Working memory involves such things as remembering verbal instructions, new names or telephone numbers. The condition was identified by a Durham University team in one in ten children out of 3,000 schoolchildren studied, across all ages.

The team says teachers rarely identify the problem, and tend to regard sufferers as "unmotivated daydreamers".

However, the researchers say that early assessment, which can be carried out from the age of four, would enable schools to adopt new teaching methods. The team's diagnostic tools have been piloted in 35 schools across the UK and translated into 10 foreign languages.

Lead researcher Dr Tracy Alloway, from Durham's school of education, says:

"Working memory is a bit like a mental jotting pad, and how good this is in someone will either ease their path to learning or seriously prevent them from learning.

"From the various large-scale studies we have done, we believe the only way children with poor working memory can go on to achieving academic success is by teaching them how to learn despite their smaller capacity to store information mentally."

A teacher may have a hunch that something is wrong, and can follow on by getting the child to do a computerised assessment. Common classroom characteristics include:

• Low abilities in literacy and numeracy;
• Frequent failure to complete learning activities;
• Frequent failure to remember instructions;
• Normal social integration with other children, but very reserved in groups;
• Rarely volunteer information.

To cope with the problem, the team recommends:

• repetition of instructions,
• talking in simple, short sentences,
• breaking down tasks into smaller chunks.
  

(Source: BBC NEWS)