MemoryChild,sTips for Your Part 1

Dr Janine Cooper

Ask a child, ‘what did you do today?’ and you may receive a shrug of the shoulders or the familiar answer of ‘nothing’. Many caregivers believe this is due to children having limited memory abilities. However, brain imaging research suggests that the regions responsible for acquiring and storing information that form memories and enable learning, develop early in a child’s life.

Rather the response of ‘I can’t remember’, is most likely due to a child’s limited attentional abilities associated with regions of the brain that mature at a slower rate through childhood and adolescence, combined with factors such as a lack of interest and how an adult asks a question, rather than a poor memory per se.

SO HOW DO WE HELP CHILDREN BUILD THEIR MEMORY SKILLS?

1. Make it interesting

One of the best ways to promote memory regardless of age is to capture a child’s attention. By focusing on their current interests, you can frame information that is less attractive in a way that commands their interest immediately. However, having their attention is just the first step. Before we can find effective ways to support a child’s memory, we have to know what type it is and what it is used for.

2. Know the type of memory

Once information enters our brain via our senses it can be held temporarily ‘online’ in working memory (WM), where it can be manipulated and used. If rehearsed, this information can be transferred to our long-term memory (LTM) system.

WM is limited and can only hold relevant information for a short time in our active thought. It is essential for calculating maths problems and following tasks and instructions. In contrast, LTM has greater storage capacity and is considered to hold two types of information: semantic memory or factual knowledge and episodic memory that contains the details of life events.

3. Boost working memory

So, now we are aware of the types of memory, how can we boost them to promote learning? Let’s start with WM in the form of mathematical calculations. First, you can frame the questions around a child’s current interests. With young children you might pose an addition or subtraction question by including their favourite toy e.g. ‘Two Pokémon join three of their friends. How many are in the group?’

For slightly older children, you can also further promote their visual working memory by asking them to imagine the information in their head, by writing it down or drawing it. Also, by asking them to say it out loud, will encourage their auditory working memory. Games are another great way to support WM.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF GAMES TO SUPPORT WORKING MEMORY:

• ‘I went shopping’ – read aloud a short list of items. Each person recalls the previous items from memory and then adds one of their own.

• ‘What’s Missing?’ – place a number of toys or household items onto a tray. Once they have been viewed, cover them and ask children to recall as many items as they can. The more items, the more challenging the game becomes.

• Go Fish or Uno card games are ideal, as they require children to hold a set of rules actively in their mind, as well as having to remember their own and other players cards.

For older children with greater self recall abilities, you can teach them to use strategies that maximise their working memory capacity, such as the process of ‘chunking’ that allows individual items of information to be grouped into larger units.

4. Let them teach you

Children love to show you what they have learned. Once you have shown them a maths puzzle or given them a set of instructions, ask them to show you how to do it. In the role of teacher, children have to make sense of the information, mentally store it and manipulate it. It is an excellent way to boost working memory and with positive feedback, you are also promoting their social skills, trust and self-esteem.

So, here we have a few ways in which you can actively support a child’s working memory abilities and provide the foundations for learning. In the next edition of Great Health GuideTM, we will focus on supporting long-term memory that provides the basis for our future decisions and our sense of self.

Dr Janine Cooper is a Melbourne based Research Neuropsychologist with a speciality in memory and development. Janine is the founder of Everyday Neuro that uses podcasts, courses and workshops to enhance understanding about the human brain, its function and ultimately how this shapes human behaviour. Janine has numerous scientific publications and can be contacted via her website.