Auditory Working Memory Problems - How To Proceed

[Kindra178]

Ds1 is seeing an MSW for some anxiety/control issues. It has been very helpful. She thinks he has a problem with his auditory working memory. His visual working memory is excellent, so she thinks that compensates for his auditory working memory deficiencies. He is not having any problems thus far in school. He is probably on grade level or above in most things.

What's weird is that I feel like I have always known this. In our little music class where we attended from ages 2-5, the teacher would call all the kids to the mat and she would share a story. Then she would instruct all the kids to go share with their parents the story they just heard. He could never share as much as other kids. I used to say he spent all his energy sitting still (he is an excellent sitter) that he couldn't listen.

I am not sure how to proceed next. I don't want to make a bigger deal out of this than it is, yet don't want this to hurt him or his confidence in future academic pursuits.

[vludmilla]

Has his working memory been formally tested?

If you know it is a weakness, there are good interventions. One of the best is CogMed http://www.cogmed.com/ The only down side with CogMed is the expense and that it requires you to do it daily for 5 weeks. The positive is that a large majority of people really experience an increase in their working memory capacity and the gains seem durable and long lasting. I would probably only do CogMed if I was certain that my child had a weakness given the expense and time involved.

[Melbel]

Has his working memory been formally tested?

If you know it is a weakness, there are good interventions. One of the best is CogMed http://www.cogmed.com/ The only down side with CogMed is the expense and that it requires you to do it daily for 5 weeks. The positive is that a large majority of people really experience an increase in their working memory capacity and the gains seem durable and long lasting. I would probably only do CogMed if I was certain that my child had a weakness given the expense and time involved.

Thanks for posting OP. We are experiencing issues as well. Our son (13) is having working memory issues and problems with executive function secondary to Lyme Disease. Would you recommend CogMed for this situation? What type of specialist should test him to determine deficiencies?

[vludmilla]

Thanks for posting OP. We are experiencing issues as well. Our son (13) is having working memory issues and problems with executive function secondary to Lyme Disease. Would you recommend CogMed for this situation? What type of specialist should test him to determine deficiencies?

Has he ever had psychological testing? A psychological evaluation would look at auditory working memory through a couple or a few different subtests of a larger cognitive battery. It is difficult for me to recommend CogMed for anyone that I don't know but I think a good evaluation would help you decide. How do you know he has executive functioning/working memory deficits? Working memory is usually thought of as a part of the executive functioning system.

[Melbel]

Has he ever had psychological testing? A psychological evaluation would look at auditory working memory through a couple or a few different subtests of a larger cognitive battery. It is difficult for me to recommend CogMed for anyone that I don't know but I think a good evaluation would help you decide. How do you know he has executive functioning/working memory deficits? Working memory is usually thought of as a part of the executive functioning system.

Over the past 2 years, we have observed clear changes and patterns. He definitely has problems with free recall, is very disorganized and is having problems processing verbal instructions. He is forgetful. He used to be able to do very complex math problems in his head, but now gets lost/confused on much simpler work. We had documented many of these issues before his Lyme diagnosis in January 2012. He is definitely not the same since he started crashing with Lyme in March 2011 (although we have made major improvement since he started treatment). There was a recent study from Sweden revealing that a large percentage of children treated for Tick-Borne Encephalitis who had central nervous system involvement still suffer with unresolved symptoms 2 to 7 years later. "Cognitive problems in areas of executive function and working memory are the most prevalent." We had hoped that the problems would resolve altogether with treatment, but we may be in for a longer treatment path. I am beginning to question whether some type of treatment may give him better tools to overcome his challenges. Here is the study if you are interested in reading more: http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(13)00112-1/abstract

Thank you so much for your input. Sorry to hijack OP!

[Kindra178]

Has his working memory been formally tested?

If you know it is a weakness, there are good interventions. One of the best is CogMed http://www.cogmed.com/ The only down side with CogMed is the expense and that it requires you to do it daily for 5 weeks. The positive is that a large majority of people really experience an increase in their working memory capacity and the gains seem durable and long lasting. I would probably only do CogMed if I was certain that my child had a weakness given the expense and time involved.

No. It's just the therapist's impressions. Since I am not in there with him, I don't know exactly how she is getting this impression. It seems she has asked him some of the tasks they had done in that session before the current one they are working on and he can't recall them. However, she has done some visual memory tests and she is quite impressed. She suggested a neuropsych eval (not administered by her) if I was really concerned.

[Kindra178]

Sorry to hijack OP!

No problem! This topic is so new to me, any info is helpful.