Hearing the labels ADHD or dyslexia for some gives them chills and anxiety. The truth is that everyone has cognitive skill differences. Without the knowledge of what is happening in your brain, you cannot help — and knowing is half the battle. Cognitive skills are the thinking skills we use every day. They help us make sense of the world around us, and they control everything we do.
When there is an inefficiency in these skills, we often end up with labels such as ADHD or dyslexia. This is similar to a diagnosis of diabetes, which occurs when the body cannot manage blood sugar effectively. This does not determine who we are nor who we can become.
These core cognitive skills determine the efficiency of learning:
#1: Execution Function (EF)
Executive function is the CEO of your brain. It helps you manage other skills and functions like the senses. There are 6 components that make up executive function. They are organization, focus and task shifting, regulation/sustaining effort and processing speed, managing emotions, utilizing working memory and recall, and self-monitoring and self-control. Identifying which of these is a struggle will show you where the weakness in executive function is.
Problems with EF can lead to sensory overload or time management issues as well as ADHD or autism. Dr. Thomas E. Brown organizes the EF Impairments of ADHD into 6 clusters. They are Activation, Focus, Effort, Emotion, Memory, and Action. Identifying which skills to improve and then working on them can boost performance, especially for those with ADHD.
#2: Logic and Reasoning
Using logic and reasoning is the basis of being able to problem solve. This affects your skills in math, test-taking, and comprehension. It determines if you can understand abstract concepts or if you have impulse control. Addressing this skill through rigorous training can give the person the ability to handle these tasks. You will learn to think more before you act.
#3: Processing Speed
Processing speed is the hardest of the skills to address. It requires the speeding up or slowing down of the thought processes. The person must learn to listen to his or her thoughts. Then you must learn to manage your thoughts. This is often paired with meditation or breathing exercises. These exercises are also an important aspect of learning to manage anxiety.
#4: Visual and Auditory Processing
Visual and auditory processing are very important. These skills affect all our learning. They shape how we store information in our memory. The visual-spatial sketchpad is the tool that we use to hold things in working memory. It is much like our computer screen, which shows us our current project or work. Using this sketchpad correctly can help you follow multi-step directions. You must learn how to hold information and when to discard information.
We create a visual movie of everything we read on our brain screen. So not knowing how to use our visual-spatial sketchpad can also impact the way we read. We read by using both the sketchpad and our auditory processor. Our auditory processor manipulates the sounds we hear. It turns letters into sounds. Sounds become words, and words make sense. Using these two correctly is the difference between enjoying reading or not.
#5: Short-Term and Long-Term Memory
Short-term memory is like your brain’s temporary notepad. It holds bits of information for a few seconds or minutes, just long enough to use it. Long-term memory, on the other hand, is your mental filing cabinet. It stores information that has been processed, connected, and organized so you can retrieve it later. When either system isn’t working efficiently, daily learning becomes a struggle.
People with ADHD often struggle to hold information in short-term memory. This makes it hard to move that info to long-term storage. Attention drifts or distractions can get in the way. Those with dyslexia often experience weak working memory and retrieval skills. This makes it difficult to hold onto letter-sound patterns, sequences, or steps while reading or spelling. These challenges don’t reflect intelligence. They simply highlight where the brain’s “memory gears” need strengthening.
All of these skills add up to different strengths and weaknesses.
For example, a person with dysphonetic or auditory dyslexia struggles to remember the codes of the English language. They struggle to understand the sounds that letters/words make. This also impacts the processing speed of the brain. This can be confusing as there are about 13 different ways to pronounce the letter A in our language. Only one has the letter A at the beginning — how about EIGH for example? That’s why a sentence like “The bandage is wound around the wound” can be so confusing!
Many different types of attention issues exist, along with various types of dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and more. Yet, none of these define a person any more than a heart condition defines someone. Remember the next time that you see someone struggling with learning or behavior that inefficiencies do not define us. We define them by how we refine them.
Struggling with learning issues isn’t a way of life. You can train to overcome the issue. No one stays the same. Each day we are training our brains and ourselves to be the best person we can become, no matter how old we are. There are resources in our community that can help with the struggles you have. You can discover the greatness within you, your children, grandchildren, spouse, etc. Most of all, remember to cherish those around you for who they are, no matter their differences.
For more information about cognitive brain training: contact LearningRx Shreveport. Call 318.797.8523 or email shreveport.la@learningrx.net. You can also learn more on our main website at Get Started.
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Previously published in LOLA magazine and The Collective by Donesa Walker. Some of the information has been updated since the previous publication, and some changes have been made to make the article more blog friendly.
*Please note that LearningRx does not diagnose or treat learning disabilities or disorders. You can read more about our research and results here!