Memory Disability
Memory Disabilities (Storing Information): Once information has been received and recorded in the brain and integrated, it has to be stored so that it can be retrieved later. There are two forms of memory, short-term and long-term. Short-term memory is that which you can hold onto as long as you are attending to it; (for example, getting a phone number from the information operator and holding it in your head until you dial it) but which is lost when not attending to it (someone interrupts you before you dial the number).
Long-term memory refers to information which has been repeated and stored so that it can be made available by just thinking about it (for example, your home address). A child might have a short-term or a long-term memory disability. This disability might be more for visual or for auditory information. For example, you might go over a spelling list or a math concept with a child and he or she seems to know it (he’s attending to it); yet, later you find that the child has lost it.
In contrast, he or she might remember things done weeks or months ago in great detail. A child with a short-term memory disability may have to go over something 10-15 times to learn it (make it long-term memory) whereas a child without this problem might be able to learn it in 3-5 repetitions.
The short-term memory is like a work desk (hopefully nothing like mine) or work surface, where information is kept only for as long as it is needed and can be put into a safe place at a later date. The short term memory is where we retain information for a very limited period of time, for example until we can write it down or put it into immediate use - this may be an address that needs to be put into the GPS or even an account number that needs to be written into a bank deposit slip. In short, the information remains in one's mind only for a few moments before we forget it.
A disability affecting the short term memory is one that is often seen among children and is in many cases manifested in information having to be repeated ten to fifteen times, whereas the average child requires only three to five repetitions to retain a concept or for the information to move to long term memory. Yet, it is not unusual for this same child to have perfect memories of something that may have happened many years ago.
There are two types of short-term disabilities - visual and auditory.
The long-term memory can be likened to a filing cabinet. A place where information can be held for as long it need to, and drawn upon in time of need. The contents of the long term memory are created through repetiton. For example, when asked for your telephone number, you will recite it almost immediately and effortlessly. On the other hand if you just bought a new cell phone this morning, that information would not come to your lips as easily.
If your child has a memory disability that was not obvious to you, it is most likely to be a short term one. Long term memory disabilities are said to interfere with a person's day to day functioning to the extent that most of the time, the are classified as retarted.
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