As soon as the child goes to school, parents are inevitably faced with situations where the child becomes absent-minded, detached. And even if in the evening the whole family learned the poems given by the teacher, then in the morning he can hardly remember a couple of lines. In full growth, the family faces the question of how to improve the child's memory and how to distinguish problems with memory from other problems, mainly of a psychological nature, and banal laziness.
In this article, we'll show you how to test your child's memory and how to help improve it.
Age features
With the beginning of schooling, your son or daughter bears a new and unusual responsibility: before everything was simple and clear, now they demand from the child both at school and at home. From this, most children fall into the same period that is called the crisis of 7 years. They are afraid of not living up to the expectations of the people most dear to them - their parents, and are already beginning to fear ridicule from their peers. The nervous system suffers from constant nervous tension, children become forgetful, absent-minded. Temporary memory impairment at this age is a variant of the developmental norm.
But there are also guys for whom study is easy and natural.
However, they also have "gaps" in their memory, but they are rather associated with laziness to one degree or another. To understand why a child flies into one ear and flies out of the other, you need to carefully observe the child, talk to him more often, demand less and refuse any manifestations of categoricality.
We conduct tests
You can check the ability to memorize, store and reproduce information yourself. There are several simple memory tests for this:
- Luria's test. This research methodology will show how the child's voluntary memory is developed, it is this method that is the most important element of the learning process. Test in a calm environment, preferably in a quiet room so that there is no distraction for your child. Ask the child to sit comfortably and try to remember the words. Call without unnecessary haste (with a pause of 2-3 seconds) ten words that the child knows well, but they should not be logically connected. Example: cat, school, spoon, swing, forest, jam, car, sea, milk, elephant.
Ask the child to reproduce the words that he memorized, and note on paper how many words and which of them he memorized immediately.
Then repeat the line of words and give a second try, this will make it possible to understand which words the child “fixed” in the head in the second place. Thank him and put off continuing the test until later. After an hour and a half, ask the child to remember what words you called, so the state of the ability to reproduce new information (deferred memorization) will become clear.
If the child remembered 3-4 words during the first approach, this indicates a normal ability to remember. On the second attempt, a child with a normal memory should reproduce at least 6-7 words. After an hour, the child should remember at least 6 words. With high memorizing abilities, after the second attempt, the child will be able to name from 8-10 words, and with low indicators - from 0 to 2.
- Smirnitskaya test. This test will assess the state of visual memory, which is important for learning. Put in front of the child 10 pictures with a variety of objects (ball, strawberries, balloon, etc.), give him two minutes to look closely at the entire row, and then ask him to turn away and remove 1-2 or even three cards. Ask the child to answer what is missing. If he succeeds on the first try, then everything is in order, but if even on the fifth attempt the child finds it difficult to say which cards are missing, this is a rather alarming sign.
- Long-term memory test. For the research, you can use the same cards with images of objects familiar to the child. Put them in a row, and then show them one by one and name what is shown there. Then the cards are removed and the child is asked to list all 10 words that were spoken. Then come back to this after an hour and a half and ask to remember what was depicted on the cards and what words you called. The result is assessed as follows: normally the child remembers up to 7 words at the first viewing and listening. After an hour and a half has passed, he must remember at least 5-6 of them.
How to improve memory?
If the test results do not satisfy you, it's time to start improving your child's memory and attention. To do this, there are several simple "home" techniques that will help a child in a month and a half to memorize the material quickly and easily, and reproduce over time with great accuracy.
Make it a rule to ask how he is doing every day.
Let him talk about his school day in the most detailed details, up to the color of the elastic on the hair of a neighbor on the desk. Read with him, often ask clarifying questions about the content of the books. Sign up the child in the sports section, make sure that he walks enough and breathes fresh air.
Effective exercises and games
- "Travel to Africa". You can play this useful game in the evening, even at a family dinner or on the way to school. You start and say: "I went to Africa and saw an elephant there!" The child's task is to repeat the name of your animal and add a new one (“I went to Africa and saw an elephant and a monkey there!” You or a third family member must list the animals already named and add one from yourself (“I went to Africa and saw an elephant there, monkey and ostrich. ") It is good if the length of the chain before the first mistake is 20-25 words.
- Detective Sherlock Holmes. You can play this game while walking, on the way somewhere and even in your own kitchen. Name a square-shaped object in your field of vision (cereal box). The child picks up the "baton" and names the second square object in your kitchen (photo frame). Then it's your turn, and then - again the word to the child. As soon as you go through all the square objects in the room together, ask the child to close his eyes and hide one of them. The child's task is to find the loss.
- "Big difference". Offer your child two identical pictures that are only slightly cast (such can be found on the Internet and printed). Ask him to find all the differences in the allotted time (for 5 minutes, for example). The exercise is constantly becoming more difficult, the child is presented with more complex pictures, and the time for finding differences is given less and less.
- "What is it like?". The purpose of this exercise is to teach your child to remember using associations. Give him an unfamiliar word, for example, "electorate." Ask them to think about what it can mean, let the son or daughter name all their associations, and only then tell them that in fact these are people who go to the polls. The more associations a child comes up with, the more likely it is that after 2-3 days he will tell the correct meaning of a complex word.
Tips
Do not force the child to engage in developmental exercises by force - this will cause persistent rejection from the child. It is better if the child treats it as a game.
Make sure that the duration of the sessions does not exceed 15-20 minutes.
Younger students get tired quickly, and this should be taken into account.
Add foods containing Omega-3 and Omega-6 acids to the child's diet, it has been proven that these substances improve memory. These products include walnuts, sea fish, chocolate, olive oil, fresh vegetables.
You will learn more about how to develop the memory of a 7-8 year old child in the following video.
