Classroom Accommodations for Students Who Struggle with Working Memory

Skillful reading requires many cognitive processes. A weakness in cognitive skills such as processing speed, working memory, executive functioning, or general language skills will impact a child’s reading skills, whether a learning disability is present or not.

I recently shared posts on Instagram about working memory and processing speed and how these skills support the development of reading skills. Teachers were wondering how to support students with weaknesses in these areas. It’s not so easy to wrap up the information in a social media post, so I’ve written two blogs to answer the questions in more depth.

This week’s blog will delve into the topic of working memory. Two weeks ago, I shared a similar blog about processing speed. In each blog, I explain these cognitive processes and how they impact the development of academic skills. Both blogs offer a menu of classroom accommodations that support students with weaknesses in these areas.

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First, let’s define what working memory is.

Working memory is defined as “the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form” (Cowan, 2013). Understood.org describes it as “the mental sticky note we use to keep track of information until we need to use it.” We use both auditory/verbal working memory for numbers, words, and sentences and visual-spatial working memory for images, pictures, and spatial information (IDA, 2020).

Working memory is sometimes confused with short-term memory and long-term memory. If you’ve ever read a parent’s phone number on your computer screen and repeated it in your head as you walked across the room to type it into your classroom phone, you were using your short-term memory. When you mentally split the dinner bill among yourself and three friends, you are mainly using your working memory. On the other hand, your spouse’s phone number may be saved in your long-term memory. You don’t need to manipulate any information mentally– the number is just available to you instantly.

Working memory creates a bridge between our short-term memory and our long-term memory (IDA, 2020). Think about a student holding the information from a word problem in their mind with their short-term memory while also accessing their long-term memory to recall the multiplication fact needed to solve the problem.

What does a weakness in working memory look like?

A weakness in working memory is not specifically related to reading tasks. It can affect performance in several areas. A person with poor working memory will have trouble listening to, remembering, and following multistep directions, remembering a question long enough to come up with an answer, and doing mental math (IDA, 2020). Any task that requires you to have a mental to-do list will be challenging for the person with poor working memory. The IDA further explains that a person with a working memory weakness will “have trouble thinking and doing at the same time.”

There is also a bidirectional relationship between anxiety and working memory (Landmark Outreach, 2023). If a person is aware of their weakness, they may experience anxiety about it. Conversely, if a person is experiencing anxiety, their working memory may “jam” as a result. Personally, I know that I cannot easily count change or calculate a tip when someone is waiting for my response. My processing speed and working memory just seem to quit on me in those situations!

How does working memory impact reading and writing skills?

A reader with poor working memory may struggle with:

• sounding out words to read and spell 
• repeating nonsense words, unfamiliar words, or multisyllabic words
• completing phonological awareness tasks
• orthographically mapping words for immediate retrieval (this is how students build a “sight” vocabulary)
• reading fluency
• reading comprehension
• repeat back verbal information
• composing organized written responses

Phonological memory is another aspect of working memory. It is the ability to hold speech sounds in short-term memory. Poor phonological memory will impact a child’s ability to hold on to phonemes (sounds) to read and spell (Mather & Wendling, 2012). 

Working memory skills are required for reading comprehension. To make sense of a story you are reading, you need to hold the story’s events and details in your working memory. A child with poor working memory skills may struggle to hold on to information for the short term, which can prevent them from providing a retell or answering questions about what they read.

A reader’s memory span can also factor into their success. “Memory span” means the ability to repeat back verbatim a string of verbal information, such as digits, words, or sentences (Mather & Wendling, 2012). Poor readers tend to have reduced memory spans, possibly because they articulate words more slowly due to reduced phonological processing abilities. This causes a waterfall effect: Articulating words more slowly impacts reading fluency, which impacts comprehension.

Does working memory impact math skills, too?

Yes! The most obvious way poor working memory impacts math is a weakness in storing and retrieving math facts from long-term memory. This appears as a deficit in fact fluency. Remember that when a person struggles to hold information in their working memory, that information will be less likely to transfer to long-term memory.

How do I know if a child has poor working memory skills?

Now that you’ve learned more about the topic, you may be able to tell from informal observations if a child has poor working memory skills. If an evaluation has been completed on your student, you can refer to a student’s working memory score(s) on their cognitive assessments. Some tests that include measures of working memory include the Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS), Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing- Second Edition (CTOPP-2), the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition (NEPSY-II), Children’s Memory Scale (CMS), the Differential Ability Scales-II (DAS-II), the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fifth Edition (WISC-V), Wechsler Memory Scale, Fourth Edition (WMS-IV), the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning, Third Edition (WRAML3), and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV).

How can we support students with poor working memory skills?

A child with poor working memory may benefit from classroom accommodations. Accommodations will not change what the child is expected to learn or the skills they are expected to demonstrate. Instead, accommodations are intended to “level the playing field” by allowing the student to access the curriculum without their cognitive differences preventing them from doing so.

Accommodations should be chosen based on how the child’s working memory skills impact their functioning in the classroom. Of course, we want to select accommodations carefully so that we are supporting the student without encouraging learned helplessness. The child’s team can determine the correct balance, which may change over time. Keep an open mind about what might work and don’t be afraid to try a few strategies or even revisit strategies that did not work in the past.

