Memory Skills
 
A student with memory needs has difficulty remembering things, or takes a long time to recall what they know.

Indicators:

Students with memory needs may:

• have difficulty with working memory to
• follow directions
• follow new lessons
• immediately recall information they have just seen or heard
• listen to and comprehend lengthy discussion
• remember information long enough to work it through to understanding
• remember procedures well enough to follow all steps through to the end
• have difficulty learning new things by association
• have difficulty recalling information through association when writing tests
• have difficulty remembering and recalling stories and information they have read. 
• forget or distort or confuse details when recalling stories or lessons
• have difficulty remembering information and stories they have heard
• have difficulty remembering information they already know about the topic
• have difficulty memorizing words, poems, speeches, facts, and lines for their part in a school play
• take longer to:
• recall things that they remember
• recall the names of common objects or people who they know
• know the math when it is taught but forget how to use it the next week

Instructional Strategies:

The key instructional strategies for students with memory problems involve:

• not overloading working memory
• facilitating the formation of meaningful associations among materials through the use of context; and
• developing aids to memory.

1. Do not overload working memory which is the ability to perform mental operations with information

• follow directions
• follow new lessons
• immediately recall information they have just seen or heard
• listen to and comprehend lengthy discussions
• remember information long enough to work it through to understanding
• remember procedures well enough to follow all steps through to the end
• give a few instructions at a time, and repeat instructions, as needed
• keep oral instructions short and simple.  Use numbered points for any sequence.
• limit the number of new facts, words, and concepts presented in one lesson
• provide notes to the student from presentations and lessons, thus enabling them to focus on the content, rather than on making notes
• encourage student to use lists, advance organizers, personal planners as aids to memory
• allow use of a calculator for math when computation skill is not the focus of evaluation
• attach daily schedules/timetables to notebook covers
• communicate frequently with parents about the student’s work, schedule, and progress

2. Use context to facilitate the formation of meaningful associations among materials

• link new concepts and information to information and ideas that student already knows
• ask the student to recall what he or she already knows about a topic before teaching new, related material
• set purposes for reading to prime memory for information the student already knows

3. Teach the use of memory aids:

• teach mnemonic strategies, such as:
• HOMES for the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior)
• Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, for the names of the lines in the treble clef music staff (E G B D F)
• In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue
• “Dracula’s Mother Sucks Blood” is the procedure for long division:  Divide, Multiply, Subtract, and Bring down
• Teach the method of loci to match items with landmarks on the route to school.  In this method, each location is paired with an item that must be recalled.  The front door is paired with the first item on the list, the porch with the second, the steps with the third, the walkway with the fourth, the student’s street with the fifth, the left turn with the sixth, and so on until all items on the list have been paired with a landmark on the student’s route to school
• provide repetition and drill to enhance memory for factual information
• build repetition, review, and evaluation into each lesson, particularly for key concept
• teach verbal mediation whereby items to be remembered are described in words
• teach the student to use reasoning to enhance memory through comprehension.  Rather than memorizing facts, provide a rationale or reason for the fact.  That way, the student can “figure out” the answer, rather than relying on memory recall to retrieve the information.

Assessment Strategies:
 
Assessment strategies provide context for recall, or credit the student for the process he or she would use in finding answers or information.

• Use open-ended questions with more than one correct answer to allow for marks for anything the student remembers
• reduce the demands on working memory on tests by providing a structure and outline for responding
• test for understanding of the concepts, rather than for rote recall of facts and figures
• ask the student to include their brainstorming work, essay outlines, and all steps to their solutions of math questions.  Give partial marks, where possible.
• Provide extra time to complete a test for students who need more time to retrieve information from memory