http://tracyalloway.com I am a psychologist interested in how working memory impacts life Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:46:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When my research team interviewed Robert, a 10 year old, he was pleased to report that his memory for numbers is very good and he "can do 2, 5 and 10 times tables but 4 and 6 times tables are hard." He said that if he can't see the ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/dyscalculia-memory-for-math/ What is working memory like in students with Autistic Spectrum Disoder (ASD)? Let’s first look at verbal short-term memory skills in high functioning ASD students. Their skills in this area can vary, in some cases, students can have above average short-term memory, while others perform at the same level of ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/working-memory-in-autistic-spectrum-disorder/ Did you every play Marco Polo as a child? I used to love closing my eyes and spinning around faster and faster when I was ‘It'. Now imagine playing that game in the middle of a busy intersection. Cars are honking, dogs are barking, siren sounds get closer, ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/sensory-integration-disorder-is-it-real/ Students with dyspraxia (DCD) can also have comorbid language impairments (SLI). While these developmental disorders are distinguished by the domain of principal deficit, they are both associated with significant learning difficulties. Studies that followed 7-year olds with dyspraxia found that they struggled with reading and comprehension by the time ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/dyslexia/dyspraxia-and-language-problems-double-deficit/ I was invited to write a blog post for SharpBrains. Here is the entry: Working memory is the ability to hold information in your head and manipulate it mentally. You use this mental workspace when adding up two numbers spoken to you by someone else without being able to use ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/working-memory-a-better-predictor-of-academic-success-than-iq/ The 3Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic. We all remember going to school and trying to memorize spelling words and our times tables, to write a coherent paragraph and to calculate our long division. But for some students, this clearly isn't enough. Despite the focus on the 3Rs why do ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/are-the-3rs-enough-to-improve-grades/ I was recently invited to share my research on BBC Radio. Here are some details on the programme from the BBC website: IQ TESTING IQ testing has long been a controversial way of measuring intelligence, but now there are claims that there's another, more accurate method of predicting academic success: working memory, ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/working-memory-on-bbc/ There is exciting research emerging on the benefit of brain training. The question is: what works? Is it enough to memorize numbers in backwards order? Previous research outlines programs where students remember number sequences for a few weeks. Although improvements in working memory were reported, there are clear limitations. Most ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/brain-training-can-improve-grades/ There is often a greater number of dyslexics in English-speaking countries compared to countries like China, Japan, and even Spain and Italy. Why do we see this difference across countries? The answer can be found by looking at one cause of dyslexia: a difficulty in processing and remembering the sounds of ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/dyslexia-an-english-language-problem/ Dyslexia (also referred to as ‘specific reading disability’) affects around 10% to 15% of children. One size does not fit all when describing dyslexia and different students might manifest quite distinct reading problems. Type 1: PHONOLOGICAL DYSLEXIA Try reading these words out aloud: WOOGLEMIT, BLAZNAK, CRIXGO Students with Phonological Dyslexia have difficulty sounding out ... http://tracyalloway.com/index.php/working-memory/dyslexia-two-roads-from-working-memory/