Age: 29

Gender: Female

Location: Lexington, KY

Background: This is a very bright young woman who always struggled with taking tests. Even though academics came easy to her, she rarely was able to answer all the questions on the test and her grades subsequently suffered as a result. Even though her poor processing ability held her back when she took tests, this girl still succeeded in college and began taking the steps to attend medical school. But once she started a graduate certificate program in pre-medical training, she found the work very challenging. She had a great deal of trouble paying attention in class and found her motivation lacking. After this she tried working a desk job, but found that she was unable to complete tasks and maintain organization; she became restless sitting at her desk the entire day. She began to feel frustrated and disappointed in herself, so she left the job and applied and entered medical school.

The young woman’s concentration problems only became more apparent in medical school, and after a comprehensive evaluation, she was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Even with medication, she continued to struggle with concentration and organization throughout her medical school career. By the time she reached her clinical rotations, she found that her organizational challenges were affecting her ability to be successful. With her medical boards looming in the near future, this young woman looked for something that would help her concentration and organization.

It was at this point that she found Cogmed Working Memory Training. Not finding a Cogmed practice near her, she contacted Dr. Alan Graham, a Cogmed licensee in the Chicago area and the entire program was coordinated by phone and email.

She worked diligently at the program even as the expectations of her clinical rotations were increasing. She said that she enjoyed the coaching and encouragement she received from Dr. Graham, and she finished the program a couple of weeks prior to taking her medical boards.  The young woman actually postponed the test by a few weeks so she could be more prepared.

After taking the test, she emailed Dr. Graham to tell him that she completed the whole test in time, which was a major accomplishment in and of itself. Later, in a follow up by phone, she also explained that she has been able to keep her apartment neat and organized for the first time ever. Finally, a month later, the young woman received her scores. Here is the email she sent to Dr. Graham: “Great news! I got my board score back and I did extremely well! I scored in the 99th percentile. Cogmed clearly really worked!!!!! “

*Photos above are not of the actual users whose experience we describe – we understand that poor working memory
is often a hidden weakness that impacts people in a very personal way.
Out of respect for their privacy, we have kept the identities of these people anonymous.