Working Memory Training in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Abstract

In a naturalistic open label non-randomized controlled intervention study, Cogmed© working memory (WM) training effects were compared between different groups of children (n = 99; 65 boys, 34 girls), aged between 7 and 17 years with neurodevelopmental problems, i.e. ADHD (n = 45), learning disorders (LD, n = 34) or learning problems (n = 20). Training efficacy after 25 sessions was measured by WM capacity improvement, ADHD DSM-IV rating scale and the BRIEF. It was hypothesized that training effects may lie on a continuum with those of the LD group at the lower end and those of the learning problems group at the upper end. Results partly confirmed the hypothesis in that all groups improved significantly with ADHD-children or children with learning problems showing the best results.