How Do Children Use Their Working Memory

In addition to children having a difficult time using their working memory, they have another problem of using it for learning basic cognitive skills such as reading. When children are just learning how to read, working memory makes it challenging. To be able to learn how to read, children need to use their working memory to store the new information and process it. Reading does not involve just reading words, it is a very complex process. First, children have to learn the different letters and what they sound like. Second, they need to connect the letters together to create a word. Third, children need to understand what that word means to be able to connect them to other words in the future. Once the child understands words and their meanings, they can now put them together to create sentences. Being able to do all of this in a short amount of time requires a good working memory. If a child does not have a good working memory, it may take them awhile to learn each step because if they process and store a lot of information about connecting letters into words then they will not have a lot of room for information about what the word means. If children do not have the prior experience of learning how to connect letters with words, they will not be able to use their working memory to process what the word means. This then escalates to the child not being able to be able to remember the prior words, understand what they meant, and how the prior and current …show more content…
Working memory has many limitations that do not assist individuals in everyday activities including reading. When children are just learning how to read, working memory many times acts against a child’s attempt. After a child overcomes that obstacle, they are able to read thoroughly. With age, there is an increase in capacity that leads to cognitive development that allows for a faster working