The child forgets what happened a minute ago. What should I do if my child forgets me? You have to invent something like this

Schoolchildren may suffer from absent-mindedness due to certain illnesses, conflicts with teachers, peers, relatives, etc. In such an environment, the child will be in tension all the time, which will not allow him to concentrate. If signs of absent-mindedness appear, you need to find out what is the reason for this behavior of the baby, and then solve this problem by eliminating the cause.

There are also cases when a child from birth has absent-mindedness - this is a consequence of certain features of the activity of his nervous system. These features are determined by the uneven development of functions and processes occurring in the child’s brain. If there are such problems, the baby will not be able to concentrate for a long time, will quickly get tired and constantly switch from one thing to another.

Pathogenesis

Inattentiveness and absent-mindedness in a child are often one of the symptoms of ADHD. In the presence of this disease, the child experiences absent-mindedness such as “fluttering” attention. Signs of this type of disorder are poor concentration and rapid involuntary switching.

This disease is characterized not only by absent-mindedness - such a baby is also very mobile and overly active - he cannot sit in one place for a long time and do one thing. Such children tend to quickly switch from one job to another, even if the work they are doing is truly interesting to them.

A child with ADHD gets into everything and always finds an opportunity to do something. In addition, he is very restless, constantly forgets something, and is quite clumsy. In some cases, he cannot learn to stand on one leg.

The manifestation of signs of the disease mainly begins at school - then doctors make this diagnosis. The student disrupts classes, spins, spins, and interferes with the teacher and other children. At the same time, he does this completely unintentionally. Children diagnosed with ADHD often have various talents and are quite smart, but at the same time they cannot demonstrate these skills.

Symptoms of absent-mindedness in a child

Absent-mindedness in a child - how to recognize and define it? Below are some symptoms that indicate the presence of such a problem:

• Hyperexcitability, restlessness, constant fuss;
• Very often he changes the work he is doing, abandons it without finishing it;
• Cannot concentrate on one specific task;
• Memory problems.

Parents should also pay attention to the following signs that demonstrate the development of inattention in a child:

• The baby cannot concentrate on a specific task, constantly being distracted from it;
• Always loses or forgets about his school things, toys and other supplies;
• Constantly avoids any work that requires concentration, patience and perseverance;
• Problems arise with school performance due to the fact that he cannot complete even the smallest tasks, makes mistakes simple situations;
• Completes any task much later than other children;
• Characterized by daydreaming;
• Doesn't listen to instructions;
• Can switch to another task without finishing the previous one.

In general, some symptoms may appear in every child from time to time, but if such problems are constantly present in a student, one should look into the issue of finding the cause of such behavior.

First signs

Children who start school are often quite inattentive and distracted - their ability to concentrate has not yet developed. But it is necessary to improve this skill, just like the ability to read, write, and count. Attention manifests itself as the precise execution of functions related to it. Attentive behavior allows you to receive clear and clear images, and in general all thinking processes in this case occur much faster. And the person acts more clearly and accurately.

Carefully monitor your child's behavior - absent-mindedness in a child can lead to problems with school performance. If you find that your baby has the following symptoms for more than six months, you should take him for a consultation with a psychologist:

• Makes mistakes due to his own inattention, cannot concentrate on small details;
• Doesn't listen when people talk to him, can't hold his attention for long;
• Constantly distracted by what is happening around;
• Cannot finish the job he started;
• Tries to avoid tasks that involve stress;
• Forgetful - while performing a task, he may forget how to do it;
• Loses things that are needed to complete the task.

Absent-mindedness and inattention in a child

Nowadays, studying at school requires children not only to develop mentally and physically, but also to learn to quickly perceive and process a large amount of information. In addition, during the same period of time, many internal changes occur in their mental and physical state. Individual character traits, ability to learn, and motivation can also have an impact. All this can cause symptoms of absent-mindedness in a child.

IN elementary school The child is required not only to be attentive, but also perseverance and accuracy - all this is quite difficult for him to do at first.

The student may also be inattentive due to conflicts with peers, teachers, or problems in the family. If there are younger children, the child may be jealous of them, he may also be afraid of his parents, quarrel with the teacher or classmates. All these reasons affect concentration and concentration.

If the student is already long time(more than 6 months) cannot concentrate and is distracted even when working on something interesting to him, he should immediately consult a neurologist. It is possible that the child has a hyperactive syndrome. In this case, you will need the help of a qualified specialist to solve the problem.

Absent-mindedness, forgetfulness and inattention in children

Absent-mindedness in a child can happen for various reasons. Among them is hyperactivity syndrome, which manifests itself in the fact that he often behaves completely uncontrollably. In addition, one may notice a lack of attention and concentration, excessive anxiety, and absent-mindedness. In principle, a child should be so active and restless, but when he behaves too harshly, completely out of control, this is not a good sign.

