I talk a LOT about cognitive load!! During post-assessment follow-up calls, during teacher trainings, during parent education course. But what exactly does cognitive load mean? And WHY does it make handwriting so challenging?!
Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. It is a concept widely used in psychology and education to understand how the human brain processes information. Cognitive load can be divided into three types: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane. Intrinsic cognitive load is the inherent difficulty of a task and is influenced by the complexity and novelty of the information being processed. Extraneous cognitive load refers to the mental effort required to deal with irrelevant or unnecessary information that does not contribute to learning. Finally, germane cognitive load is the mental effort devoted to building schema and understanding the material, leading to long-term retention and transfer of knowledge.
Let me spell it out for you in the context of writing!
A student is asked write capital letters A-Z in isolation with the evaluator naming each letter (capital A, capital B, etc...). For some that is a high cognitive load task (intrinsic cognitive load), they have to remember what that letter looks like in their visual memory and then translate that mental picture into a visual representation on paper via holding a pencil and moving their fingers in a controlled manner - more to come on the complexity of writing :). This task may be too challenging and we move to copying capital letters or pre-writing tasks. But for those students who have been explicitly taught to form individual letters correctly, writing alphabet letters in isolation is a lower cognitive load task.
Add a layer on... now the student writes the alphabet from memory without the evaluator prompting for each letter. The added cognitive letter of alphabetic sequence is added. Then move to a task of sentence copying and compare that to writing a sentence from dictation (the evaluator reads the sentence but there is no visual). Finally, writing a paragraph or essay from one's own thoughts creates a whole new level of cognitve load. You can see how the cognitive load increases as the demands increase.
In students that struggle with writing automaticity, breakdowns typically occur as this cognitive load rises. This is evident in situations where they need to transcribe notes from the board or (even more challenging) take notes while the teacher is speaking (extraneous cognitive load), write a response to a question, or generate their own ideas for an essay (germane cognitive load).
Managing cognitive load is crucial in instructional design and learning environments to optimize learning outcomes and enhance understanding. By understanding the different types of cognitive load and how they interact, educators can create more effective learning experiences that support cognitive processing and knowledge acquisition. Likewise, parents and students can become aware of their strengths and areas with room for growth to aide in remediation and determining appropriate accommodations.
So when students come to us with "handwriting struggles" we take a MAJOR deep dive into ALL aspects of their learning profile and explore how various levels of cognitive load impact their performance. By conducting a detailed assessment and analysis, we aim to provide tailored solutions that address the root causes of their challenges and help them improve their writing skills effectively.
Interested in deep diving your student's learning profile? No matter their age, we can complete our assessment and build a plan for them! Reach out to kelli@handwritingsolutions.org for a free consultation.
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