Meet Elaine

1
Meet Elaine

• a student with
• Working Memory Deficit

2
What is Working Memory?

• Analogies

3
WM has been compared to

• A computer with limited RAM (one too many
  programs and the computer stalls)
• A chalkboard (info is erased before more can be
  written down)
• A measuring cup (fill it with info but it will
  start to spill out when more is poured in)
• An average persons WM is like riding a bike with
  large wheels but my WM is like riding a bike with
  very small wheels. I cant go as fast and I use
  more energy and tire more quickly.

4
The Memory System

• Where does Working Memory fit in?

5
Memory System
Weiten, W. (1998) Psychology themes and
variations, fourth edition. Pacific Grove
Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
6
Sensory Memory

• Sensory input is the information we receive from
  our eyes, ears, nose, and hands.
• When sensory input is attended to it enters
  working memory from sensory memory.

7
Sensory Working Memory

• Working memory has to block out other sensory
  input to attend to the specific stimuli.(
  i.e.blocking ears, turning off radio, testing
  environment)
• Blocking out uses some of the Working Memorys
  capacity

8
Working Short-term Memoryincludes

• a rehearsal loop or (short term memory) has, on
  average, a limited capacity of 7 chunks.
• If information is rehearsed long enough it is
  organized into long term memory.

9
Working Short-term Memoryincludes

• a visuo-spatial sketch pad holds and manipulates
  mental images (visual image of a word or number)

10
Working Short-term Memoryincludes

• an executive function handles a limited amount of
  information while manipulating it (hold 56 and 17
  while subtracting 17 from 56)

11
Long-term Memory

• Very simply, rehearsal is needed to retrieve a
  list of words from long term memory.
• The more rehearsal the easier it is to retrieve.

12
Working Memory Learning Disabilities

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WM and learning to read

• Consider the process as a child
• I read a sentence and come to a word that is
  unfamiliar
• I must decode (sound out) the word and in doing
  so
• I lose the context of the sentence, so I reread
• I come to the same unfamiliar word, my memory
  fails me and I begin the process again.

14
Working Memory Deficit

• Holding some information is possible until
• Holding and manipulating occurs then the process
  fails
• Holding the image of the word failed
• Therefore, elaborate rehearsal was not achieved
  so long term memory retrieval failed or was never
  really engaged

15
Working Memory Deficits

• These failures will happen to all young children
  learning to read because learning to read is so
  demanding on working memory however,
• Children with working memory deficits have
  extreme difficulties and need to be accommodated
• Average child reads their first novel at age 8.
  I was 14.

16
Working Memory Deficits

• People with working memory deficits have great
  potential.
• It is like an athlete confined to a wheel chair.
  The potential is still there but part of the
  system has made the implementation more
  difficult.
• I need you to believe in the potential of people
  with learning disabilities.

17
How WM deficit affects my life

• The elementary school years were humiliating for
  me.
• High school was better because I mastered reading
  even though it was at a slow pace, but writing
  was painful.
• There are so many rules for spelling, punctuation
  grammar that I have never been able to process
  them efficiently enough to depend on them when I
  need them.

18
How WM deficit affects my life

• I worked extremely hard in high school and got
  As and Bs, but my health suffered
• I finished college with As
• I rarely finished a test in high school or
  college.
• Currently I still cant trust my working memory
  to get by on tests so I compensate by being very
  prepared

19
WM and Me

• I must study very hard and self-test to be in
  complete control.
• This is an attempt to keep anxiety low (anxiety
  also taxes WM) to avoid overload from too much
  information
• This control is physically draining and effects
  my health

20
Working Memory

• Has a powerful role
• If you can understand and respect the role of
  working memory in the learning process, you will
  be an effective teacher for children with
  learning disabilities and also the average child.
• Quiet time and extra time are a must during the
  learning process

21
Parent of a Child with L.D.

• My child has a Non-Verbal Learning Disability
  (NLD)
• Very strong verbal skills
• weak visual and spatial skills
• effects coordination of gross and fine motor
  skills
• effects the ability to organize
• effects understanding facial and body language
• depends on working memory to compensate for
  non-verbal weakness which overloads WM
• similar characteristics as my deficit in learning
  but at a lesser extent

22
Parent of a Child with L.D.in the school system

• A good experience (but this rare)
• Grade 1- excellent teacher picked up the signs
  (identification process began)
• Parent open to hearing their child is L.D. (rare
  or school system is not open to parents concerns)
• Grade 2- psychological assessment
• Grade 3- Learning Skills classroom (quiet
  setting, consistent skilled teacher, with smart
  kids just like him)
• early help was extremely beneficial he did not
  get discouraged and still likes learning and
  school

23
Child with L.D. in School System

• Grade 4 - integrated into a regular class with no
  difficulties.
• Now he gets As and Bs.
• anxiety is a problem
• depends heavily on rules in social situations and
  doesn't adapt well to the dynamics of social
  interactions
• may fail to pick up social cues
• but considering how far he has come, I am so so
  very pleased

24
Sons Indicators of NLD

• Fine motor skills
• Weak hands (shoe laces, clothing)
• Rarely used puzzles or Lego
• Geometry (rulers, protractors)
• Learning to tell time
• Printing (writing)
• Organizing papers in a folders
• Placing words and images on paper

25
Sons Indicators of NLD

• Gross motor skills
• Later developing balance for walking
• Longer time developing skills for games
• Coordination of skills and awareness of other
  players
• Crossing the road

26
Learning Skills Program

• The decision process
• Very difficult decision
• Principal - recommended this program
• Observed it - very impressed
• Concern with exclusion but resource would
  exclude him anyway
• One effective year to pick up what he needed to
  succeed (pit stop)

27
Exclusion

• Benefits of Learning Skills programHe learned
  how to
• sit, look, and listen
• hold a book
• place a page on a desk and write
• read and spell
• create visual images

28
Exclusion

• Benefits of Learning Skills program
• Quiet setting (need of working memory when
  learning new skills material)
• Consistent ongoing development (skills reinforced
  throughout day)
• Experienced skilled teacher with reasonable
  number of children

29
Exclusion or Inclusion

• It is not a matter of exclusion or inclusion that
  will meet children's belonging (social/
  emotional) needs but understanding and acceptance
  of how they learn in a inclusive class or
  resource class
• Discrimination can happen in both
• People who are seen as less intelligent are
  treated with less value (little tolerance)
• This is the teachers challenge to provide an
  environment where these children can feel safe

30
Grahams Thoughts

• I didnt want to be in Learning Skills.
• I came to accept that this it is what I needed
  and I started to enjoy it more.
• I could understand my classmates and what they
  were going through.
• I am glad that I went because I wouldnt be doing
  as well as I am doing now.