There are a number of signs that are considered a manifestation of hyperactivity syndrome in a child. Among them:

• Inability to concentrate even when performing an interesting task that always fascinated the baby;
• The child talks a lot, is inattentive, absent-minded, constantly forgets about something, restless;
• Cannot coordinate own movements;
• It is difficult for him to organize himself for games, study, and relaxation;
• Does not want to follow universal rules - at home, at school, during games;
• Very active and mobile all the time;
• The mood constantly changes, there are changes in emotions.

If you find at least a third of the above-described signs in your child, you should immediately consult a doctor who specializes in treating childhood hyperactivity.

Absent-mindedness in children of primary school age

There are 2 groups into which inattentive and overly distracted children can be divided:

The first of them includes children who, until a certain point, did not suffer from absent-mindedness. In this case, the cause of the problem could be some long-term chronic disease, which eventually depleted his nervous system. In addition to this factor, a child’s absent-mindedness may be a consequence of problems in the family or conflict at school. Due to internal tension, the baby is unable to concentrate on school and other daily activities.

The second group consists of children who have absent-mindedness syndrome from the moment of birth. They are such because of a weak nervous system - they have congenital unevenness in the development of brain functions. This deficiency has the greatest impact on attentiveness. Such kids suffer from a lack of energy and constantly change what they are doing. They may notice many different little things in the environment, note various details, but at the same time they will not be able to concentrate on what the teacher is explaining. It’s not their fault, it’s all about a congenital disease that they are not able to overcome.

Absent-mindedness of a primary school child

For a child over 7 years of age, the main activity is schooling. This process seriously changes the functioning of all mental processes occurring in his body. Attentiveness also undergoes some changes, because studying requires more serious concentration from the child. Very often, problems with academic performance in younger schoolchildren are revealed in a lack of concentration, inability to understand teacher requirements, and concentrate on their own work. All this usually causes the greatest criticism from the teacher.

The attentiveness of first-graders is initially poorly developed and is almost no different from the behavior of preschool children - these children are not yet able to simultaneously listen to a story about the life of an artist and look at his painting - they focus on one thing. Absent-mindedness in a child manifests itself in the fact that when performing a difficult task, he will quickly perform actions that are familiar to him, but will immediately forget the essence of the task itself and how the result was obtained. All this happens due to the fact that in the process of performing a given action, he will focus on only one aspect, not paying attention to other nuances.

Complications and consequences

If your child becomes forgetful and begins to show signs of distraction, this may be due to the development of attention deficit disorder. Yes, and this syndrome can appear as a result of another disease or be an independent problem. The disease may be accompanied general condition weakness and occur against the background of an infection or virus or problems with the endocrine system. So it should be understood that ordinary absent-mindedness in a child can lead to serious consequences if it is not treated carefully.

Problems with attention may be the result of stress that makes the child feel depressed and anxious, or a difficult emotional situation that has happened to him. So, if you notice signs such as an inability to comprehend spoken language and maintain concentration, send your child for an examination. You will need to consult a neurologist and undergo a medical examination. This will avoid the occurrence of various complications, because the doctor will be able to identify the cause of the problem and prescribe the necessary treatment.

In general, problems with attention are considered a sign of illness only if there are other somatic or neuropsychic disorders.

Diagnosis of absent-mindedness in a child

If you notice the signs described below in your child, which are also constantly observed in him, you should be wary. He may have been influenced by ADD. The symptoms are as follows:

• There is no concentration, the child is constantly distracted from work;
• Often forgets where he put his books, toys, pens, or even loses them;
• Avoids tasks in which the main emphasis is on attention to small details and patience;
• Can jump from one activity to another, does not take advice, directions and instructions;
• A child is characterized by a state of daydreaming;
• Unable to completely complete even a small task, he constantly makes small mistakes.

Of course, some of these symptoms are common to most children, but if your child exhibits most of them, and does so more often than other peers, you should be wary. Absent-mindedness in a child can be a consequence of some disease and manifest itself anywhere - both in kindergarten or school, and at home. Inattention does not depend in any way on what the baby is doing - playing or studying.

It is important to identify this syndrome at an early stage of its development. Children's inability to concentrate and susceptibility to absent-mindedness are dangerous because if this problem is ignored, it will become more serious in the future. With age, it will be much more difficult for the child to cope with its consequences.

Analyzes

Attention is the ability to concentrate the mental activity of the brain on one specific object. Every person, without exception, is capable of involuntarily focusing his attention.

Attentiveness itself is an established character trait of a mature person. An absent-minded child may turn his attention to some task or object, but at the same time he will not be able to fully concentrate. This happens because in childhood such a quality as attentiveness cannot yet become a personal character trait.

Absent-mindedness in a child may be the result of some illness - inflammation of the nasopharynx, the appearance of adenoids, problems with brain function. It is better to analyze the problem with the help of a qualified specialist in order to find out the cause of the violation and make a clear diagnosis.

