Every teacher has found themselves dealing with a student who has ADHD. Many teachers, parents, and even students feel helpless when dealing with it.
There are many therapies available. Parents have tried diet, medication, and even behavioral therapies to help their child overcome ADHD. However medication works with some and not others. Adjusting diet has only anecdotal evidence to support it. Behavioral therapies can be difficult to institute if done incorrectly.
There is another resource to add to the list, computer games. Specifically games like the one described in this study. The researchers used software from the company Cogmed to improve the student’s working memory.
Working memory is the memory we use when trying to work out a problem. When trying to answer a question we use working memory to hold onto the information important to the question. Individuals with ADHD have difficulty in this area.
The program would ask students to do things like click on numbers given in the opposite order. The program was designed with 25 exercises that scale with the ability of the student. As the student improves so does the difficulty of the program.
Parents reported to researchers that their child showed a decrease in ADHD symptoms. The decrease was present immediately after and up to four months later. While the decrease was not huge it was there and indicates that the use of such a program would work when used in tandem with other therapies.
Application
We can apply this program in our classrooms, by giving our students activities that exercise their working memory. You could have students partner and have one call out a list of words that the other must remember and then write in reverse order. There are a variety of ways you could adapt this to your subject. Then again you could always purchase the program from Cogmed, but not all schools have that kind of money.
There are many therapies available. Parents have tried diet, medication, and even behavioral therapies to help their child overcome ADHD. However medication works with some and not others. Adjusting diet has only anecdotal evidence to support it. Behavioral therapies can be difficult to institute if done incorrectly.
There is another resource to add to the list, computer games. Specifically games like the one described in this study. The researchers used software from the company Cogmed to improve the student’s working memory.
Working memory is the memory we use when trying to work out a problem. When trying to answer a question we use working memory to hold onto the information important to the question. Individuals with ADHD have difficulty in this area.
The program would ask students to do things like click on numbers given in the opposite order. The program was designed with 25 exercises that scale with the ability of the student. As the student improves so does the difficulty of the program.
Parents reported to researchers that their child showed a decrease in ADHD symptoms. The decrease was present immediately after and up to four months later. While the decrease was not huge it was there and indicates that the use of such a program would work when used in tandem with other therapies.
Application
We can apply this program in our classrooms, by giving our students activities that exercise their working memory. You could have students partner and have one call out a list of words that the other must remember and then write in reverse order. There are a variety of ways you could adapt this to your subject. Then again you could always purchase the program from Cogmed, but not all schools have that kind of money.
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