Does your child forget easily? Do you have to repeat instructions or remind your child on a regular basis? Many learning disabled kids have the symptom of poor memory. Daniel, our youngest, falls in this category. The old saying, “You’d lose your head if it wasn’t screwed on”, pretty much describes his ability to remember things.
We have a weekly chart to help him remember his daily chores, including tooth brushing and flossing, walking the dog, emptying the trash, etc. I strategically place post-it reminders in areas to help him remember to do whatever he needs to on a given day. I place his medicine and vitamins in front of his breakfast plate in the morning so he will remember to take them. I remind him to set his alarm clock every night before going to bed. Daniel can be reminded till the cows come home and will still forget.
At first I was frustrated with his lack of memory but chalked it up to everything that had occurred in his life at that point in time. Being displaced, his biological mother’s abandonment, new surroundings, all these things would confuse most children and would cause them to have a wide spectrum of behavioral issues. We assumed this was the case with Daniel. Two and a half years later, Paul and I agree it is not an effect of his circumstances but a symptom of his learning disabilities.
Listed below are the five main categories of memory functions:
Short Term Memory: only lasts for a few minutes. This is used to remember someone’s name, a phone number, a simple math problem, or what was just said. Short term memory is used for immediate recall.
Long Term Memory: is defined as the ability to remember things from the past.
Rote Memory: is the ability to remember things as a habit pattern.
Receptive Memory: refers to the ability to store physical information and recall it at a later date. In essence associating shapes or sounds with the given object or figure. Example: recognizing the letter B or the number 4 by its structure and shape.
Sequential Memory: is defined as the ability to recall information in sequence or order. Many dyslexics have poor sequential memory.
We have struggled with trying to help Daniel in dealing with his poor memory. It has been difficult because there has been little progress due to having to reiterate on the same subjects repeatedly. The visual and verbal reminders only seem to work at the moment. They don’t help him remember for any period of time or for the next day when he has to repeat the same process. Unless he is reminded continuously, he will not recall the assignment given him. In my next article, I will discuss ways we have learned to help Daniel. He falls into more than one category of poor memory skills. His weakest area is rote memory. He is also ineffectual in the areas of receptive and short-term memory.
To learn more about poor memory and how to help your child strengthen his ability to remember, read Forgetting to Remember-Part 2