When starting to find out the causes of absent-mindedness, you should first analyze what your baby’s daily routine is. There is a possibility that he does not get enough sleep, he lacks attention, he receives the wrong nutrition, and is very tired. It is quite possible that this is precisely the reason for the child’s absent-mindedness and inattention. Then all that remains is to eliminate the interfering factor, and everything will improve in his behavior.

Instrumental diagnostics

If symptoms of absent-mindedness appear, you can go instrumental diagnostics. The examination course is carried out using the following devices:

• X-ray of the cervical vertebrae to find out what the level of their pathological mobility is, and whether the child has scoliosis;
• Ultrasound of the brain to find out whether there are any organic or congenital abnormalities in its vessels and tissue;
• Ultrasound Dopplerography (Dopplerography) to find out what condition the walls of the vessels are in - their tortuosity, level of compression, narrowing, etc.;
• Electroencephalography to determine how balanced electrophysiological processes are in brain tissues and cells.

When all diagnostic the course will take place, you can determine the cause of the disease and make a diagnosis.

Absent-mindedness in a child can be diagnosed using psychological tests. In this case, the development is studied in detail cognitive processes in a child (involuntary and natural) in an attempt to timely detect and describe voluntary cognitive reactions and actions.

To diagnose your child’s attentiveness, you can use the following play methods:

• find and cross out;
• triangles;
• remember the location of the dots and then arrange them correctly;
• proofreading test.

Differential diagnosis

In the differential diagnosis of ADD, which may be one of the causes of absent-minded behavior, pathologies that may be inherent in this disease are identified. Its causes can also be a variety of infectious diseases, disorders of the central nervous system and brain, head injuries, lead vapor poisoning, and cerebral hypoxia.

Absent-mindedness in a child, as well as dizziness, headaches, hyperactivity, irritability, and sleep problems can be a sign of neurosis or observed after a traumatic brain injury as post-traumatic syndrome.

Problems with a child’s behavior may not be the result of any illness. Inattention, as well as hyperactivity and impulsiveness, can be due to stress due to the death of someone close or their illness. Or because the child becomes bored - for example, the school curriculum is too easy for him. That is why there should be no rush to make a diagnosis - the child will need to be under the supervision of doctors for six months.

ADD, accompanied by increased activity, must be diagnosed based on anamnesis, which is carried out by interviewing the child’s parents and questioning his school teachers.

Treatment of absent-mindedness in a child

Attention disorder can be treated in different ways. They depend on many factors - on the causes and origin of this symptom, as well as the person himself - his character and individual characteristics.

You can correct absent-mindedness in a child with the help of special activities aimed at improving concentration. These are puzzles and logic problems that the child must solve. It is also important to clearly distribute activities for the day, allocating more time for physical activity and good rest. If no mental illness is detected in the child, then the cause of absent-mindedness will most likely be a lack of interest in the activities offered. So at the initial stage of adjustment, you need to try to solve the problem without using medications. It is necessary to captivate the baby so that he himself is interested in what he is doing - then he will be able to concentrate better.

A growing child's body requires a balance of healthy vitamins, because its absence can also cause problems with attentiveness. In this case, it will be useful to take a complex of vitamins. If the problem arose due to disorders in the immune system, you can undergo a course of treatment with immunostimulants.

Drug treatment

Among the medications that can treat absent-mindedness in a child are psychostimulants, which must be taken under the supervision of a doctor.

• Glycine, which is a nootropic drug. It helps improve mental abilities, increases performance, and affects the increase in protective processes in the central nervous system. The dosage is 1 tablet. under the tongue.
• Piracetam, which improves brain metabolism, which helps to better absorb school material. For children, the daily dose of the drug is 30-50 mg.

Side effects: irritability, anxiety, nausea, diarrhea, headaches, tremors, convulsions.

Contraindications: should not be taken by children with diabetes or allergies to fruit juices. It should also not be administered to infants under 1 year of age.

• Biotredin, which has a positive effect on the cognitive functions of the brain. It increases alertness and improves memory. The dosage for children is 2 mg/kg body weight for 3-10 days.

Contraindications: do not take together with antidepressants, antipsychotics, tranquilizers.

• Phenibut helps improve blood flow to the brain - it improves brain performance, memory, and helps to remember better large volume information.

Contraindications:

• pregnancy;
• when breastfeeding;
• liver failure.

The dosage of the medicine for children is 20-250 mg. More precisely, it is prescribed by the doctor, depending on the individual characteristics of the patient.

Side effects: anxiety, irritability, and excessive excitability may occur.

Physiotherapeutic treatment

Absent-mindedness in a child can be corrected without the use of medications - the course consists of various procedures, including correction by neuropsychological and pedagogical methods, psychotherapy, behavior modification methods. Physiotherapeutic procedures are also used.

