Initiative Description: Students scored at or below the 15th percentile on pre-screening measures were included in the study. Participating schools were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: adaptive training, non-adaptive training, or no intervention. Participants in the adaptive and non-adaptive groups then completed 6 weeks’ training. Post-training assessments were completed after training for the adaptive and non-adaptive groups, and 6 weeks after the pre-assessment for the no intervention group. The adaptive training group received Cogmed Working Memory Training (CWMT) in 20-25 sessions lasting 30-45 minutes and consisting of training on 8 exercises with 15 trials on each for a total of 120 trials to be completed in each training session. Task difficultly was adjusted on a trial-by-trial basis to match the participant’s curring working memory span.

Study Results: Children who completed adaptive training made significantly greater improvements in tests of visuo-spatial STM and verbal and visuo-spatial WM than either child who completed a non-adaptive version of training or those who received no intervention.

Reference: Dunning, D. L., Holmes, J., & Gathercole, S. E. (2013). Does working memory training lead to generalized improvements in children with low working memory? A randomized controlled trial. Developmental Science. doi:10.1111/desc.12068

Level of Evidence: Excellent