Kids don’t have memory problems

But there are plenty of other reasons for bad grades!

In my clinical work treating kids with learning and attention disorders, I am periodically told that a kid is struggling in school because they have memory problems. Either the kid’s subjective experience is that they can’t remember information they learned in school, or the parents and teachers think that’s what’s going on, or there is (alarmingly!) a neuropsychological report indicating memory concerns. And the kid, their parents, and related professionals are always somewhat surprised when I explain that it’s almost impossible for neurologically healthy kids to have memory problems. Something else—unrelated to memory—must be going on to cause these difficulties.

It’s helpful to think about neuroanatomy in discussions about why memory is not the culprit in learning problems. The Triune Brain Theory, introduced by neuroscientist Paul MacLean in the 1960s, is outdated but helpful for our purposes here to conceptualize cognitive development. The theory says that the brain is organized in three levels, each representing a distinct stage of evolution and development. The reptilian brain is the oldest part of the brain, and it contains structures responsible for instinctual behaviors and survival behaviors like breathing and balance. The mammalian brain is the next level to develop, and it contains structures that comprise the limbic system, which is responsible for memory and emotion. Finally, the neocortex contains structures responsible for higher-order cognitive functions unique to humans, including language, social functioning, and executive functioning. In general, it’s the neocortex that’s implicated in learning and attention disorders, whereas the mammalian brain, while vulnerable to diseases of older adulthood, is generally preserved in development.

So if the problem isn’t memory, then what is it?

A few options…

The most common issue that can look like memory problems is attention problems. A professor of mine in graduate school compared the brain to a bookshelf. He said that, when you are in school, the information you learn is like a book that you are putting on a shelf, and when you take a test later on, you need to retrieve the book from the shelf to access the information. If you have a memory disorder, it’s as if the shelves are crumbling, and the information you put on them gets lost. That’s not the problem for most kids. Instead, if they have an attention disorder, they never put the book on the shelf in the first place; it’s impossible to remember stuff that they never really learned.

Another problem might be poor working memory. But you said kids don’t have memory problems! I know, I know. “Working memory” is a really misleading term. Working memory is actually an executive function and not a memory process at all. It’s the ability to hold information in your mind, manipulate it, and spit it back out. So, for instance, you need really strong working memory to solve an arithmetic problem like 458-289 in your head. It’s a fundamentally different cognitive skill from recalling a fact or an event. You only have information in working memory for a very, very short time before it moves to longer-term storage. Working memory deficits can resemble attention deficits in the sense that, since you can’t hold information in your mind, the information never makes it to the bookshelves.

Finally, children may look like they are forgetting when, in fact, there is an underlying language issue. Language impairments can make it difficult to learn information (i.e., receptive language) or to explain the information later on (i.e., expressive language).

It’s really important to understand what’s driving the problem since interventions and strategies differ in each case. If it’s an attention problem, a kid might need to develop active reading and listening strategies. They may need to improve their metacognition, or their ability to think about their thinking and monitor their attention. They might also need to have classroom accommodations like preferential seating, and it might be worthwhile to explore attention-enhancing medication. In the case of a language deficit, kids might respond better to either written or auditory material, depending on which language system is relatively stronger. They might also do better on multiple choice rather than free response tests if they have trouble using language to explain what they know. And speech therapy might lead to significant improvements in the underlying deficit. Finally, if working memory is the culprit, strategies like mnemonics or chunking information can be helpful to consolidate the information being held in working memory, and repetition and rehearsal are critical.

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How great is Billy Porter??