• Laser therapy - the course includes 7-10 procedures, one of which involves irradiation of 3-5 zones of the body.
• DMVtherapy, consisting of 8-10 procedures.
• 5-10 inhalation procedures.
• Course of ultraviolet irradiation of the nasopharynx for 3-5 procedures.
• An ultrasound course consisting of 8-10 procedures.

Parents need to consult a psychotherapist, where they will be explained that they should not perceive such behavior of the child negatively - he does not do this on purpose, so he needs to be treated patiently and with understanding. It is also necessary to ensure that the child follows a daily routine - certain time ate, did homework, went to bed. Let him get rid of excess energy during long walks, running, jumping, and doing physical exercises.

Because it is difficult for such a child to concentrate, try not to overload him with tasks - let there be only one for a separate time period. You should also carefully select his play partners - they should be calm and balanced.

Traditional treatment

Absent-mindedness in a child can be treated with some folk remedies.

For example, juniper berries work well. You need to eat them, starting with 1 piece per day, and so, gradually increasing by one, to reach 12 pieces. Next, you need to carry out the reverse course - in descending order.

• Prickly tartar - pour 20g of boiling water over the grass and leave on low heat for 10 minutes. The resulting tincture should be drunk 3-4 times a day, 1 tbsp.

Mix together 2 parts of chopped dry root of rosea rhodiola and echinacea and add hop cones (1 part) to the resulting mixture. A tablespoon of this collection is poured into a glass of boiling water and infused for a quarter of an hour. Add honey (2 tsp) to the resulting decoction and drink throughout the day, dividing the contents into 3 parts. This course lasts about a month.

• Immortelle herb is poured with boiling water (about 10 grams), after which this tincture should be wrapped in a towel and left to infuse for 30-40 minutes. When the decoction is ready, you should drink it in a dosage of one-third of a glass. The procedure is performed 3 times a day.

Very useful for the body in general, and for improving alertness in particular, ordinary garlic. Eat 1-2 cloves before each meal.

Herbal treatment

You can improve your child's attention by using in various ways. In this case, it won’t hurt to take medicinal herbs. They have a positive effect on the body, although we must not forget that such treatment should also be prescribed by a doctor. Herbs such as chamomile and lemon balm have a good effect on absent-mindedness in a child. They promote better concentration, providing a calming effect.

A method such as herbal medicine is also used.

• Hawthorn tincture has a positive effect - drink a quarter glass of it daily. The recipe is as follows: grass flowers (1 tbsp) are poured into a glass of hot water and infused for 2 hours;
• Drink 2-3 times daily 2 tablets of valerian tincture - it also has a calming, softening effect;
• A medicinal herbal mixture consisting of various herbs. It includes motherwort (take a dose of 3 parts), cudweed (also includes 3 parts), hawthorn (again 3 parts of the mixture), chamomile in the form of flower baskets (1 part). Next, take 1 tbsp. the resulting product is poured with a glass of boiling water and left for 8 hours. Next, the collection is filtered and taken twice a day after meals, half a glass.

Homeopathy

Homeopathy can be used as an alternative to drug treatment. It may be prescribed if the child exhibits toxic or allergic reaction for medications. Homeopathic remedies improve the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, increase protective forces the body, treat adenoids and behavioral problems - for example, absent-mindedness in a child.

This symptom can be observed in the presence of hyperactivity syndrome. The child not only becomes too noisy, rowdy and uncontrollable, but also behaves inattentively - he may forget, lose things, etc. Numerous examinations have shown that with this disease the behavior of children who took individual doses of homeopathic remedies improved significantly - they became calmer, more careful, more attentive, the constant absent-mindedness has disappeared. Among the most effective means homeopathy for ADHD:

• Stramonium, used as a decoction for baths, take 20g of the product per bucket of water (dilution level 3 or 6);
• Cina – the course lasts 2-3 months, take 7 grains of the drug 1 time/week;
• Hyoscyamus niger, used as bleached oil, which is used for external rubbing into the skin.

Prevention

If your child shows signs of inattentiveness, this does not mean that he is sick. For prevention purposes, you can also early years to train his voluntary attention - you can give the child a mirror in which he will look at himself, trying to concentrate on what is happening. There are also a huge number of toys that help develop concentration. In infancy, children can be shown a variety of objects, while explaining why they are needed. This also trains voluntary attention well.

If you notice absent-mindedness in a child, you should buy him games that will develop his attentiveness - such as lotto, mosaics or puzzles. Play these games with your child - tell us about the rules, explain how to assemble a picture from individual parts, etc. Joint activities should captivate the child, helping him learn to concentrate.

Often, parents of children suffering from absent-mindedness and poor memory send them to consult a doctor to find out how serious this disorder is and how it should be treated. In this case, what could be the prognosis for the treatment of constant absent-mindedness?

