated,
therefore, in summary, that the children, after training with Memory
Games, improved in working memory tests. The tests also showed that the
best improvements were made where one or two children worked in a room
alone rather than in a normal classroom situation with many children
present.
There have also been smaller evaluations of Memory Games in schools and
rehabilitation centres. A school in Avesta kommun used Memory Games
with six children aged between 7 and 9 in Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008.
After training all the children had improved their performance on
TVPS-3, a test which measures perceptual skills. Staff at the school
also saw a major improvement in school work in the children: "They have
learned the strategies, new ways to find solutions, self-esteem is
better also."
Working memory
development
For most of us our development happens between 4 and
15 years of age. A 4-year-old, for example, is relatively
undeveloped and is capable of repeating two digits backwards. However,
there is also a relatively
large variation among individuals
of the same age. Working capacity is like many other skills normally
distributed which means that a 7-year-old with much reduced working
memory capacity may be on the same level as the average 4-year-old.
Children with working memory difficulties generally have low
results on all types of working memory test, regardless of whether the
tests
are mainly visuo-spatial or verbal. However, there are exceptions.
Children with motor difficulties, for example, generally have greater
difficulty with the visuo-spatial test than with the verbal, whereas
the
opposite is true for children with language difficulties.
How working memory
difficulties are expressed
As a rule parents and teachers do not identify a child as having memory
problems but rather a lack of attention capacity. They are easily
distracted, have difficulty concentrating and do not listen and
day-dream a lot. Children with working memory difficulties can often
initiate a task in an adequate manner, but then forget the information
necessary to complete the task. These children find it difficult to
handle longer instructions which contain many steps. Furthermore,
children with working memory difficulties are often not as involved in
activities that occur in larger groups in school. They find it
difficult to keep up and become easily distracted. They often have poor
attention, difficulty in monitoring their own work and low self-esteem.
Children with low working memory capacity are often overloaded. The
result is that it can be difficult for these children to complete a
task that has been initiated, which may lead them to believe that they
can not do anything at all. A working memory task not completed with no
new information stored in long term memory means that no new knowledge
can be obtained. To have a low working memory capacity can create
learning difficulties.
Further Reading
Fleisher, A.V. & Merland, J. (2008) Executive
difficulties in children: assessment and practical measures.
Studentlitteratur.
Gathercole, S. E & Alloway, T. P (2008) Working Memory and
Learning. A Practical Guide for Teachers. London: SAGE Publications.
Baddeley, AD (2007) Working Memory, Thought, and Action. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Pickering, S. J. (2006). (Ed.) Working Memory and Education. Academic
Press.
Cowan, N. (2005). Working memory capacity. Hove: Psychology Press.
Andrade, J. (2001). Working memory in perspective. Hove: Psychology
Press.
LäraMera Software AB,
Leripa AB, Cognitive Kompaniet © 2008
Blog