How lesson design shapes what a working memory can carry — and the small design choices that free up thinking for learning.
Plain English, no jargon. You don't need a teaching background to use this — just read the parts that feel useful and skip the rest. If something raises a question, your child's teacher or SENDCO is the best next step.
Cognitive load is how much a child's mind is holding at any moment. Some of it is the actual learning; some of it is everything else — noise, instructions, worries, working out where to start. When the total is too high, learning stops happening even when the child is trying.
Reduce the noise around the thinking, not the thinking itself.
"Get your shoes" lands better than "get your shoes, coat and bag".
TV off during homework. A clear surface. A single task in view.
Written or drawn — so their working memory doesn't have to hold the plan and do the plan at the same time.
"We're doing one page, then we stop" makes the mountain smaller.
The professional Evidence Library shows the same ideas written for teachers, SENDCOs and school leaders.
Open the Evidence LibraryA calm handful of next steps — not a checklist. Follow whichever thread is most useful right now.
See the same evidence translated for teachers, so home and school can pull in the same direction.
Sensory, attention, communication, wellbeing — see how this topic sits alongside the wider picture.
Working memory, attention, executive function and cognitive load — threaded into one guided journey.
Each guide below connects to the one you've just read. We've noted why — so you can follow the thread that matters most to you.
Cognitive load theory rests on working memory limits — the two guides sit alongside one another.
Extraneous load competes with the executive resources children need to plan and monitor their work.
Well-designed lessons protect attention by keeping load within reach.
Reducing load matters most when a child processes at their own pace — it prevents small delays becoming lost learning.
How children make sense of what adults say — and what we can change about the way we communicate so that more children understand, participate and show what they know.
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How children put their thoughts, ideas, needs and experiences into words — and what adults can change so that more children can show what they think and know.
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What it means to really know a word, why word knowledge sits underneath so much classroom learning, and how adults can build it deliberately without turning language into a deficit.
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Being hard to understand is not the same as having less to say. What speech sounds are, how clarity develops at different rates, and how to keep a child fully included while it does.
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Not the ability to stay calm. What emotional regulation actually involves, how it grows through relationships, and what genuinely helps at home and in class — with the strength of the evidence stated plainly.
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