Poor memory blights one in ten children

A bad memory could be causing underachievement for almost half a million primary school children,say researchers.

A team from Durham University found that in 10 per cent of the 3,000 children they studied, poor working memory was responsible for seriously affecting their learning.

In many cases, teachers described these children as being inattentive or less intelligent.

A working memory is the ability to hold information in your head and manipulate it.

It would be used regularly at school, for example when adding numbers together in your head, or when writing down sentences already said by a teacher.

The problem is thought to be genetic, and can affect long-term academic success.

As a result of the study researchers have produced a checklist which can be used by teachers to identify whether children are experiencing memory problems.