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Palace Memory Technique
Popularized by Sherlock Holmes, you visualize a place you know well. This could be your home, office, where you grew up, or any place you can visualize consistently. Next, map out a path through that location. Along your path, choose specific key points like the doormat, the fruit bowl, that ugly painting of a cat your sister drew, etc. List them in the order you would approach them as you walk along your chosen path.
This next step is the most crucial: ascribe a piece of information, a vivid spatial memory link, to each of these key points. For example, let's say you are trying to remember the first three presidents of the United States. You first arrive at the doormat and think of washing your shoes—Washington. Next, you see the fruit bowl—Adam's apple. Lastly, you see the ugly picture of a cat—a tom cat, Thomas Jefferson.
These associations don't have to make sense to anyone but you.
When you have assigned all your objects, it's time to walk through your memory palace, solidifying each association. The more you repeat the exercise, the stronger these associations will be.
Our Story: My son-in-law, Ben, introduced us to this cognitive training strategy in 2019. We created vivid spatial memories that, in time, we hoped would move from short-term to long-term memories. Below are my journal entries. We focused on learning specific pieces of information and remembering steps to complete a task.
July 15, 2019: A Big Grizzly Chicago Bear Eating Honey: The first image was to help Matt remember his deceased Uncle Tom, a gruff, robust man with a beard who liked the Chicago Bears and to eat. He did OK with this image.
Our next attempt: The House Loop was designed to help Matt remember the names of his paternal relatives. It went something like this. His PopPop stood at the foot of the driveway dressed in a pink sweater and snorkel; at the top stood his grandmother in a purple tutu blowing bubbles. Entering the house, his Aunt Debbie wore a party hat while hula hooping. Inside, Uncle Tim played the piano in stilettos and on it went for 3 more people.
July 23, 2019: Billy Goat Wearing a Saddle Pack While Juggling: Matt could not remember the steps to making a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. We threw out several ideas and came up with the Billy Goat concept. The saddle pack had 3 pouches, each with two items: a bowl & spoon, oatmeal & a ½ measuring cup, and a glass measuring cup filled with water. The goat was juggling the toppings: brown sugar, cinnamon, craisins, and fruit.
After the first day, Matt could recall any detail involving a number, E.g., 3 pouches, 2 items in each, and juggling 4 things. With help filling in the rest of the details, he made his oatmeal in a third of the time it took yesterday. We made oatmeal all week to help reinforce retention. He was engaged in the process as long as I didn’t review it too much.
Two weeks later, using the Billy Goat image, Matt independently made his morning oatmeal 90-95%.
August 4, 2019 Waiter Wearing a Hawaiian Shirt and Green Bermuda Shorts: Our next Memory Palace image was to help Matt set the table for dinner. A knife, spoon, and fork dangled from a chain around the waiter's neck. On his head, he wore a napkin as a headband and balanced a glass. He carried a tray with salt & pepper, butter, milk, and salad dressing in his right, weaker arm. This Memory Palace was not as intuitive, and required more repetition than the Billy Goat imagery, but when he was on his “A game,” it worked well.
December 23, 2023: All these years later, as I explained to Matt what I wrote above, he chimed in that he remembered PopPop at the bottom of the driveway, his grandmother wearing a tutu at the top, and vaguely remembered that Billy Goat had 3 pouches and something to do with the number 2. Back then, his short-term memory was almost non-existent. The Memory Palace was one of many techniques and approaches I incorporated into his busy schedule without clearly understanding whether any of them would make a difference or be worth our investment of time. Now, I found Matt's recollections to be an encouraging revelation.
Brain Quest Workbooks
Brain Quest Workbooks
Bridget Heos (Author), Matt Rockefeller (Illustrator)
Brain Quest Workbooks review and reinforce what children from 1-12th Grade are learning in the classroom in an instantly engaging, entertaining way. Each page is jam-packed with hands-on, age-appropriate activities and games covering spelling and vocabulary, language arts, math skills, word problems, social studies, and more.
Our Story: In September 2020, 16 months after his injury, Matt started with the Grade 3 workbook and transitioned to the Grade 5 workbook three months later.
Presents logic and reasoning problems to help readers prepare for important exams, improve reasoning skills for work or school, and hone the reader's mind. Problems are grouped into 5–20 questions with a common theme.
Our Story: March through May 2021, 3 years after his injury, Matt completed all 501 problems. We revisited these skills periodically to ensure Matt’s ability didn't diminish. His logic and reasoning ability greatly improved. Initially, he scored 50-60%, then halfway through 75%, and for the last 100 problems, 97% with a perfect score on the final 11.
WALC™ 9: Verbal and Visual Reasoning Workbook of Activities for Language and Cognition
WALC™ 9: Verbal and Visual Reasoning Workbook of Activities for Language and Cognition
by Kathryn J. Tomlin
PDF file can be printed, all or in part, from Mind Resources
OR
Book Purchased for $54.00 from Pro-Ed. Inc.
Verbal and visual reasoning is integral to how we communicate, problem-solve, make decisions, and succeed in relationships with others. The tasks in WALC 9 address multiple levels of reasoning in various exercises to improve the individual's ability to reason flexibly and to expand his ability to identify, analyze, and modify information. An extensive repertoire of verbal and visual reasoning abilities helps the individual assess the effectiveness of his responses and analyze what is being said or presented in written or graphic form.
The skills list includes verbal and visual reasoning, thought organization, convergent reasoning, logic, insight, integration, inferencing, and visual perception. There are upwards of 170 worksheets of varying formats: multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, descriptive writing--on general topics or personal preferences, word association, and identification of differences between pictures and concepts. It was less monotonous than other workbooks.
Intended for high school and older, 16 y.o. and above.
Our Story: July through August 2021: we advanced to this high school-level workbook 3 1/4 years into his recovery. I loved the variety of activities and topics. Daily, Matt did 3-5 worksheets. They caused him to draw from past experiences and knowledge and compose his thoughts. Word finding was still quite difficult for Matt, which added to the complexity of these activities. His strategy was to start at the beginning or midpoint of the alphabet and mouth each letter until he found the first letter of the desired word.
Examples of worksheets:
Describe a situation where a person would feel happy (work successfully) or embarrassed (dressed inappropriately).
Write four wishes for yourself and others: for himself to become a professor again, for Mom, that her garden would have a great turnout.
Write each expression's literal and abstract meaning, such as "All that glitters is not gold." This was a complex concept to parcel out and articulate well at this time in his recovery.
Identify what doesn't make sense in each picture. A picture of a chair with straight legs on the right and a rocker base on the left.
I timed a few worksheet activities and repeated them a week or two later to monitor progress. His performance wasn't consistent and did not follow an upward progression.
I gained a greater understanding of Matt's language and comprehension abilities.
The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Workbook: Your Program for Regaining Cognitive Function & Overcoming Emotional Pain
The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Workbook: Your Program for Regaining Cognitive Function & Overcoming Emotional Pain
Douglas J Mason PsyD Lcsw, Marc Irwin Sharfman MD (Foreword)
This book explains the brain's anatomy and what happens to the brain after a mild brain injury. Even a mild incident can cause problems with memory, communication, and mental focus. What's worse, this kind of cognitive function loss often causes other psychological symptoms like depression and low self-esteem. Fortunately, there are things anyone can do to recover from a mild traumatic brain injury, get back lost cognitive ability, and restore a healthy frame of mind.
Our Story: This looks like a great resource, but not one that we used.
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