What causes memory deficits?

Stress, anxiety or depression can cause forgetfulness, confusion, difficulty concentrating, and other
problems that disrupt daily activities. Alcoholism. Chronic alcoholism can seriously impair mental abilities.
Alcohol can also cause memory loss by interacting with medications.

Many students have memory problems. Students who have deficits in registering information in short-term memory
often have difficulty remembering instructions or directions they have just been given, what was just said
during conversations and class lectures and discussions, and what they just read.

Working memory and learning disabilities

Working memory is the ability to temporarily hold on to information while the mind is busy with
another task. In the classroom, working memory is critical to learning situations involving literacy and
numeracy; it is also vital to social situations.

A strong correlation has been found between certain LDs and working memory difficulties.
In Understanding Working Memory: A Classroom Guide (2007), psychologists Gathercole and Alloway
report that approximately 70% of students with LDs in reading score very low on working memory
assessments—something that is very rarely seen in students who do not have LDs.

Working memory difficulties are common among students with other types of LDs such as language
deficits, difficulty with writing and mathematics. Gathercole and Alloway found that many students
with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have working memory difficulties as well. It is
important to note that not all students with LDs have working memory difficulties.

Educational strategies
A student with working memory difficulties needs strategies in order to keep on learning. Three types of
strategies are effective: compensatory strategies, recall strategies, and memory aids.

Compensatory strategies
Compensatory strategies must be taught using pedagogical approaches that focus on explicit
instruction. Two examples of compensatory strategies for a student who understands mathematical
concepts, such as addition, would be playing cards or  calculating the total cost of a grocery shopping
list. Compensatory strategies make it possible to create variety in learning situations.

Recall strategies
Recall strategies are primarily verbal; they are used to help a student retrieve previously learned
information from memory. To reinforce the steps in a task, the educator can model the steps aloud; this
will help the student to remember the sequence. A written review of these steps later will provide added
reinforcement.
External aids
External aids sum up key information on a given subject; the student can refer to the memory aid as
needed. A memory aid can take the form of a schedule for the day, a list of criteria for completing a task
such as a long-term project, a flow chart for completing a writing assignment, a clock face showing the
time that a student must complete a task or even a simple, straightforward poster that is displayed in
the classroom.

How working memory difficulties may present in the classroom and

relevant interventions
Working memory difficulties can be observed in the classroom. Various manifestations and ways to
address them are presented in the following table. Note that many of the behaviours described do not
manifest exclusively because of working memory difficulties. Also, some interventions lead to changes to
the expectations in specific contexts.

This table is based on a Laval school board document entitled, Les difficultés d'apprentissage, comment
faire au quotidien  and a CanLearn Society document entitled, Supporting Students with Working Memory
Difficulties.

Observable Behaviour Interventions

The student has difficulty

arriving at an overview
of a complex
situation (poor attention
to detail, forgetting or
skipping words, and
writing shorter
sentences).
  Reduce elements that can interfere with working memory;
 Repeat information and make connections to other
concepts;
 Present concepts in a variety of different ways, using visual
aids that allow encoding.

 Break the information into smaller instructional units;

The student has
difficulty independently
starting or completing a
task.
reduce the volume of work (quality vs quantity);
 Provide memory aids and visual supports, including graphic
organizers.
 Monitor the student’s work to head off delays;
 Reduce the number of exercises; focus on the most
important ones.

The student has difficulty
retaining new words and
remembering the
vocabulary for the subject
matter.
 Activate the student’s previous knowledge and do frequent
reviews;
 Play visual and auditory memory games;
 Present concepts in a variety of forms, using visual supports;
 Allow the student to use reference tools (posters,
 dictionaries, lists of procedures).

  Activate the student’s previous knowledge;

The student has difficulty  Present concepts in a variety of forms, using visual aids
making inferences. conducive to coding and correlating.

 Reword instructions, using short sentences;

 Ask the student to reflect back what s/he has just heard; fill
The student has
in any blanks;
difficulty following a
 Allow periods of time for review;
sequence of steps,
 Provide memory aids and visual supports (posters,
verbal instructions, or
dictionaries, lists of procedures);
tasks (despite repeated
 Present concepts in a variety of ways;
reminders).
 Break tasks into smaller instructional units.

 Play visual and auditory memory games;

The student has  Present concepts in a variety of ways, using visual supports;
difficulty representing a  Reduce the volume of work;
problem visually; s/he  Provide memory aids and visual supports (posters, graphic
has weak reasoning skills. organizers, lists of procedures).

The student has difficulty

 Personalize reference tools, memory aids, and routines;
remembering factual
 Repeat information in a variety of ways, making connections
knowledge and
to other concepts and visual supports;
procedural
 Do frequent reviews;
knowledge (new
 Ask the student to reflect the steps in the task back to you;
vocabulary words,
 Incorporate relevant subject matter using meaningful
spelling, verb
examples;
declensions, and
 Keep new information brief and direct; repeat it concisely.
mathematical
procedures).

