In a case study called, WorkingMemory, but Not IQ,Predicts Subsequent Learning in Children with Learning Difficulties, by Tracy Packiam

Alloway, University of Durham, UK the idea of cognitive learning was examined. The study was examining the correlation between working memory and IQ in children with learning difficulties. Children with learning difficulties were found and tested using standard cognitive tests in order to try and find a possible connection of working memory and IQ. The term working memory refers to the capacity to store and manipulate information for brief periods of time. It provides a mental workspace that is used in many important activities in everyday life. (Alloway) The best way that one can understand this term is to think of an actual table. On this table you have all the things that you are working on for a project. Once you have too much on your table, you lose that stuff. Although you can always pick your other items back up, they are not accessible at that time when they are not on the table. This represents a persons working memory and the idea of how once you have too much things to remember, your brain tosses some to the side and keeps the most recent important memories. When it comes to a child learning, working memory seems to be the plausible reason for their learning difficulty. Each child is developing cognitively differently, regardless if they happen to be in the same. However once a child is showing signs of falling behind or having a learning difficulty, it is due to their cognitive thinking not being developed enough. As a child is developing their cognitive skills, if their working memory is not able to handle what is going on, it becomes very problematic for the child and disrupts their developmental process. This idea of cognitive development brings up the idea of IQ. IQ stands for intelligence quotient which is a basic measure of ones cognitive abilities. The idea of IQ came about to

determine if children were capable of learning and handling regular instruction. If a child has a learning difficulty that is due to working memory problems, the idea is that it will directly affect their IQ. With this correlation being questioned, the children with learning difficulties were tested. The tests were standard tests given at the beginning of the study and 2 years after the tests were taken by the children. The Wechsler Objective Reading Dimensions (WORD; Wechsler, 1993) consists of tests of basic reading, reading comprehension, and spelling for children. The Wechsler Objective Numerical Dimensions (WOND;Wechsler, 1996) assesses mathematical reasoning and number operations. (Alloway) These tests would hopefully be able to give a prediction on how the children would do over the next 2 years of schooling. After the tests were taken for the second time, the results showed some sure details. The correlation between working memory, learning, and IQ was significant in some areas of learning. The children showed small regressions in areas such as reading, writing/verbal, and spelling. However they were not significant, it still showed that children with learning difficulties, that were not aided, did not progress cognitively. In math, the correlation between problems in working memory and IQ showed a significant regression. It seemed that although children had the working memory problems, everything but math was able to at least stay close to what they had tested in the prior years. These results were able to give some evidence of a possible correlation between the working memory and IQ. The results have uncovered more than a correlation with the IQ, but rather a correlation with learning in general. In past studies, it was thought that working memory did not have any effect of the success or leaning for children. But this new study has shown that problems with working memory can cause a deficit in learning and allows taking action to help this difficulty in

learning in a childs key cognitive years of development. This idea was further supported with more testing of childrens working memory correlating directly with their low performance in school. The AWMA is also a valuable tool in working with atypical populations, such as those with dyslexia, specific language impairment, developmental coordination disorder, ADHD, and autistic spectrum disorder. The specificity of the diagnosis identifies not only areas of deficit, but also areas of strength on which compensatory strategies can be effectively built (Alloway, Rajendran, &Archibald, 2008). With this now known, the classrooms have taken this into account and found ways to help aid those with learning difficulties. Instead of working heavily on using working memory with complicated tasks, it has changed to support improving working memory and simplified tasks. At the age the children are at, it is more of being able to grasp the tasks rather than to become detailed in the subjects. This has helped children deal with learning difficulties and be able to not fall behind in subjects such as math, reading, and writing. Overall the study showed that working memory has a direct correlation with IQ and learning in general. Children entering their first years of school have crucial cognitive development going on, and need to be monitored in order for small learning difficulties to not cause problems for them. With new testing and monitoring of children at the crucial cognitive point is helping to further develop their young minds. With these results being fairly new from only 2007, we are continuing to learn more about cognitive development and how we can help aid the development of it.