Medication Evaluation/Management

Individual, Family, Group Therapy

Psychoeducational Evaluation

Developmental/Psychological Evaluation

Cogmed Working Memory Training

Executive Functioning Skills Training 

Cogmed

Cogmed Working Memory Training

Center for Academic and Psychological Services is a Cogmed Qualified Practice for Cogmed Working Memory Training.

Cogmed Working Memory Training is an evidence-based comprehensive 5-week home-based software program designed to help children, adolescents and adults with deficits in attention and concentration by training and increasing their working memory capacity. Studies show that most children and adults with attentional deficits have a working memory deficit. Working Memory is a function of the brain that helps us temporarily store and manage the information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as learning, comprehension, reasoning, and problem solving. Working memory allows us to hold information in the mind for a short time, typically for a few seconds, in order to use that information for thinking and reasoning. In daily life, we use working memory for a number of tasks such as remembering instructions, solving problems, controlling impulses, and focusing attention.

Studies show that a deficit in working memory often leads to difficulties in:

  • staying focused
  • planning and executing a series of steps
  • remembering instructions
  • starting and finishing tasks
  • reading comprehension
  • math

Signs of working memory deficits include:

  • problems focusing
  • distractibility
  • difficulties starting and finishing tasks
  • forgetting instructions
  • planning and organizing tasks and projects
  • poor time management

Cogmed Working Memory Training has been found to benefit one’s ability to:

  • sustain attention
  • manage impulsivity
  • engage in complex reasoning skills
  • improve academic performance (reading comprehension, math)
  • improve social skills
  • complete tasks

Cogmed Working Memory Training software has been specifically created by game developers working closely with neuroscientists and psychologists. Through active and engaging exercises, participants train at home five days per week for five weeks. Every participant has a Personal Coach who leads the training, analyzes results and provides encouragement through weekly phone calls and/or visits.

Research on Cogmed Working Memory Training has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Science, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Neuropsychology, and the British Journal of Educational Psychology. Published, peer-reviewed and controlled clinical studies have demonstrated that, upon completion of Cogmed Working Memory Training, 80% of participants have significantly improved their ability to concentrate and use complex reasoning skills over the long term. Improvements to working memory are correlated with changes in the frontal and parietal parts of the brain, the crucial parts of the brain for using working memory. Training has lasting effects. When asked one year after training to report on their experience, 79% of parents reported effects had remained or increased. There is on-going research on Cogmed Working Memory Training at several leading U.S. universities. www.cogmed.com