Working Memory, Fine Motor Skills and Early Numeracy in Cerebral Palsy

Child Neuropsychology published research exploring the relationship between working memory, non-verbal intelligence, linguistic skills, counting, fine motor skills and early numeracy in 56, six year old children with cerebral palsy.   Each child was evaluated for early numeracy performance, working memory, non-verbal intelligence, sentence understanding and fine motor skills. In addition, basic counting performance was assessed.

The results indicated the following:

1.  working memory and fine motor skills were significantly related to the early numeracy performance of the children.

2.  counting was a mediating variable (a variable that explains a relation or provides a causal link between other variables) between working memory and early numeracy

The researchers concluded that working memory for early numeracy performance in children with cerebral palsy is important and warrants further research into intervention programs aimed for working memory training.

Reference:  Van Rooijen M, Verhoeven L, Steenbergen B. Working memory and fine motor skills predict early numeracy performance of children with cerebral palsy. Child Neuropsychol. 2015 Jun 12:1-13. [Epub ahead of print]

Working Memory Exercises – find out more athttp://www.YourTherapySource.com/workingmemory

Physical Activity, Executive Function and ADHD

Research in Developmental Disabilities published research on 43 children with ADHD between 7-12 years old to determine if there are effects of different types of physical activity on executive functioning.  A 12 week training program included two different groups: experimental group 1 (EG1) included 13 children who participated in ball handling, balance and manual dexterity and experimental group 2 (EG2) included 14 children who participated in sports without a specific focus.  There was also a control group (CG) who received no intervention.  Each participant was evaluated for working memory and motor performance before, immediately after the first training week and one week after the last session.

The results indicated the following:

1.  after the 12-week intervention period, several measures of the EG1 and EG2s significantly improved over time.

2.  between group comparisons demonstrated significant improvements in both EG1 and EG2 compared to the CG in variables assessing working memory performance and motor performance.

The researchers concluded that long-term physical activity has a positive effect on executive functions of children with ADHD, regardless of the specificity of the activity.   The researchers recommended that regular physical activity can be used as a complementary or alternative non-pharmacologic treatment for ADHD.

Reference:  Susanne Ziereis and Petra Jansen.  Effects of physical activity on executive function and motor performance in children with ADHD.  Research in Developmental Disabilities
Volume 38, March 2015, Pages 181–191.

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Photographic Memory Card Game

Study a picture cards of 10 photos for 30 seconds. Turn each card over and write down as many of the 10 items that you can remember.   Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/growingplaycards.html

 



Brain Breaks Card Game

Get active, refreshed and ready to work with 50 mini movement breaks that
require no equipment. Most of the movement breaks can be done with one child or a group. It
does not get any easier than this to encourage sensory motor activities in the classroom or home.

Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/growingplaycards.html

 

Visual Memory and Fine Motor Box

Watch the video on how to create this visual memory and fine motor box at http://yourtherapysource.com/videovisualmemory.html.

Simple Visual Memory Game

Test your visual memory skills with this simple game.  Gather up objects from around the house, school or therapy room.  Put several objects on a tray or in a box.  Have the child look at what is on the tray for a short period of time.  Have the child close their eyes and remove one item.  When the child opens his/her eyes can they guess what object is missing?

We use a piece of cloth to wrap up the missing object.  The children are always very excited not only to guess, but to unwrap the missing piece to check if they were correct in determining what object was missing. 

To make this activity more difficult, place a higher number of objects or objects that look similar.  To make it easier, use a few objects that look very different. To add in physical activity, place the tray at the end of the obstacle course.  When the child starts the course remove one item so that when he/she gets to the end of the course he/she must tell you what item is missing.  Make it a secret spy mission obstacle course to add in some detective pretend play too!

Don't forget to let the children take turns using the cloth to remove the secret object so that others can guess the missing object.

Photographic Memory Card Set

Study a picture cards of 10 photos for 30 seconds.  Turn each card over and write down as many of the 10 items that you can remember to challenge your visual memory on the go.

Find out more information on the card set.

Hedgehog Play Dough Game

Learn how to play this fine motor, visual motor and visual memory game at YourTherapySource.