Often it is quite positive, since if there is difficulty switching attention and problems with concentration, no special treatment is required. This is mainly a consequence of ordinary fatigue - it can be either mental or emotional, or physical. Overtired, a person becomes distracted and loses the ability to concentrate normally. It is clear that in such a situation you should simply give the body rest or change the environment for a while.

Important to know!

A child's hyperactivity creates most problems in kindergarten and then at school. Scientists say that no other feature of a child’s brain activity causes so much trouble for him and those around him. Meanwhile, the reasons for a child’s hyperactivity are very diverse: they relate not only to upbringing, but also depend on nutrition, and on how well the mother’s pregnancy proceeded, and even... on the material wealth in the family. Read more about child hyperactivity and what to do about it.

Especially for the RIA Science section >>

Kate Gammon

Recently, my almost four-year-old niece became the victim of the accident that all parents fear: she fell off her bicycle and broke her front tooth almost to the cervical part of the gum. The pain that arose and the subsequent removal of the tooth were taken seriously by the parents, but, fortunately, the little girl’s attitude towards this event turned out to be cheerful. “Now I can swallow pasta through this hole,” she told me during the holidays.

Luckily, she probably won't remember any of this when she grows up. By the time she was in second grade, the whole experience would have faded into hazy, picture-based memories.

And the reason for this phenomenon is a strange phenomenon that is commonly called childhood amnesia. Children can remember events that happened before they were three years old while they were still growing up, but as they get a little older, these early autobiographical memories are lost. Recent studies show that the starting point for childhood amnesia can be considered the age of seven years.

Scientists have long asked questions about the cause of this mysterious memory loss and believe that the development of language may have something to do with it. But even rats and other animals exhibit similar amnesia without language ability. Last June, Canadian scientists proposed a possible explanation: they believe it is due to rapid growth new cells in the hippocampus childhood period, called neurogenesis. When the brain is busy making a lot of new cells, it doesn't retain memories that would otherwise be long-lasting.

Scientist on Memory Mechanisms: Lost and Found MemoriesThe thought of losing our memories is a scary part of aging, but there are unexpected positive aspects, argues Douwe Driesma in his book The Nostalgia Factory.

The mechanisms can be very different, but at what point does access to memories stop?

As part of their study, published in the journal Memory, Patricia Bauer and her colleague Marina Larkina formed several groups of three-year-old children with one parent (usually their mother, as is the case in most experiments). in Developmental Studies). Parents asked their children about events that had happened during the previous three months, including visits to the zoo or kindergarten, while researchers videotaped it all.

Over the past six years, different groups of children have returned to the laboratory at ages five, six, seven, eight and nine, and researchers have asked them questions about events that happened when they were three years old. Because the researchers knew the details of those events, they were able to determine exactly what the children remembered and how they talked about their memories.

Scientists have discovered why children have problems readingResearchers recorded the brain waves of 100 children school age, which automatically arise in them when listening to speech sounds. As a result, scientists found that the best readers coded sounds more consistently compared to those who read poorly.

And what was the result? If the children were between five and seven years old at the time of the second interview, they remembered more than 60% of the events, Bauer told Popular Science. However, those children who were eight and nine years old remembered 40% of the events or less, and they were already beginning to talk about their memories differently.

“We believe this is due to the fundamental biological processes during the period when an intensive process of postnatal development occurs in neural structures, Bauer emphasizes. “In the early stages of development, these structures work, but not very effectively - children form their memories, but in the course of natural processes, some memories fade and become inaccessible. By the time children become adults, memory begins to work very efficiently.”

Parents also influence children's memories of events. Those of them who use a developmental strategy in communicating with their children often ask the following questions: “Tell me more,” “What happened then?”, and allow the children to describe their memories themselves. As a result, children form memories of earlier events earlier, and these memories are more stable, Bauer said.

Bauer continues her research with a group of children she will study for four years. She will ask them questions about their memories in different periods their development. In her opinion, the earliest memories are associated with emotions - both positive and negative. It is therefore possible that my niece will retain memories of an early and unpleasant encounter with a drill, but it is also possible that she will lose contact with them as new memories are formed.

Original publication

Experts note that problems with concentration are a real scourge. modern society: People of all ages complain of getting tired easily and being unable to concentrate on an important task. Children don’t complain, they just forget their notebooks at home, and at school they forget their sneakers and even their backpacks. Often they do not remember instructions and requests, and they look at paragraphs with the material they have covered as if they were seeing them for the first time. And - what depresses parents most of all - the situation does not change with age: as they get older, children forget to turn off irons and stoves, and lose keys and phones.

Of course, if a child exhibits forgetfulness regularly, it is necessary to consult a specialist, first of all, a neurologist. Perhaps he will suspect signs of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in the young patient. Attention: this diagnosis can only be made by a doctor!

