One in 10 students may be suffering from a condition known as “impaired working memory”—and that’s having a negative impact on their academic performance.

So report researchers in a news release from Durham University in the United Kingdom. They also say this impairment is rarely identified by teachers, who are more likely to view affected children “as inattentive or as having lower levels of intelligence.”

So what is working memory? According to MedicineNet.com, working memory—or short-term memory—is “a system for temporarily storing information and managing the information required to carry out complex cognitive tasks.”

Translation: If you are told two numbers, you remember them, and you multiply those numbers in your head, you’re using your working memory.

It’s pretty obvious that a student’s classroom success depends somewhat on his or her ability to follow a teacher’s instructions, do some quick mental calculations, or remember what’s been said in a classroom lecture long enough to write it down.

“Working memory is a bit like a mental jotting pad, and how good this is in someone will either ease their path to learning or seriously prevent them from learning,” Dr. Tracy Alloway, head of the research team, is quoted as saying.

So how practical is this information for you? Well, some of your teachers will be familiar with the basic concept of working memory and instruction, and some special education teachers will have learned something about this condition.

But it can’t hurt to point out that the condition may be more common than they think—and isn’t the same thing as attention deficit disorder (ADD), although the challenges for students can appear similar. Also, it turns out that there are checklists available that your teachers can use to identify children who may have this problem, and there are diagnostic tools available to confirm such suspicions.

And, finally, there are instructional techniques to help students cope with this impairment.

All anyone needs to do is a little more research.

It might prove worthwhile. As Alloway notes, “early identification of these children will be a major step toward addressing underachievement. It will mean teachers can adapt their methods to help the children’s learning before they fall too far behind their peers.”

Del Stover, Senior Editor