EFFECTIVENESS OF WORKING MEMORY IN CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITY

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders that hinder a child’s ability to read, write, or perform math despite normal intelligence and adequate education. Common types include dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, often linked to deficits in cognitive processes like working memory. These difficulties affect academic performance, self-esteem, and emotional well-being. While traditional interventions focus on remedial teaching, they often overlook cognitive deficits. Working memory plays a crucial role in learning, and training programs targeting it have shown promise in improving memory and short-term academic skills. However, most studies are from Western settings, with limited research in diverse contexts like India. Given the high and varied prevalence of SLDs in India, this study aims to evaluate the impact of a structured working memory training program on cognitive and academic outcomes in Indian children with SLDs through a randomized controlled trial. Objective the present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a structured working memory training program on cognitive and academic outcomes in children diagnosed with Specific Learning Disabilities through a randomized controlled trial. Methodology: This 8-month experimental study was conducted with ethical approval and informed parental consent. Twenty children aged 6–15 years, with Learning Disability Checklist scores between 60 and 80, were randomly assigned into two groups: Group A (intervention, n=10) and Group B (control, n=10). Group A received a structured cognitive training program for three months, including Brain Gym, Frenkel’s lower limb exercises, memory recall tasks, and visual-motor coordination activities, delivered in 45-minute individual sessions. Group B received motor skill training exercises without additional cognitive intervention. The Digit Span Test (Forward and Backward) was used as the outcome measure to assess attention, immediate memory, and working memory capacity. Result: total of 20 children were enrolled, with 10 in each group. Baseline Digit Span scores were comparable. After three months, Group A (intervention) showed significant improvements: Digit Span Forward increased by 2.6 points and Backward by 2.2 points (both p = 0.0001). Group B (control) had a modest 0.5-point gain in Forward (p = 0.015) and a non-significant 0.5-point increase in Backward (p = 0.2987). Post-test comparisons showed Group A significantly outperformed Group B in both Forward (p = 0.0077) and Backward (p = 0.0073) scores, indicating the effectiveness of cognitive training on working memory. Conclusion: the findings from our study support the effectiveness of cognitive-based working memory training in children with learning disabilities. These results, when considered alongside previous research, suggest that cognitive training programs can play a crucial role in educational and therapeutic contexts. Future research should include long-term follow-up, larger sample sizes, and comparisons between different training modalities to determine the most effective approaches for sustained cognitive improvement.