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An evaluation of arrowsmith program measures in relation to working memory

University of British Columbia

Working Memory (WM) is a complex higher order function that is important for completing complex tasks such as learning, comprehension, and reasoning (Baddeley, 2010). Due to the importance of this ability, many cognitive training programs aim to improve individual WM capacity. One cognitive training program that is unique to others is the Arrowsmith Program. The Arrowsmith Program has an independent classification procedure, which involves an entry level assessment using multiple cognitive tasks. Performance across these tasks then produce an Initial Learning Profile, which identifies areas of cognitive strength and weakness (Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, 2012). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate how Arrowsmith measures relate to valid measures of WM. Six participants from an archival data set completed a WM measure from the WJ III NU COG (Numbers Reversed), parental questionnaires using the WM subscale from the BRIEF, Arrowsmith measures, and demographic information. A trend was observed in the results, in which better overall Arrowsmith performance was related to higher WM ability on a performance-based measure, but lower parental ratings of WM (higher parental concern of WM problems). Large positive and negative correlations were found between one Arrowsmith measure (Symbol Relations) and both the performance-based and parental ratings of WM, indicating that better performance on Symbol Relations was related to better WM on both measures. The implications of these findings and consideration for future research with the Arrowsmith Program are discussed.

Text

2020-09-10

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/75961

School and Applied Child Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/