Math and the Short Term Memory Child
72My Experience
At nine years old, my son was diagnosed with a short term memory deficit. In most areas of his life you would never know that there was a problem. But one very obvious area was his inability to remember mathematic terms. When most children have difficulties remembering the addition facts, multiplication facts, and solving word problems, children with short term memory deficits may feel that it is impossible to accomplish.
I am not an expert on the technical aspects of the subject so I can only share what I understand about it. In short term memory deficits, information seems to get lost as it travels form one location of the brain to another. It takes a lot of repetition to move the information from the short term memory to the long term memory where it can be recalled for future use.
ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION
The ideas that I am sharing are a blend of having some background in early childhood education, and always being a kid at heart myself. Making sure that the continuous repetition is fun can ensure that the task does not become a traumatic experience that you both hate. Let me share just a couple of programs that helped us through.
- A series of books named, Calculadder, became one of our best friends. This progressive series starts with addition drills and moves into higher math skills. Although, this is sometimes an overwhelming task (it was for my son), it helps to cover half the page at a time.
- Using a number line gives a visual, tactile aide to work. A great program using a number line is ON CLOUD NINE by Linda MoodBell.
MULTIPLICATION
Multiplication was one of the harder areas for us. It seemed like we worked everyday on the multiplication facts and every night they leaked out. We continued with some of the same programs that we used for addition and subtraction but we added some new techniques to help move the number families into long term memory quicker.
- War. Remember the card game? As we each laid down a card, my son would have to say the product of the two cards to win the set. The person, who got the most cards at the end of the game, got to pick the prize.
- We loved cooking together. Before we went into the kitchen, we pulled the recipe out and multiply the ingredients to make larger batches of cookies, cakes, and other goodies.
- Air writing. Sometimes, just lying on the floor writing the times tables in the air several times each is excellent in moving the numerals involved into the long term memory. This also helps with spelling words.
These are just a few ideas that can break the monotony of the repetition of working with a short term memory learning difficulty. The most important thing to remember is that there are many support groups, resource centers, pediatricians and teachers who are willing to come along side and walk with you through the trying times. Don't give up!!!
P.S. My son is now 21 years old. He will graduate from college in June. DON'T GIVE UP!
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Comments
Thanks Grace! You are absolutely right, I am proud of my son. He has worked really hard to overcome his barriers.
I, too, have a son who was diagnosed as having ADHD with short-term memory problems when he was five. I used to let him jump up and down on the bed while he learned his spelling words as he was a tactile learner - always had to be moving and touching and feeling things to remember them. These ideas are great! Our son will also be graduating this spring from college.
There are lots of emerging 'training' aids but the one that worked best for us over the years was repetitive multisensory things -- reading and writing at the same time, seeing and writing and speaking, etc. It seems that if you can engage more of the senses in the experience things seem to register and stay in place better. It is really too bad that styles of learning are not leveraged more by schools. Some kids learn best by seeing, some by reading and some by hearing but other require two or more sensed to be engaged for things to 'take'.
One encouraging thing -- for some of the kids who have trouble with math early they do really well later with the more complex stuff becaused the learned the theory of math and not just the foumulas. In differential calculus and beyond, learning the formulas in not enough it takes the kind of effort to understand how things work to be good. Those kids that put in that effort early get paid back later.
yogiwan
I think that you have hit the nail on the head in several areas. It is so important to allow each child to use their natural strengths to learn and absorbe. In many schools, work needs to be done in silence so that other children are not disturbed. Other children may need to "talk" their way through the work to truly understand the concepts they are working on. Others may need to move. My son did better when learning spelling words on the trampoline. Each of us learn differently. Thank you for your comments.
More and more kids are getting early help and that makes a big difference in their lives. I have also heard that learning Music helps with learning math. My kids are involved with music and I have to say there is a lot of counting in it. Also music will boost a child's selfconfidence which is important for any child.
My son is 9 and excels in reading, social studies, and spelling. Math is a beast! Last year, his math tudor mentioned short term memory issues with math, and we could not understand it - how could he be good at everything else, but just have short term memory loss with math?! He then continued to improve in math, but his "math anxiety" never went away. His 4th grade teacher is seeing the same pattern. I found your post, printed it, and called his pediatrician for an appointment. Thank you for sharing your experience and offering solutions that worked for you. You have given me hope!
Sue,
I am so happy that this post may be of help. Short term memory is a mind boggler! Just remember that there are ways to teach each child. Some ways are easier some take more time - Keep encouraging your son! He has a strong character to have persisted this long!!!!
Very interesting. You are really inspire me, to never give up, and give unconditional love to my daughter. Thank you
Helpful Aides
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CalcuLadder 1: Basic Addition & Subtraction (A Learning Vitamins Unit)
Price: $19.50
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Math Drills
- Linda Mood-Bell Learniing Processes
Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes is an organization dedicated to enhancing human learning. Lindamood Bell was founded in 1986 by Nanci Bell, Patricia Lindamood, and Phyllis Lindamood, the authors of critically acclaimed programs of instruction that - Introduction to CalcuLadder
"Calcualdder turns finger-counters into number crunchers.
working
They call me Grace says:
8 months ago
I do not have short term memory loss, and yet, I still have problems with math!! However, I can see how these tip can be useful in that management. I bet you are very proud of your son and his accomplishments!