The following is a menu of choices that you may find helpful, depending on the specific child you would like to support. If you read my last blog about processing speed, you’ll notice that many accommodations that support students with slow processing speed will also support students with poor working memory!

Accommodations to support daily functioning:

• Foster self-awareness around this area of weakness so the student knows when they need to advocate for themselves or use learned compensatory strategies.
• Structure and routine throughout the day and in all settings, including at home, will help children complete tasks and move through their day with more ease. Schedules and routines will be memorized more readily when they are consistent.

Accommodations for processing oral information, like directions:

• Provide directions in small, manageable chunks. 
• Support verbal information with visuals, manipulatives, or realia (real objects) when possible. 
• Supplement verbal directions with written directions or checklists.
• Ask the student to repeat the directions before they begin to work independently.

The purpose of the first three suggestions is to reduce the amount of information the student must hold in their mind. The last suggestion helps us ensure that the student grasps the information.

Accommodations for completing work or homework:

• Break down longer assignments or projects into chunks. Have students check in with an adult after completing each chunk. The whole class may be okay with one due date or time limit, but a child with a weakness in working memory will benefit from several milestone due dates or check-ins along the way.
• Allow additional time to complete tasks, including assessments.
• Reduce the number of problems or tasks assigned so the student can demonstrate understanding without reaching a frustration level. Be sure that you’re including a variety of problems/tasks. If the worksheet includes 10 fill-in-the-blank items and 10 short answer questions, have the student complete some of each.
• Show an example of the completed task or project to help define expectations.

Accommodations to support learning new skills:

• Incorporate a variety of memory aids, like visuals, checklists, written schedules, etc.
• Offer ample opportunities to practice and apply skills, and provide repetition and review as often as necessary. Remember that reduced working memory skills can prevent information from entering long-term memory. Review and practice will help new skills stick.

Accommodations for math tasks:

• Allow a calculator or fact chart when the student is completing more complex tasks. For example, if the objective of the lesson is to understand how to find the perimeter of a quadrilateral, the student can use a multiplication chart once they know which fact is needed to solve.
• Offer checklists and mnemonics for completing longer calculation problems, like long division. (Did you learn to say “Does McDonald’s Serve Burgers?” to help you remember the steps of divide, multiply, subtract, bring down?)

Accommodations for reading-related tasks:

• If the student has a weakness in reading and/or spelling, use a structured, sequential, and cumulative phonics approach that provides adequate opportunities for practice and review.
• If the student demonstrates a weakness in comprehension, teach strategies for self-monitoring comprehension. You can also teach story structure and informational text structure through graphic organizers. When students understand text structures, they can approach a text with a plan and an understanding of what they will learn in each section.
• Fluency instruction can help students with poor working memory to comprehend with more ease.
• Consider reading content area material aloud to the student whenever you are not assessing the student’s independent reading skills. For example, if the class is expected to read a chapter in the science textbook, allow the child to use text-to-speech to listen to the chapter instead.
• Allow additional time to complete tasks that require reading, no matter what the content area is.
• Offer text-to-speech or audiobooks. The Google Read & Write toolbar is a great option for speech-to-text and text-to-speech on student devices.

Accommodations for tasks that require written output:

• Allow the student to provide oral responses when their written expression skills aren’t being assessed.
• Provide sentence frames or sentence starters to support the child in expressing their thoughts and ideas in writing.

Accommodations for assessments:

• Allow additional time as long as the student is working productively.
• Reduce the number of problems or tasks assigned without reducing the complexity of the assessment or leaving out skills.
• Grade the child based on items/tasks attempted, rather than all of the items or tasks. Let’s say the grammar quiz included twenty items. Eddie attempted the first twelve problems and got ten correct before time was up. Instead of giving Eddie a 10/20 (50%), score him with a 10/12 (83%). His performance suggests that he understands the concept but he didn’t have enough time!
• Consider reading content area material aloud to the student whenever you are not assessing the student’s independent reading skills. We want their scores to reflect their knowledge and skills in the content area, not the fact that they struggled to read the assessment.
• Provide sentence frames or sentence starters to support the child in demonstrating their knowledge in writing within the expected time frame.

Do you have students with poor working memory in your classroom?

The answer is most likely yes! You may even recognize yourself or a loved one as you read about the characteristics of poor working memory. I hope that the information and suggested accommodations I shared help you support your students. Do you have other accommodations you like to use with your students who struggle in this area? Leave a comment and share your ideas!

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Sources:

Cowan, N. (2013). Working memory underpins cognitive development, learning, and Education. Educational Psychology Review, 26(2), 197–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-013-9246-y 

International Dyslexia Association (IDA). (2020, April 8). Working memory: The engine for learning. https://dyslexiaida.org/working-memory-the-engine-for-learning/

Landmark School. (2023, September 12). Anxiety and working memory. Landmark Outreach. https://www.landmarkoutreach.org/strategies/working-memory-and-anxiety/

Mather, N., & Wendling, B. J. (2012). Essentials of dyslexia assessment and intervention. Wiley.