By Fiona Lilley and Sally Barrable
“Why should I use this program?”
In every day life, we are often required to hold information in our memories for a short period of time, for the purpose of recalling it to perform a particular function e.g. a child is often required to locate, remember and copy information from a whiteboard in the classroom. The child is required to hold this information in their short term visual memory which copying the work into their book.
We often take it for granted that children have this ability. In fact, this skill is expected to be well developed in the classroom on a daily basis. So often children have a limited ability to hold information in their memory. The V.M.P. aims to increase the child’s capacity of his visual memory.
"How and what does this program work on?"
The
V.M.P. Program is divided into two levels- Level 1 and Level 2.
Level 1 is suitable for children from approximately 4 - 8 years of age.
Level 2 is suitable for children from approximately 8 – 12 years of age. These are just approximate guides. Some older children who have difficulty with visual memory might benefit from beginning at Level 1 and working their way through to Level 2. In this way, success may be achieved early on in the program and a good foundation is laid down upon which to build more sophisticated visual memory skills. Early success boosts the child’s confidence and enhances enjoyment of the task.
The program is easy to administer with basic instructions. All the oral directions are supplied so the adult is able to read the instructions “word for word”. The program does not rely on the adult creating their own instructions.
It is a good idea to keep practice sessions short and regular e.g. 5 or 10 minutes a day. It is better to strive for short regular sessions during which the child is fully focused, rather than long practice sessions, which occur less often. We would recommend that the exercises be practised 3-5 times per week, with perhaps a break on the weekend. This is flexible however, and it is best that the parent structure the program to suit the child’s weekly routine. Some children will complete the program in a few weeks. Others may not need this long, while some may need to work through the program more slowly (to ensure consolidation of the skill at the various levels).
Due to the nature of the program, it is best used with individual children as opposed to group settings. This program can be used at home, in any one to one or therapy setting. The child is presented with a page of pictures. The adult reads out the instructions from the top of each page. The child is required to recall what he has seen in a variety of different visual memory activities. The following are examples of some of the activities included within both Level 1 and Level 2 (The level of difficulty however increases from Level 1 to Level 2):
i.e.
- Same verse Different,
- Draw in the missing pictures/ letters/ numbers,
- Remembering Specific Pictures,
- Word to Picture Find,
- “How many pictures can you remember?”
- Position Grids,
- Look and Remember Details in pictures,
- “Which picture did you NOT see?”
- Draw geometric shapes from memory,
"What does the V.M.P. consist of?"
Both Level 1 and Level 2 of the V.M.P. program come with a Question and Workbook plus a CD. There are over 80 pages of activities at each level. The CD is useful as it allows the user to print additional workbooks so the program can be used more than once. Both the question and workbook for each level are presented in colour, as colour presentation can aid visual recall. The workbooks however can be printed in black and white (greyscale) from the CD if cost is an issue.
The pictures on the worksheets are appealing and fun and there is great variation from one activity to the next. This helps to maintain the child’s attention.
“What are the results that I can expect to see?”
Through use of these structured, graded activities, one would expect a child’s capacity for remembering and recalling sequences of information to improve. The child who could previously only recall a sequence of 2-3 items may now easily be able to recall 4-5 items in the correct sequence. This would help the child in coping with the demands of every day activities but particularly coping with classroom demands. These activities may also help to provide a basis for learning associated skills such as reading, maths and spelling.
* Coming soon a Reward Chart.