Attention Deficit Disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a mysterious disorder. What is it - a disease or just a set distinctive features people who are not united by one reason, experts in the field of psychiatry have not yet fully decided. On one point, however, they are unanimous: the diagnosis of ADHD is made only if its symptoms significantly complicate a person’s life.

It makes sense to contact a specialist if your child exhibits several of the following signs:

1. He is not able to organize himself.

2. He is unable to maintain attention during classes or play activity, follow the instructions.

3. He often makes careless mistakes.

4. He often avoids tasks that require constant mental effort.

5. He often loses things.

6. He listens, but doesn’t seem to hear anything.

7. He is often distracted by external stimuli and cannot concentrate on one activity.

It is customary to distinguish several types of ADHD:

– attention deficit due to hyperactivity;

– ADHD with a bias towards hyperactivity (when attention deficit is less pronounced than excessive impulsivity);

– ADHD with an emphasis on attention deficit (when difficulty concentrating is not associated with hyperactivity).

What other reasons could there be?

Forgetfulness is not always explained by ADHD; there are often much more prosaic reasons for it. For example, absent-mindedness may well be a consequence of psychophysical overload of the child’s body. This happens when a child’s workload with various activities exceeds his capabilities - and the brain, figuratively speaking, protects itself from “overheating.”

Another reason for repressing information can be childhood anxieties and fears. Well, the simplest reason is that forgetfulness can be associated with a simple lack of interest in a particular subject. Unfortunately, this is often the fault of parents, who are accustomed to reminding them about everything a dozen times (why keep something in mind if mom will remind you anyway?) and reading boring lectures to children about the benefits of knowledge.

How to help a child?

If a child is diagnosed with ADHD, treatment is naturally prescribed by a doctor. But both in the presence of a diagnosis and in the case of forgetfulness of any other origin, the “family” paths to solving the problem will be identical.

Many parents face the same problem: the child came home from kindergarten or school without a change (briefcase, pencil case, toy rhinoceros, etc.). And this is not the first time! Last week - a scarf, this week - a hat, how long can you buy him new things to replace the lost ones? And if you ask where he left something, he doesn’t remember, he will only look guiltily into the corner.

How to deal with excessive forgetfulness in children? What are the reasons for this behavior? We figure this out with the help of psychologists and provide comments from parents from forums and social networks.

6 reasons for lack of composure

First, you need to figure out what is the reason for your child’s lack of composure. And there can be a lot of them. In children under 5 years of age, inattention is practically the norm. Excessive curiosity and interest in the world around them does not allow them to concentrate on one thing. He put the bucket near the tree and went up the hill, it’s beautiful and red. And when you ask, leaving the playground, where the toy is - the child will not remember, asking him about it is useless, since The baby does not have such temporary memory. And you shouldn’t scold him, you need to train your memory.

The second reason is excessive self-absorption, daydreaming. These are children who are much more in their thoughts than in real world. In this case, such a character trait may accompany the child throughout childhood, if not throughout his life. They forget unconsciously, but memory training can help them concentrate.

The third reason is lack of concept of personal property. For example, in big family the child may consider all the toys to be common, and therefore there is no need to monitor them, this is not his personal responsibility. It’s the same in children’s institutions, where children’s rules of exchange “you give me - I give you” work. They exchanged it in the morning, but by the evening it’s difficult to remember what was given and to whom.

The fourth reason is rush. If the baby doesn’t have time to get ready, of course he will forget something. And not only a child, but also an adult. In the evening, the kid barely remembers what pants he wore to kindergarten, whether he had mittens with him, and what he put in his briefcase. Excessive workload can also affect the child. School, homework, clubs, chores, hobbies... The day is scheduled minute by minute, the workload is too heavy and the child does not have time to think about what he has taken and what he has not.

Fifth reason - lack of independence. If the baby’s mother dresses, undresses, packs his briefcase and helps him with his homework, then the child on his own will become helpless and will not remember what was put in his bag with him.

And the child may forget something specially. Forgetting your notebook at home because you didn’t do your homework, forgetting your diary at school so they don’t see your grades, and so on. If you feel that your child is cheating, just talk to him about the situation at school and the reasons for such deception.

Prevention against forgetfulness

If the baby is small or large, but overly absent-minded, then it is difficult for him to keep in mind all the things he carries with him. Make it easier for him and mark his clothes with some kind of logo, symbol, or just a name tag to make it easier to find later. Moreover, besides your confusion in the garden or school, there are others, and one of the children could easily go outside in your pants.

Talk through the necessary actions out loud with your children to get them to the machine. When they arrived, they took off their mittens and put them in their pockets. They took off the hat and scarf and put it on the shelf. The jacket is on a hook. And so on. You can come up with rhymes to make it easier for your child to remember these actions.

It also helps to pronounce objects according to their number (you can bend your fingers). The briefcase should contain: a textbook, a pencil case, a notebook, etc. Upon returning, disassembling the briefcase, repeat the list with your child to make sure that everything is in place. If you yourself suffer from forgetfulness, it is better to write down this list.

