Combating ADHD in the Classroom with Working Memory

As the most advanced brain training program for combating ADHD in the classroom, ACTIVATE™ from Connecticut-based C8 Sciences provides teachers with real-time progress reporting for each and every student. Further, ACTIVATE™, in enhancing cognitive performance, uses sophisticated games and physical exercises to help students with ADHD measure and improve executive function skills, measure and improve the brain’s core cognitive capacities and assist them with focusing. ACTIVATE™ Education, an advanced brain cross training program developed for combating ADHD in the classroom by Yale neuroscientists, activates and assists in strengthening the brain systems in two major ways: Improving student attention and enhancing academic skills. Under the category of “enhanced academic skills,” ACTIVATE™ Education helps improve working memory in addition to improving attention, self-regulation and cognitive flexibility so that student achievement may be increased inside and outside of the classroom.

The Ins and Outs of Working Memory

In a purely clinical sense, “working memory” refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning and reasoning. As a more day-to-day definition, working memory refers to the ability to remember instructions or keep information in mind long enough to perform tasks. One of the tell-tale signs of a problem with working memory in children is if he or she cannot recall instructions just given to them, or even a passage he or she may have just read. Utilizing the Working Memory Test as implemented by C8 Sciences and its ACTIVATE™ program, students can better remember instructions for tasks and assignments, as well as what they just read – as a result, students are able to stay on tasks for longer periods of time, recall information better and stay more organized.

Combating ADHD in the Classroom: How is This Accomplished?

ACTIVATE™ incorporates four key assessments from the NIH (National Institutes of Health) “Toolbox for Cognition,” one of which is the Working Memory Test. Often referred to as the “scratch pad of the mind,” working memory, as we have covered, is the ability of the brain to keep and hold information needed to perform any given task – from standing in a line or working on a math problem to something as simple as quietly sharpening a pencil. The Working Memory Test measures the strength of each student’s “scratch pad” by asking them to repeat sequences of pictures shown on their screen in a different order than shown.

ADHD Teaching Strategies: What Exactly Are These “NIH Toolboxes”?

The task of assessing cognitive growth requires scientifically-designed tools so that the lack of uniformity and questionable validity of assessment tools available to educators, parents and clinicians can be combated effectively. In response, the National Institutes of Health has developed a “Toolbox” of cognitive assessments, of which the C8 Sciences Scientific Advisory Board has recommended a battery of four core assessments that are specifically geared toward measuring the executive functioning skills of young children. Beyond the Working Memory Test, these include the Dimensional Change Card Sort, Go/No-Go Test and the Flanker Task. In teaching students with ADHD, teaching children with ADHD and combating ADHD in the classroom, ACTIVATE™ and the Working Memory Test assessment protocol has become an invaluable part of ADHD teaching strategies.
Every student who uses ACTIVATE™ takes the NIH assessments at the beginning and end of their cognitive cross training course, allowing C8 Sciences to effectively report:
• Measurable growth
• Return on investment
• Individualized results
Just think of how many children with ADHD could be saved from high-cost, disruptive “special needs” intervention programs.