Helping Your Child Develop Strong Memory Skills
(from PM News, Volume 10, Issue 4, Tennessee School for the Deaf)
"Only 5% of children can recall specific words and pictures after seeing them. However, research confirms that memory skills can be developed, especially before age six.
Helping your child develop his visual memory increases his ability to think, concentrate and be creative. It also helps him to study and learn. About 80% of everything a child learns is through sight. To increase your child's visual memory:
Select a detailed picture from one of your child's picture books.
Briefly show the picture to your child.
Ask simple questions to see what your child can remember. 'What color was the cat?' 'How many people did you see?'
Make the game challenging by decreasing the amount of time your child looks at a picture."
Source: Lee Hausner, Ph.D., Teaching Your Child Concentration
Additional Ideas from Ms. Teresa
1. Take pictures of family events and family members frequently. Engage your child in conversation about the events and the people, how each person is related to them, etc. Later, show your child the picture and ask him to recall the event. Prompt with questions, such as, "Who is that? What happened in this picture? Do you remember when this happened? Who else was there? Why did we go there? What did you do/see?"
2. Ask your child about his day. What did you do in the morning? What did you do in the afternoon? What did you eat for breakfast? What did you eat for lunch? What did you do at recess? What did you make in art?
3. Play card games with your child, such as Old Maid, Uno, Go Fish, and Concentration/Memory.
4. When traveling, ask your child to look for specific things: a barn, a horse, a VW, a certain restaurant, a silver car, etc.
5. The game "Guess Who?" is wonderful practice for asking question words and remember what questions have already been asked.