Dr. Carol's Blog

We know Cogmed increases working memory. Here is another interesting use that we are hearing more and more often. A 24 year old took the LSAT. The student did both LSAT tutoring and Cogmed. He found that Cogmed improved the logic questions on the LSAT. He found that he could more easily identify the most relevant information and could process the logic questions with increased efficiency. He believes he could focus more effectively and for a longer time with less mental fatigue. He took 2 – 3 practice exams per week for 6 weeks and did Cogmed during this time. His index improvement was 34. He has no ADHD. The student increased his score to 169 which is in the top 2.5 percentile. This is improvement that we have seen with others with all kinds of tests: SAT, ACT, finals, Real Estate exam, Praxis, LSAT and more. Tutoring, practice and Cogmed are a strong combination. We recommend this seemingly magical – but actually quite scientific – combination for any important test.

What an amazing offer. Why can’t everyone share knowledge this way? The more we all know the better we all will be. Check it out:

The Yale Child Study Center has recently made their undergraduate seminar course on autism available to the public online at no cost.

This is the same course that has been available to Yale University students. Presentations include .pdf handouts to accompany.

http://autism.yale.edu/ http://autism.yale.edu ****** Introduction to Yale’s Autism Seminar Understanding Autism in the Yale Seminar on Autism and Related Disorders Online

The Yale Seminar on Autism and Related Disorders is the United States’ first undergraduate course of its kind. Our goal for this website is to make all of the lecture content and supporting materials available online for free for anyone who desires to learn about Autism Spectrum Disorders. Topics include Communication in Autism, Parental Perspectives & Supporting Families, Social Brain in Autism, and more.

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WORKING MEMORY INCREASES IQ SCORE

This information supports the importance of working memory. Many are recommending using working memory measures to determine school success rather than intelligence tests. Interestingly, this article also points out that the higher the working memory, the easier it is to ignore distractors. This clarifies the relationship between low working memory and attention/focus issues.

The main lesson is that working memory 1) is vital to success and 2) can be improved. This research shows that improvement in working memory related to improvement on intelligence testing by approximately 20%.

http://www.livescience.com/culture/memory-test-intelligence-100525.html http://www.livescience.com/culture/memory-test-intelligence-100525.html

Culture

Simple Memory Test Predicts Intelligence

By JR Minkel, LiveScience Contributor

posted: 25 May 2010 08:04 am ET

The key to intelligence may be the ability to juggle multiple thoughts or memories at one time.

Researchers have found that a simple test of http://www.livescience.com/health/080428-working-memory.html working memory capacity strongly predicts a person’s performance on a battery of intelligence tests that measure everything from abstract problem-solving to social intelligence.

Working memory is a way of temporarily storing information used for some mental task.

If the results of the study hold for the population at large, “I could predict an individual’s overall intellectual ability essentially with 79-percent accuracy if you tell me what their working memory capacity is,” said study researcher Steven Luck of the University of California, Davis.

Prior research suggests that since working http://www.livescience.com/health/090423-sharp-mind.html memory can be improved, so can a person’s intelligence.

Flashing colored squares

Luck and his colleagues used a working memory test they developed that asks subjects to recall the color of one of several colored squares flashed on a computer screen a few seconds before. By increasing the number of squares flashed onscreen, researchers can assess a person’s ability to mentally store multiple visual objects – in this case, colors.

The purpose of the study, to be published in the June issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, was to examine working memory deficits in people suffering from schizophrenia. Although the mental disorder is most well-known for its http://www.livescience.com/health/sleep-disorders-top10-100208.html delusions and hallucinations, problems with thinking might ultimately be more important to understanding and treating the condition.

The researchers gave the working memory test to 31 schizophrenia sufferers and 26 control subjects of similar socioeconomic status, age and race. They also had subjects complete a series of intelligence tests known as the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) battery.

“[MATRICS] was designed to be used in testing the effects of new pharmacological treatments on cognition in schizophrenia, but it provides a broad measure of cognitive functioning in healthy individuals,” Luck said.

Link between memory and IQ

The match between working memory capacity and MATRICS score was surprisingly strong in the control subjects, Luck said. “It is very rare to find a correlation that strong,” he said.

“That’s very unusual,” agreed Nelson Cowan, a cognitive scientist at the University of Missouri, who was not involved in the study. “Almost nothing gives that high a correlation.”

Cowan said the results indicate a connection between working memory and attention, because many of the tests in the MATRICS battery are related to a person’s ability to keep track of multiple instructions at the same time.

“If you can’t hold as many items in mind,” Cowan said, “it may affect your ability to carry out complex procedures because the goals and the procedures themselves compete with items you are http://www.livescience.com/health/080912-top5-memory-facts.html trying to remember.”

The correlation between working memory and MATRICS score was much lower in people with schizophrenia. Luck said his next goal is to figure out why that is.

More memory slots

In a second new study, to be detailed in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, researchers from the University of Oregon also found a correlation between working memory capacity and intelligence scores in a group of healthy college students.

Working memory capacity isn’t necessarily set in stone. There is evidence that people can improve their working memory – and possibly their http://www.livescience.com/culture/090924-childhood-spanking.html intelligence – by practicing. In a 2008 study, people who trained on a demanding working memory task improved their scores on a simplified intelligence test by 20 percent, whereas people who didn’t train improved by less than 10 percent.

People who have a high working memory capacity may simply be better at ignoring distractions.

