Construction and Validation of an Ecological Measure of Working Memory

Abstract

Working memory (WM) has been closely linked to learning and achievement in children (Gathercole et al., 2004). The Forchelli Following Directions Task (FFDT) is a 15-item group-administered screener designed to assess working memory ability in school-aged children. The FFDT was developed to address the need for early identification of children with working memory difficulty. It specifically focuses on the need for easily administered and ecologically valid assessment. The FFDT was developed based on tasks cited in research to assess WM. The measure was developed across three iterations after receiving continual review from research experts in working memory and a group of three elementary school teachers. It also was piloted by three elementary school children to assess group-administration considerations. Participants in the validation study were 70 elementary school students 5 to 10 years of age spanning kindergarten to third grade were recruited from schools in the greater Philadelphia area. Participants were administered the group-administered working memory screener and completed individually administered measures of working memory, the WISC-IV Digit Span and Spatial Span, for comparison. Parents and teachers also completed behavior rating scales (i.e., BRIEF) measuring working memory. The FFDT demonstrated a sufficient Alpha's coefficient, indicating internal consistency. Significant Pearson correlations were found between existing measures of WM and the FFDT, indicating that the FFDT measures WM ability to a similar extent. The FFDT demonstrated good sensitivity to age and grade, as well. Further, the results of a ROC analysis comparing the identification of WM difficulty on the FFDT to existing measures of WM demonstrated a low to moderate effect. Overall, results indicate that the FFDT exhibited good reliability and validity. The anecdotal support of elementary school teachers and time efficiency of the task compared to existing WM measures also suggests good ecological validity. This study also demonstrated the utility of the FDDT in populations within a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework. Further research will be challenged to investigate the FFDT further scrutinize the construct validity and demonstrate significance in a larger, more representative sample of students.