How to increase a childs memory...

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

My son is 6, apraxic, phonological processing, receptive expressive disorder and has a low active working memory. The neuro psyc says that his memory deficit closely matches that of a child with brain trauma.

We are addressing each disorder. Myself and the reading specialist that is working with my son (who also was a Spec Ed teacher for 30 years) are stumped as to how to get him to remember the numbers from sight. He can count to 10 consistently but only knows 2-3 numbers by sight. I’ve tried lots of things so has his Pre-K teacher (Dev. Delay class)

Have any of you had a child with memory problems? If so what worked for you.
Thanks,
Diane

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 07/30/2003 - 5:13 AM

Permalink

What is his cognitive ability? Is he on any medication? Does he happen to have any seizures? I am an SLP and I have worked with kids with exceptional needs. Sometimes if they are have lower cognition, brain damage or seizures one will see memory deficits like this. Many of the children I worked with weren’t able to read and had difficulty with mastery of numbers. You can try forming the numbers/letters in clay, also making a small sand box where he has to write the numbers/lettters. This may give him more tactile information and the clay will be 3-dimensional so he can feel the number and have it in that portion of his memory.

But if I was you I would want to rule out seizures to make sure this isn’t part of the problem.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 07/31/2003 - 2:43 AM

Permalink

Patti,

He doesn’t show any signs of seizures. We will be seeing another Neurologist in October about the Arachnoid Cyst on the Left temporal lobe which is what they are saying is probably causing his problems. The MRI does show slight atrophy of that area.

The Neuor psyc said that his memory closely matches that of a child w/ brain trauma. He is not on meds at this time. The Dr. did suggest that that might help. Not sure if I want to try that yet. He is not ADD as of now. Can you tell me what you mean by cognitive ability? I do have his Developemental Evaluation and can give you a score if I knew which one would ably to the cognitive ability.

He is learning his letter sounds with PG but I’m going crazy trying to get him to remember his numbers. His Dev.Delay Pre-K teacher was awesome. She used a lot of tactile manipulatives. I’ve continued to do so but I have slacked off a little. He was in PreK for 2 1/2 years. She really worked hard the last year on the numbers and letters and sight words. At the moment we are not even looking at sight words. I’m using PG and doing some Vision Therapy too. His new teacher sounds like she is willing to try whatever I suggest.

His SLP says she really doesn’t think he is CAPD but the neuro Psyc said that that is what the Mixed Receptive/Expressive Language Disorder is. And I have gotten mixed feelings on that. From what I can tell I don’t think he is CAPD either.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 08/01/2003 - 1:38 AM

Permalink

My dd had severe auditory processing, expressive language delays(I think a mild form of aphasia), and memory in the handicapped area at about the same age as your son. Remembering numbers came quicker for her than remembering the names of sounds of alphabet (but it was all still a struggle). We did Tomatis - the full blown program. She was a different child. Still delayed, but she could learn.

We still had to work the memory and did alot of different approaches, but we saw immediate progress after Tomatis. Prior to Tomatis it was like teaching a brick wall.

Back to Top