“[They] may not have more memory slots than other people,” Luck said. They may just be better at keeping relevant information in memory and irrelevant information out.”

* http://www.livescience.com/health/090423-sharp-mind.html 10 Ways to Keep Your Mind Sharp * http://www.livescience.com/health/brain-facts-1op10-100417.html 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Brain * http://www.livescience.com/health/080815-top5-brain-health.html 5 Ways to Beef Up Your Brain

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We know that strong emotion such as anxiety interferes with memory. This is one of reason if a student has anxiety we deal with that first. Mindfulness is a useful tool for dealing with anxiety and indirectly helping with working memory. Most and his colleagues detail their findings in the April issue of the journal Emotion, published by the American Psychological Association.

“When an emotional stimulus appears, it draws attention to itself – and thus draws attention away from other things that come immediately afterwards,” Most said. “When attention is preoccupied in such a way, we tend to miss the thing that appears right in front of our eyes.”

And for those with heightened anxiety , the emotional distracters can be even more distracting.

 

Some districts have already made cuts as they have spent all their stimulus money. It is a challenge for districts as we expect more and more of them to provide best practices and help ALL children to receive FAPE. So, it will be more and more important for districts to use research to determine which programs are helping our children receive FAPE and which are not.

Exciting new study out of Harvard that shows significant ADHD symptom improvement for students using the Working Memory and Attention Training software Cogmed. Significant improvements were found on all three measures: teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms showed a significant decline after training, while children made significant gains on measures of visual as well as visuo-spatial working memory. If you are interested in learning more about Cogmed, visit cogmed.com or call Total Learning Centers for a demo.

Interesting suggestion for an ADHD diet by Dr. Doug Cowen. Let me know if you try it and if you see success. I have had a number of parents see improvement. One of the biggest factors seems to be the protein shake.

ADHD Diet : WHAT TO EAT TO FEED THE ADHD BRAIN

Just as some foods make the brain “foggy”, other foods can enhance brain performance. Here are some things to eat to feed the ADHD brain…

* FOR BREAKFAST SERVE HIGH PROTEIN, LOW CARBOHYDRATE MEALS.

Say, “Good-bye,” to Breakfast cereals and milk. Breakfast cereals are all carbohydrate and sugar, which is the worst combination for the ADHD brain. And many children are allergic to milk. So the classic American breakfast of cereal and milk is just a really bad idea.

Instead, serve 60% to 70% Protein and 30% to 40% Carbohydrates for Breakfast. Eggs, breakfast meats, and some toast would be fine. Other meals of the day could be 50% Protein and 50% Carbohydrate.

* PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS might be needed to get the added protein for Breakfast. They are often very helpful in the afternoon as well.

Add a good quality protein powder. There are many good ones available. If you can’t find one that you like, ask at your local health food store. Get protein powders that are mostly protein and very little carbohydrate. Add between 15 and 20 grams of protein to the blender.

* DRINK LOTS OF WATER. The brain is about 80% water, and increasing your water intake to 7 to 10 glasses per day might be very helpful all by itself. Sodas, Gatorade, teas, icees, etc., do not count as water. Only water counts as water. * MINERAL SUPPLEMENTS may be helpful. Colloidal Minerals or fully chelated minerals are the best. Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2895 – Release Date: 05/25/10 02:26:00

The Pennsylvania state budget passed with cuts in general education though not in special education. Some districts have already made cuts as they have spent all their stimulus money. It is a challenge for districts as we expect more and more of them to provide best practices and help ALL children to receive FAPE. It will be more and more important for districts to use research to determine which programs are helping our children receive FAPE and which are not.

Interesting view of learning disabilities. In any case, the advice to get testing to find out what is really going on and how to strengthen weaknesses is vital.

Dr. Carol Utay

http://haoodnla.com/article/lxy09212164y9j01/id5240828 Weak Cognitive Skills Are Cause of Learning Disabilities

Learning Disabilities affect people in all walks of life each and every day. These disorders can include dyslexia (impairment of ability to recognize and comprehend written words), dyscalculia (impairment of ability to solve mathematics problems), dysgraphia (inability to write), dyspraxia (motor skill coordination problems), and auditory and visual processing disorders (difficulty understanding language or images). A learning disability is most simply defined as a neurological disorder.

The definition used by the U.S government for purposes of legislation and qualifying students for special education funds is the following:

“Specific learning disability” means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

A learning disability is most widely caused by weak underlying cognitive skills. Other factors contributing to learning disabilities include basic genetic limits or poor and inadequate instruction. Weak cognitive skills can impact learning heavily because during the process of reading and understanding there are many processes going on. If one of those processes is weak it could throw off the whole learning process for an individual. When reading a student must process visual images which consist of letters and words, and at the same time they must recall and associate those images with correct sounds. Mental associations must be formed by those sounds to make the words they are associated with, and one has to comprehend what the word means and how it applies to what they are reading. It is easy to see how a weak cognitive skill can throw off the whole learning curve.

The good news about learning disabilities affected by weak cognitive skills is that they can be changed for the better by specific testing and training. These changes can be rapid and dramatic for those that struggle with the various learning disabilities. Cognitive skills testing is available all across the nation. A quality learning center that runs cognitive skills testing will uncover specific cognitive skill weaknesses and will customize training to strengthen those weaknesses. Getting you or your child tested for a learning disability can completely and literally change lives.

According to the National Institutes of Health, one in seven Americans, struggles with some type of learning disability, proving the importance of getting you or your family members tested for cognitive skills weaknesses.

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

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