Artificial Intelligence Decodes Why Children Struggle at School

London: A novel machine learning technology can help identify clusters of learning difficulties that children struggle with at school with health conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism or dyslexia. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, fed a computer algorithm with cognitive testing data, including measures of listening skills, spatial reasoning, problem solving, vocabulary and memory. Based on these data, the algorithm suggested that the children best fit into four clusters of difficulties — difficulties with working memory skills and difficulties with processing sounds in words. The others were children with broad cognitive difficulties in many areas and children with typical cognitive test results for their age. “By looking at children with a broad range of difficulties we found unexpectedly that many children with difficulties with processing sounds in words don’t just have problems with reading — they also have problems with maths,” said lead author Duncan Astle from the varsity.

Difficulties with working memory — the short-term retention and manipulation of information — have been linked with struggling with maths and with tasks such as following lists. (IANS)