Philip was a typical ten-year-old boy with Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD). He found it
impossible to sit still more than ten minutes in school and even his
experienced and understanding teacher had begun to get frustrated with
him. Homework either did
not get done or—more typically—could not be found in his chaotic
binder when it was time to turn it in. With other children Philip was bossy and constantly
interrupted their play with demands and suggestions of his own. As a
result he had few friends and was often lonely.
Because Philip
was a thin, rather short boy, his parents were hesitant to try
stimulant drugs like methylphenidate because they had read that such
drugs were shown to retard growth. Family counseling had helped
Philip, his sisters, and his parents to get along better, but nothing
seemed to slow Philip down or help him remember what he was supposed
to do or to get himself organized.
One day,
Philip’s mother happened to read about a new kind of treatment for
ADD on the Internet. The treatment originated in Sweden and was called
Cogmed. A procedure for training “working memory,” Cogmed has
been used in Europe for five years but in America for less than two.
When
Philip’s mother found me through the Cogmed website only a few
months ago, she came in with Philip for a consultation.
Testing showed that Philip had problems with holding thoughts
in his mind long enough to use them productively.
For instance, he would forget the meaning of the first part of
a sentence before he got to the end of reading that same sentence.
As a result, reading comprehension was well below grade level.
We decided to
go ahead with the Cogmed training.
It is all done at home, on a computer hooked to the Internet.
A parent must be with the child during his or her training,
which takes place five times a week for 30 to 45 minutes each day. We
agreed on rewards for working hard (30 minutes of Philip’s favorite
Nintendo games when he finished).
Only five
weeks later, Philip had shown big improvements.
He could remember six digits backwards rather than the three or
four he had been able to do initially.
His reading had dramatically improved.
Best of all, he was now bragging about himself and his old
refrain of “I’m dumb” had totally ceased.
He had more friends because he was more fun to be around.
Research shows
that about 80 to 85% of kids who use Cogmed make significant
improvements, and of those over half continue to get better even after
they stop training. Of
course, Cogmed is not a substitute for medical attention and certainly
does not substitute for medication in all cases.
Success cannot be guaranteed every time, but this new way of
training attention difficulties offers great promise.
The research
already completed is impressive—and more is on the way. For those who want to learn more, additional information is
available at the Cogmed website (www.cogmed.com).
For those interested in treating ADD with Cogmed, I do offer this
working memory training in Alaska. However, the training can be done
entirely by telephone and Internet, so no office visit is necessary
(though it is desirable to meet in person if possible).
Al
Collins, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist practicing in
Anchorage.
You may contact him at the Alaska Neuro/Therapy Center,
344-3338.
