Children with memory difficulties in an educational environment

Planning

Planning ahead is a fact of teaching life with the year planned ahead and the detail of lessons planned six or twelve weeks in advance. This commitment to planning allows teachers and parents to consider the needs of a pupil with memory difficulties well in advance and plan to tackle them. When planning take into account the following factors for the pupil and work around these:

• Concentration span
• Vocabulary level
• Interests
• Motivating factors
• Best channel for input

For example, the pupil may display some of the following behaviour:

• Short concentration span
• Good social vocabulary but finds difficulty in retaining new vocabulary and the concepts behind it
• Interested in everything that is going on around
• Motivated by praise and adult attention
• Visual materials are recalled more easily than the spoken word and when this is linked to an activity there is an even better result.

Planning the lesson, the teacher needs to consider the main or main two or three points (depending on the degree of difficulty the pupil has) that the class will need to take away from the lesson. Linking the main point to a visual cue, or to an activity cue and finding ways to reinforce this information throughout the lesson at different points will help the pupil.

Plan that the next lesson in the series will recall that information to the class and check that the pupil's retention and recalls by bringing back the cues which accompanied the first lesson before bringing in a new concept.

Teaching materials

During the lesson the teaching materials support the pupil. Use of worksheets or information placed on the interactive board has its place in any teacher's repertoire but this is the least likely to impact on the pupil. Thought and planning is required for supporting materials, games and experiences. Linking a difficult concept to a sight, sound or smell can hugely increase the likelihood of recall. Repeating the stimuli when the concept needs to be recalled can enable the pupil to locate the memory more quickly.

Supportive teaching materials can take the form of:

• Mind mapping techniques to aid recall.
• Taking the three main points of the lesson and ensuring they are imparted several times in different ways.
• A song or rhyme to help fix the vocabulary or process more firmly.
• A gadget, item or even a smell source to cue in important facts.
• An activity or game requiring the concept or process to be used.
• Worksheets where key vocabulary is identified with a pictogram - Widgit, Picture Communication System (PCS), Rebus and Makaton all have supportive computer software.

When making teaching materials you will find that they can have far wider application than the one pupil. Time taken to prepare a set of materials will support many less able children and should always be seen as an investment in the whole class.

Questions to ask

What is the main barrier preventing this pupil from learning efficiently?

• How could I change the way I present the materials to help break this barrier down?
• What other strategies or aids could I try?
• How will this help others in the class/group?

These methods can be shown to be part of the school's Planning To Include strategy. They will assist all pupils in the group and make lessons more accessible to pupils with a wide range of learning needs.

Contact Scope Response for information, advice and support on cerebral palsy and disability issues.