UNDERSTANDING NEURODIVERSITY
EPIC Think Learn Supporting your child’s literacy and maths learning in ways that are fun and effective We are a research team at the University of Edinburgh, conducting research on the thinking skills related to children’s learning. While most of our research focuses on children who are neurodivergent (e.g. autistic, ADHD, dyspraxic), the relationship between thinking skills and learning is also relevant to typically developing children. Successful literacy learning is linked to the processing of letters and sounds, and successful maths learning is linked to the processing of numbers. When a child finds learning to read, write, spell or solve maths problems tricky, these literacy and number skills are focused on as the reasons for the difficulty. While these skills are very important, having strong executive functions (thinking skills), such as efficient memory and flexible thinking, are also important. Our research shows that executive functions are associated with literacy and maths attainment, which is important for understanding and supporting learning in neurodivergent children, as they typically have weaker executive functions. In our research with children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), we found that different thinking processes were linked to different aspects of literacy and maths. While the name of the disorder suggests that ‘attention’ should be the key focus, our research shows that we need to understand and support a much broader range of thinking skills in children with ADHD. TURN BACK TO PAGE 17 to read about the BBC 500 Words competition
‘Working memory’ is the mental workspace where you hold and organise information for a brief time. Working memory performance is associated with multiple aspects of literacy, including reading comprehension, word reading, writing and spelling. Our research shows that for most children with ADHD, problems with memory underlie learning difficulties. Other aspects of thinking skills are also related to literacy performance. For example, processing speed (how fluently the brain receives, understands and responds to information) is related to effective writing skills. Thinking and memory skills are also related to mathematical performance in children with ADHD. Short-term memory involves holding information in a short-term store. Other more strategic aspects of memory also involve updating the information we are holding in memory: e.g. when you have to add or delete numbers and actively update the information you are holding in your mind. Our research shows that updating skills are particularly important for maths attainment in children with ADHD. Many children with ADHD have difficulties in their working memory and it is important to support these skills to ensure effective maths learning. The key question is how can we help children with ADHD (or others with these thinking difficulties) with their learning? Reducing memory load is a really
useful technique to support children with this type of difficulty, such as using a mini-whiteboard to display a visual breakdown of sums, or using block pieces to represent numbers. The child being active in their learning such as handling block pieces to work out sums - can make a transformational impact on both their understanding and their willingness to participate. We know that children who are neurodivergent differ from one another in their specific thinking profiles despite having the same diagnostic labels, meaning that we need to understand the specific thinking strengths and difficulties of individual children before appropriate support can be put in place. Our free downloadable booklets suggest ways these thinking skills can be identified, understood and supported. DR. SINÉAD RHODES Founder of EPIC Think Learn www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-brainsciences/research/epic-edinburghpsychoeducation-intervention/epicresources Free downloadable booklets: www.epic-information.com
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