 Activate previous knowledge, making connections to other

concepts;
The student has difficulty
 Break instruction down into several steps; be explicit;
transferring the
 Provide opportunities for the student to repeat the task,
concepts he/she has
adding details;
learned to other
 Provide information in a variety of ways (in writing, with
situations.
visual supports, using modelling).

The student has difficulty  Present concepts in a variety of ways, with visual or auditory
remembering what s/he supports;
has just read, heard,  Do frequent reviews;
wants to say, or was told  Break down instructions and steps;
  Provide written instructions, posters, graphic organizers,
etc. as reference tools;
 Provide oral clues for problem-solving, writing out key
to do. words;
 Repeat information in a variety of ways (visual, verbal,
figure, checklist).

The student loses or
 Develop specific routines and procedures for daily activities.
forgets his/her personal
belongings.

Conclusion
If students with LDs are to succeed at school, they must be able to use their working memory
effectively. Every student has unique strengths and weaknesses; it is up to educators to present as
many strategies as possible so that each student can pick the ones that work for him/her. As each
student becomes more adept at utilizing strategies, self-confidence will grow, and learning will come
more easily.

Does your child have a hard time keeping one bit of information in
mind while doing something else? For example, you’re making
spaghetti together, and your children in charge of the sauce. But
your child leaves to answer a text and forgets to come back and
stir. Working memory challenges can cause trouble with tasks like
these.

Working memory refers to how we hold on to and work with

information that short-term memory stores. (In the past, the
term working memory was used interchangeably with short-term
memory.) It’s part of a group of skills called executive function .

Kids use working memory all the time to learn. It’s needed for things
like following multi-step directions or solving a math problem in your
head. You can help your child improve working memory by building
simple strategies into everyday life.

1. Work on visualization skills.

Encourage kids to create a picture in their mind of what they’ve just
read or heard. For example, say you’ve asked your child to set the
table for five people. Have your child imagine what the table should
look like, and then draw it. As kids get better at visualizing, they can
describe the image instead of drawing it.

2. Have your child teach you.

 Being able to explain how to do something involves making sense
of information and mentally filing it. Maybe your child is learning a
skill, like how to dribble a basketball. Ask your child to teach you
this skill. Teachers do something similar by pairing up students in
class. This lets them start working with the information right away
rather than waiting to be called on.

3. Try games that use visual memory.

There are lots of matching games that can help kids work on visual
memory, like the classic game Concentration (or Memory) . You
can also do things like give kids a magazine page and ask them to
circle all instances of the word the or the letter a. License plates can
also be a lot of fun. Take turns reciting the letters and numbers on a
license plate and then saying them backwards, too.

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4. Play cards.
Simple card games like Crazy Eights, Uno, Go Fish, and War can
improve working memory in two ways. Kids have to keep the rules
of the game in mind. They also have to remember what cards they
have and which ones other people have played.

5. Encourage active reading.

There’s a reason highlighters and sticky notes are so popular:
Jotting down notes and underlining or highlighting text can help kids
keep the information in mind long enough to answer questions
about it. Talking out loud and asking questions about the reading
material can also help with working memory. Active reading
strategies like these can help with forming long-term memories, too.

6. Chunk information into smaller bites.

Ever wonder why phone numbers and social security numbers have
hyphens in them? Because it’s easier to remember a few small
groups of numbers than it is to remember one long string of
numbers. Keep this in mind when you need to give your child multi-
step directions. Write them down or give them one at a time. You
can also use graphic organizers to help break writing assignments
into smaller pieces.

7. Make it multisensory.
 Using multiple senses to process information can help with working
memory and long-term memory. Write tasks down so your child can
look at them. Say them out loud so your child can hear them. Walk
through the house as you discuss the family chores your child
needs to complete. Using multisensory strategies can help kids
keep information in mind long enough to use it.

8. Help make connections.

Help your child form associations that connect different details and
make them more memorable. One way is to grab your child’s
interest with fun mnemonics. (For instance, the made-up name
“Roy G. Biv” can help kids remember the order of the colors in the
rainbow — red, orange, yellow, and so on.) Finding ways to connect
information helps with forming and retrieving long-term memory. It
also helps with working memory, which is what we use to hold and
compare new and old memories.

Memory-boosting tricks and games are just some of the ways

to help your child build executive functioning skills  . And see
how trouble with these skills can affect a child’s daily life .

Key Takeaways
 Teaching kids ways to visualize thoughts can help improve their
working memory.
 Card games and other fun activities can help build working
memory.
 Finding ways to connect information can help your child with
long-term memory as well as working memory.

The memory demands for school-age children are much greater than they are for adults. As adults, we have already
acquired much of the knowledge and skills we need to function day today. Although the knowledge base for some
fields such as technology changes rapidly, the new information is generally highly specific and builds on existing
knowledge. On the other hand, school children are constantly bombarded with new knowledge in multiple topic areas
in which they may or may not be interested. Additionally, they are expected to both learn and demonstrate the
mastery of this knowledge on a weekly basis. Thus, an effective and efficient memory is critical for school success.

