Webinar: Working memory and executive functions and SEND: Implications for learning

Executive functions, including working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility, play a crucial role in the development of academic skills and continue to impact educational achievement throughout childhood and adolescence.

In this webinar recording, we provide teachers and support staff with an understanding of how executive functions can be supported in the classroom in order to enhance learning of children and adolescents with SEND.

The webinar explored how working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition affect learning in the classroom including: learning to read and reading comprehension, handwriting and written production, mathematical reasoning and numerical operations. The webinar considered how to identify executive function difficulties and mitigate these through strategies that support the achievement of children and adolescents with SEND. Case studies of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, ADHD) were proposed to participants for discussion.

Dr Marialivia Bernardi

Lecturer in Psychology, Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich

Marialivia is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich, she teaches developmental psychology, neuropsychology and psychopathology to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Marialivia previously worked as a research associate at University College London, investigating neurodevelopmental outcomes of extremely preterm birth. She completed her PhD at City, University of London, examining the relationship between the development of motor coordination, executive functions and academic achievement. She is a therapist for children with neurodevelopmental disorders and worked in clinical and educational settings before starting to work as a researcher. Her research interests include understanding the cognitive and academic profiles of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Relevant links shared:

• A link to download the audio transcript
• This article on our Early Career Hub might be helpful: SEND and the art of detection: An evidence based approach to supporting learners
• Have a look at some of our other recorded webinars on supporting students with SEND
• Issue 2 of Impact focuses on the science of learning
• This article on our Early Career Hub considers memory and learning 
• Read more about supporting pupils with autism, supporting autistic girls and teaching for neurodiversity
• This template was developed by a schools at Ambitious about Autism Schools Trust
• Read more about applying research in special educational needs to the classroom and inclusive pedagogy
• This Impact article outlines how to use assistive technology for learners with SEND
• Catch up and recovery approaches

Links referred to in the presentation:

• Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten
• The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?
• How does the severity of a learning disability affect working memory performance?
• Teachers’ Understanding of the Role of Executive Functions in Mathematics Learning
• Skills underlying mathematics: The role of executive function in the development of mathematics proficiency
• On Inhibition/Disinhibition in Developmental Psychopathology: Views from Cognitive and Personality
• Psychology and a Working Inhibition Taxonomy
• Teachers’ judgments of problems in the transition to kindergarten
• Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten