Dr Asha Pemberton
Teenhealth.tt@gmail.com
Parents of teens often report that their young people seem to 'not remember' information as would be expected. Whether related to actual academic content, daily routines or household chores, frustration grows when tweens and teens seem to forget everything. While sometimes the scenarios are amplified in parents' minds due to frustration, there is merit to understanding the concept of working memory and how it can be improved in adolescents. Regardless of motivation or intention, we can only retrieve the key knowledge and skills that is stored in our working memory.
Working memory is an executive function of the brain that allows us to hold information in mind while processing it. It is critical to long term memory and also integral to allowing us to retrieve previously stored information. Like so many other areas, in adolescent development, there is significant debate as to whether we are simply born with a finite memory capacity or whether it can be nurtured or developed. That said, there are certainly parenting techniques and strategies that be implemented to optimise working memory
Understand learning styles
To identify the best strategies to help boost your teen's working memory, it is useful to first understand how they learn. Determining if your teen is a visual (learn by seeing information), kinesthetic (learns by doing and moving), or auditory (learn by hearing information) learner can help guide how you might boost executive functioning skills like working memory. Some teens are 'read-write' learners and require a combination of reading and then making brief notes to consolidate memory. Although these classic categories are described, many young people have traits that cross over the classes. In addition, many teens report that for certain subjects auditory methods work, whereas for others read-write approaches are preferred. There are no clear rules, but what is important is some assessment be made so that teens are aware of their learning style. This is the first step toward implementing strategies. Some teens require written to do lists daily, others need consistent but gentle verbal reminders.
Use brain training games and activities
Although there is no shortage of online brain games which involve, puzzles, word sleuths, spelling or number patterns, there are simple non-digital methods that parents can use to improve working memory. Insisting that your teen play Wordle or online maths games may or not be well received. Family-based activities that include daily memory challenges (for words or phrases), asking teens to recount facts rather than constantly relying on Google, or creating routines at the dinner table where everyone shares events of the day are all family friendly and bonding methods to insist that memory is developed. We live in a world where there is extreme reliance on online search engines and saved information on devices. We are still able, however, to attempt to learn phone numbers, or addresses or bits of daily i
