Hello Sue
My 5th-grade daughter is an above-average reader, her spelling is good, and she studies very hard for tests and exams. She also starts studying for her tests and exams long before the time. Yet, the results are nearly always disappointing. We have already ruled out emotional problems, test anxiety, and poor study habits and methods as a cause. She attended a well-respected study methods course and knows how to summarize. What else can I do to help her?
Thanks
Maggie
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Dear Maggie
I applaud your daughter for her efforts and hope to shed light on her struggles.
If your daughter studies hard, has no reading or spelling problems, and you have ruled out emotional issues, test anxiety, and poor study habits and methods, a poor memory seems like a possible cause of her poor academic performance.
The brain is like a large neural supercomputer with neurons firing information and tasks away from one corner to the other. Memory, once considered like a stack of folders kept in a single place, is now attributed to function in many different brain parts.
The main categories of memory are short-term memory (or working memory) and long-term memory, based on the amount of time the memory is stored.
The distinction between short-term memory and working memory is an ongoing debate, and the terms are often used interchangeably. Some scholars claim that some manipulation of remembered information is needed to qualify the task as one of working memory. Repeating digits in the same order they were presented would thus be a short-term memory task while repeating them backward would be a working memory task.
Long-term memory is our semi-permanent or permanent memory storage. Information must be transferred from our short-term and working memory to our long-term memory to retain information for long periods.
It is evident from neurological research and clinical experiences that memories remain in long-term storage for a very long time. The problem most people face with long-term memory is not storage but retrieval; that is, how to recall (or remember) information stored in long-term memory. Before one can answer a question in an exam, the stored information must be retrieved from long-term memory and placed back into short-term or working memory (or consciousness).
When it comes to memory, one’s senses are involved too. Visual memory is the ability to store and retrieve previously experienced visual sensations and perceptions when the stimuli that initially evoked them are no longer present. Various researchers have stated that as much as eighty percent of all learning occurs through the eye – with visual memory as a crucial aspect of learning.
Auditory memory, on the other hand, involves taking in information presented orally, processing that information, storing it in one’s mind, and then recalling what one has heard. Basically, it involves the skills of attending, listening, processing, storing, and recalling.
Sequential memory requires items to be recalled in a specific order.
Sleep improves memory
There are several ways to improve and keep your daughter’s memory sharp. A straightforward way is to make sure that she gets enough sleep. Children who do not get enough sleep perform more poorly on memory and attention tests.
Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later. In one experiment, 26 participants were trained to perform a simple motor task with the left hand; the task involved learning a sequence of five key presses. The participants were split into two groups; one group had an afternoon nap lasting between 60 and 90 minutes after learning the task, while the other remained awake.
The ability of all the participants to perform the task as quickly and as accurately as possible was then tested. In those who had taken a siesta, there was a significant improvement in their performance of the task. By contrast, no significant improvement in task performance was observed in the participants who had remained awake.
Memory is not a gift, it’s a skill
The belief that memory can be trained is not new. The Greeks, and later the Romans, developed some of the most prodigious memories the civilized world has ever seen. Memory was ranked as one of the most important oratory disciplines, a flourishing art at the time. They lived in an age without paper, so people couldn’t readily refer to notes. Speeches were committed to memory; lawyers depended on their memory in court; and poets, whose role in society was paramount, regularly drew on their enormous powers of recall to recite long passages of verse.
Today, external aids supplant memory. We rely on calculators, cell phones, smartphones, computers, and the Internet to assist memory recall, which results in people getting very little training in developing and improving their memory skills. In children, the result can be underachievement in school.
Train your daughter’s memory
Edublox’s Development Tutor is ideal for training your daughter’s memory: visual, auditory, sequential, short-term, working, and long-term.
As a supplement, and to specifically train her long-term memory, you can use predetermined sequences. She has to learn the sequences by heart. Start with easy ones and gradually make them more and more challenging. Below are three examples.
Easy:
Nine planets that orbit the sun (in order from the sun):
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
Intermediate:
NATO phonetic alphabet (International radiotelephony spelling alphabet):
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
Difficult:
U.S. states in alphabetical order:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Regards
Sue
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More about Sue
Sue is an educational specialist in learning problems and dyslexia and has a B.A. Honors in Psychology and B.D. degree. Early in her professional career, Sue was instrumental in training over 3,000 teachers and tutors, providing them with the foundational and practical understanding to facilitate cognitive development among children who struggle to read and write. With over 30 years of research to her name, Sue conceptualized the Edublox teaching and learning methods that have helped thousands of children who were struggling to read, learn and achieve. In 2007, she opened the first Edublox reading and learning clinic, and now there are 30 Edublox clinics internationally. Her proudest moments are when she sees a child who had severe learning difficulties come top of their class after one or two years at Edublox. Sue always takes time to collect the ‘hero’ stories of students whose self-esteem is lifted as their marks improve.