Many students have memory problems. Students who have deficits in registering information in short-term memory
often have difficulty remembering instructions or directions they have just been given, what was just said during
conversations and class lectures and discussions, and what they just read. Students who have difficulty with working
memory often forget what they are doing while doing it.

For example, they may understand the three-step direction they were just given but forget the second and third
steps while carrying out the first step. If they are trying to solve a math problem that has several steps, they might
forget the steps while trying to solve the problem. When they are reading a paragraph, they may forget what was at
the beginning of the paragraph by the time they get to the end of the paragraph. These students will look like they
have difficulty with reading comprehension. In fact, they do; but the comprehension problem is due to a failure of the
memory system rather than the language system.

Students who have deficits in the storage and retrieval of information from long-term memory may study for tests,
but not be able to recall the information they studied when taking the tests. They frequently have difficulty recalling
specific information such as dates or rules of grammar. They have a poor memory of material they earlier in the
school year or last year. They may also be unable to answer specific questions asked of them in class even when
their parents and/or teachers think they really know the information.

The following ten general strategies are offered to help students develop a more efficient and effective memory.

1. Give directions in multiple formats

Students benefit from being given directions in both visual and verbal formats. In addition, their understanding and
memorizing of instructions could be checked by encouraging them to repeat the directions given and explain the
meaning of these directions. Examples of what needs to be done are also often helpful for enhancing memory of
directions.

2. Teach students to over-learn material

Students should be taught the necessity of "over-learning" new information. Often they practice only until they are
able to perform one error-free repetition of the material. However, several error-free repetitions are needed to
solidify the information.

3. Teach students to use visual images and other memory strategies

Another memory strategy that makes use of a cue is one called word substitution. The substitute word system can be
used for information that is hard to visualize, for example, for the word occipital or parietal. These words can be
converted into words that sound familiar that can be visualized. The word occipital can be converted to exhibit hall
(because it sounds like exhibit hall). The student can then make a visual image of walking into an art museum and
seeing a big painting of a brain with big bulging eyes (occipital is the region of the brain that controls vision). With
this system, the vocabulary word the student is trying to remember actually becomes the cue for the visual image
that then cues the definition of the word.

4. Give teacher-prepared handouts prior to class lectures

Class lectures and series of oral directions should be reinforced by teacher-prepared handouts. The handouts for class
lectures could consist of a brief outline or a partially completed graphic organizer that the student would complete
during the lecture. Having this information both enables students to identify the salient information that is given
during the lectures and to correctly organize the information in their notes. Both of these activities enhance memory
of the information as well. The use of Post-Its to jot information down on is helpful for remembering directions.

5. Teach students to be active readers

To enhance short-term memory registration and/or working memory when reading, students should underline,
highlight, or jot key words down in the margin when reading chapters. They can then go back and read what is
underlined, highlighted, or written in the margins. To consolidate this information in long-term memory, they can
make outlines or use graphic organizers. Research has shown that the use of graphic organizers increases academic
achievement for all students.

6. Write down steps in math problems

Students who have a weakness in working memory should not rely on mental computations when solving math
problems. For example, if they are performing long division problems, they should write down every step including
carrying numbers. When solving word problems, they should always have a scratch piece of paper handy and write
down the steps in their calculations. This will help prevent them from losing their place and forgetting what they are
doing.

7. Provide retrieval practice for students

Research has shown that long-term memory is enhanced when students engage in retrieval practice. Taking a test is
a retrieval practice, i.e., the act of recalling information that has been studied from long-term memory. Thus, it can
be very helpful for students to take practice tests. When teachers are reviewing information prior to tests and exams,
they could ask the students questions or have the students make up questions for everyone to answer rather than
just retelling students the to-be-learned information. Also, if students are required or encouraged to make up their
own tests and take them, it will give their parents and/or teachers information about whether they know the most
important information or are instead focused on details that are less important.

8. Help students develop cues when storing information

According to the memory research, information is easier retrieved when it is stored using a cue and that cue should
be present at the time the information is being retrieved. For example, the acronym HOMES can be used to represent
the names of the Great Lakes — Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. The acronym is a cue that is used when
the information is being learned, and recalling the cue when taking a test will help the student recall the information.

9. Prime the memory prior to teaching/learning

Cues that prepare students for the task to be presented are helpful. This is often referred to as priming the memory.
For instance, when a reading comprehension task is given, students will get an idea of what is expected by discussing
the vocabulary and the overall topic beforehand. This will allow them to focus on the salient information and engage
in more effective depth of processing. Advance organizers also serve this purpose. For older students, Clif Notes for
pieces of literature are often helpful aids for priming the memory.
10. Review material before going to sleep
It should be helpful for students to review material right before going to sleep at night. Research has shown that
information studied this way is better remembered. Any other task that is performed after reviewing and prior to
sleeping (such as getting a snack, brushing teeth, listening to music) interferes with consolidation of information in
memory.