In addition, there are many memory training games. Oral ones like “I’ll take it north with me” or “I know five...”, and online ones like Memories, and desktop ones like “Uga Buga.” Finding something to suit your child’s taste will not be difficult.

Don't let things get lost. If you know that your baby is absent-minded, then you definitely don’t need to give him a couple of toys that he wants to take and a phone for a short walk. Moreover, by fulfilling your baby’s every whim, you devalue the things he receives, and he will not take care of their safety.

Accuracy should be cultivated in everything. Find a place for each of your child's things and time to care for them. Teach your child to take care of his things independently and constantly. For example, regularly clean your shoes or put things in the laundry. Don't clean up after your child or do everything for him. Teach your child to plan his time, not to fuss, and highlight an extra couple minutes to check everything before leaving.

You shouldn’t stop your child with a stern: “Did you forget anything?” It would be better to do this in the form of a question, did he forget anything? Let him say out loud what he has to take again, and if he doesn’t remember, then you’ll remind him that the shift is lying over there. And if the baby got ready and didn’t forget anything, don’t forget to praise him.

And lastly, serve it to your child. good example. After all, children do something while looking at us. So get used to order as a family and work on mistakes together.

And if you have already lost...

If the child has already lost an item, try not to scold him, but to discuss the reasons for what happened and talk through what he should have done to prevent this from happening. Everything you do should not be a punishment, but necessary measures. Do not call your child “confused” or “absent-minded”, as you only strengthen him in this thought.

It is better to try to instill a sense of responsibility in the baby. “You yourself have to take care of your ice on the slide, I rely on you.” And then the baby, perhaps, will remember that his mother gave him an important task.

To replace lost things, do not rush to buy new and better things. The child must have time to feel the discomfort of loss. He wears old sneakers to PE, wears an oversized sweater to school, and ends up with a regular phone instead of a smartphone. The main thing is not to overdo it so that the child does not become the cause of ridicule or bullying at school.

If your child is absent-minded by nature, try not to buy him expensive things at all and explain this to him in terms of material expenses. Explain that if you buy him a car and he loses it, there will be no new one. You can't afford it. And instead of a cool pencil case with Pikachu, you will have to go with a regular blue one.

If the child has already grown up and has pocket money, then such losses can be written out to him “on his account” so that he understands the cost of this or that thing. And in general, don’t be afraid to discuss the financial side of things with your child. For a child, you can compare the missing item in an equivalent that he understands, like: “Oh, but this hat cost 10 Kinder Surprises. Now we have to save up." It’s clear, isn’t it?

Ways to improve memory

The secret of a good memory is that you need to be able to divide information into primary and secondary. If you remember main idea, then the details will be remembered without difficulty. What to do to improve memory? First you need to understand the reasons for its deterioration:

1. Bad environment, dirty air. The brain needs oxygen to function actively.
2. Insufficient sleep. It is advisable to go to bed before midnight and wake up no later than 8 am.
3. Nervous tension, stress, fatigue.
4. Laziness.
5. Poor nutrition.

Memory can be short-term and long-term. If a person has problems with remembering, then you need to know what helps to improve memory. Adviсe:

1. “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Learn poems, excerpts from interesting books. The more you repeat, the better you remember.
2. Focus your attention on the essentials.
3. Try to develop your visual memory. To do this, write any sentence on a piece of paper and count how many letters “o” are in it, for example. Then look away and remember how many “a”s are in the sentence.
4. Learn different languages.
5. If you have read a book or watched a movie, try writing a brief retelling of it on a piece of paper.
6. For easy to remember, come up with your own individual associations.
7. Eat foods that stimulate brain function (nuts, chocolate, seafood, vegetable oil, etc.).
8. Sleep improves memory and concentration. A person should sleep at least 7 hours a day; during sleep, the brain sorts the events of the day, putting everything into “shelves.”
9. Movement improves blood circulation, including in the brain. Physical education classes will only be beneficial.
10. Handicrafts develop fine motor skills. At the same time, brain performance is stimulated.

Important! If you forgot something, try to remember it yourself. You need to force your brain to work, and not make the task easier for it by spying on the answer somewhere.

In order to improve memory, you also need training:

1. Make a shopping list and read it several times, preferably out loud. Now go to the store and buy what is written, leaving the list at home.
2. Exercise with license plates. Look at the letters in the numbers and try to come up with sentences from them. For example, “TVN – suffer temporary setbacks.”
3. Try changing hands throughout the day. For example, take a tea mug in your left hand.

A proper diet also helps improve memory. Eat foods with vitamins C and E:

• blueberries and currants;
• cottage cheese;
• white meat;
• nuts, especially walnuts;
• dark chocolate, honey (do not overuse them);
• fatty fish;
• ginger.

