Memory retention allows us to process, retain, and use new information. It is a crucial factor that influences how we learn and develop. Poor memory retention can cause many learning and attention deficit impairments in children. A child who has challenges with memory retention will have problems with slow progress in the classroom, task completion, and difficulties in social activities.
The purpose of memory retention is to provide your brain with a temporary storage space to briefly retain new information that can be connected and used in the future. Children who have difficulty “staying on track” likely deal with some issues relating to their memory retention. For instance, a parent tells a child to rinse off their plate, put it in the dishwasher, and wash their hands. The child rinses off their plate, however, fails to complete the other two tasks. Rather than attributing this lack of task completion to laziness; a child suffering from difficulties with memory retention would simply forget about them.
The ability of memory retention is an essential component for many day-to-day activities (eg. following instructions, listening and reading comprehension, participating in conversations, engaging in sports, playing board games, accomplishing academic projects, etc.). Retaining information is an active process with the purpose of capturing and processing it for later use.
The brain has a finite capacity for processing and juggling multiple pieces of information at one time. Everyone will have limits with memory retention – whether it’s failing to remember the name of someone you just met or forgetting an item on your shopping list. For those with learning disorders, having challenges with memory retention becomes a much bigger problem.
Working memory is an active process because it needs a certain amount of cognitive “horsepower.” When a child with dyslexia reads a passage in a book. They spend a great deal of their cognitive horsepower interpreting the letters they see into coherent words and sentences. Their working memory attempts to work simultaneously, yet most of their cognitive horsepower is being consumed by dyslexia. This can make it difficult for the child to retain and recall the content of the passage being read. Over time, this can create anxiety and distress for the child when they are met with a challenging task.
At Little Thinkers Center, we understand memory retention issues, and can dramatically improve the memory limits of your child. Our process is simple: we thoroughly assess each child for weakness in memory retention and construct an individualized, fluid curriculum to address those challenges. Rather than focusing on age-based curriculums, our program is structured around the child’s unique way of learning and their level of abilities.