The saying ‘my memory is like a sieve’ rings true for many of us. Things enter my brain and filter through without leaving the slightest residue.
What was the last thing you actively tried to remember?
How did you go about remembering it?
Did it work? If so -what did you do to help you remember?
Thinking about what you did in order to remember is the first step to improving your memory. We are all different and things that will work for some, won’t work for others. The key is – becoming aware of what works, what doesn’t work, and letting yourself find your own way.
This blog will offer some key techniques to work with, experiment, try-out, use and reject at your will.
We use our memories daily: to remember where we left the car keys, when processing verbal instructions from a colleague, retrieving a phrase or saying you heard on the radio driving into work …the list goes on.
For some dyslexic learners, short-term memory can be particularly challenging. This can also be the case for ADHD and dyspraxia.
Think back as a child, in the distant days before iPads, you may have had an Etch A Sketch drawing board like this one:
You drew an image (maybe of Super Mario if it was the 1990s!) and then you wiped the image when you wanted to start a new one. Similarly, at some point in the day, your short-term memory reaches full capacity and so wipes your memory clean, leaving:
Throughout the day you are continuously uploading information into your short-term memory. This information can come from a variety of sources: from conversations, from listening to the radio, from reading, writing, any task that requires you to process information. Your memory only has a limited capacity to hold all this information in the short-term memory: like a computer, when it has uploaded too much, it gets hot, overheats, the little round circle swirls around and eventually crashes.
When this happens, when you feel like your head is ‘full’, your eyes water, you’ve got a headache and you can’t take anything in, you know your memory has ‘crashed’ and you need to download all that backed-up information. ‘Downloading’ in this sense means closing your eyes, taking yourself away from any written or verbal stimulation and just closing off all the language centres of your brain: listen to music, go for a walk, do some yoga or breathing. Whatever you do, try to avoid reading, writing or, in some cases, speaking.
Just take some quiet time for you.
Starting any form of work when your short-term memory has crashed is fruitless. Pushing it won’t work. So make sure your memory is in a good place to begin with, early in the day is best, before the sensory world and stimulations of the day have had the chance to take up space in your precious memory.
Everyone is different, however what follows is six key principles to enhance your memory and information process.., any information that you need to process, retain and retrieve. Try them out, adapt them, combine them, use only one, whatever works for you.
To give you an overview the principles are:
Chunking
Colours & Codes
Multi-Sensory
Repetition
Context
Personal Association
Read my blog Six Memory Strategies to find out more.
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Dr. Deborah Leveroy is Neurodiversity and Inclusion Lead at neurobox. She works with organisations to advance neuro-inclusion strategy and practice. Deborah has a PhD in Dyslexia, inclusion and performer training from the University of Kent.
Her research is published by Routledge in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. Current research interests include Neuroinclusive return to work practices and remote working. Previous roles include Disability Advisor for Remploy’s BBC workplace adjustment contract, Strategy Coach and Workplace Needs Assessor for PAM occupational health and Study Skills Tutor for several DSA providers.