Memory decline with age

With age, the neurons responsible for memory levels begin to age. In order for the brain to work actively, it needs to be saturated with oxygen. How to improve memory in old age? Walk more fresh air. In addition, a sedentary and sedentary lifestyle negatively affects the blood supply to brain cells and leads to oxygen starvation, so a little physical activity will only be beneficial.

Memory impairment in a teenager

A student’s poor memory has a negative impact on the learning process and academic performance. How to improve a teenager's memory:

• learn poetry;
• write school summaries and retell literature read;
• do memory training (mentioned above);
• take vitamins.

One of the common causes of poor memory in adolescents is memorization (“cramming”). Some schoolchildren try to learn formulas and rules without understanding, so having forgotten just one word, they cannot remember the whole sentence. We need to help him understand what he is learning, to attract his interest.

Try to bring interesting facts from the history of the subject being studied, examples from life, to show something clearly. Parents of such teenagers can be advised to “reward” them for good academic performance, thereby causing positive emotions from the learning process. But punishing, on the contrary, is not recommended; thus, the student develops lack of confidence in himself and his abilities and a reluctance to learn; it is better to help him understand the subject.

Conclusion

If you have memory problems, do not rush to get upset and give up. Improving the functioning of the brain is not so difficult. What to do to improve your memory? You just need to get enough sleep, eat right, exercise and be careful, and do special exercises.

Memory impairment in adolescents

Often, parents of teenagers begin to notice that their son or teenage daughter has begun to remember certain events worse, that they are poorly absorbing the material, and that previously excellent students at school are “slipping” into C grades... This phenomenon is called hypomnesia - memory loss or dysmnesia - memory disorders. Memory is a special property of a person, which is represented by a complex of special processes in the cerebral cortex, thanks to which previously learned information is remembered, stored and reproduced. Problems can occur at the memorization level, storage level, or all processes at the same time.

Memory impairments in adolescents have many causes, and parents are not always able to connect the events occurring with their child and subsequent impairments in memory. nervous system. A teenager is no longer quite a child; the demands placed on him have already expanded - both in school, at home, and among his peers. However, comparing it with an adult is also wrong - this is still an immature organism, the nervous connections are not fully formed and the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems is unstable.

Memory loss in a teenager that occurs suddenly and strongly requires mandatory consultation with a neurologist. The fact is that memory disorders can be symptoms mental illness, which fortunately is quite rare. Very common reasons memory disorders are head injuries - bruises, concussions, which require mandatory medical consultation and treatment.

In adolescents, especially lately, memory impairments that are associated with the use of various toxic substances - alcohol, nicotine or various psychotropic substances - have become more common. The company's influence is great. And even children from very decent families are not immune from this. Parents should always be aware of who their teenager is communicating with and what they are doing in their free time.

Most memory problems in adolescents arise due to a discrepancy between the loads placed on a teenager and his real capabilities. In addition, memory impairment can be caused by circulatory failure, a deficiency of certain substances in the diet during periods of active growth and hormonal changes in the body, and hypoxia (lack of oxygen).

Nerve cells experience enormous stress, especially during periods active activities teenager when he is preparing for exams, olympiads or increased demands are placed on him (special schools, additional classes). If there is not sufficient energy supply in the form of glucose from the diet and regular intake of vitamins and minerals, the functioning of some departments may be disrupted. First of all, the functions of the cerebral cortex suffer, since it is it that consumes greatest number nutrients for normal functioning. Namely, the cortex is responsible for memory.

Plus, a significant role is played by little exposure to air and chronic lack of sleep, because of this, the supply of oxygen to the body suffers and hypoxia develops, which generally affects the functioning of the brain. The teenager becomes drowsy, lethargic, has headaches, palpitations and blood pressure fluctuations. A decrease in the amount of active recreation and overstimulation of the cortex with unnecessary, unnecessary information from TV and the Internet have an effect. The process of memorization is significantly influenced by the situation - if a teenager learns lessons on a computer or with the TV on, his memory will suffer significantly. The brain simultaneously analyzes and remembers, creating associative connections, both necessary and simultaneously perceived extra sound and visual information.

How can you help your child?

First, there is no need to burden the child with a large number of additional activities - if these loads are excessive, all the information will not be able to be effectively absorbed and, instead of being useful, it will only do harm. The teenager will be upset that he cannot perceive and remember everything that is given to him, and this will lead to neuroses, which themselves reduce memory.

If possible, protect him from watching TV, sitting at the computer and aggressive computer games that overstimulate the nervous system. Provide him with active rest, enroll him in a sports section - changing areas of activity, alternating mental and physical stress has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the nervous system. try to monitor his diet - do not allow both overeating and starvation - girls are especially guilty of this when they care about their figure. food should be rich in vitamins and minerals, it should contain meat and vegetables and fruits. during periods of intense stress, metabolic complexes (Elcar, Lemontar, glycine) and vitamin and mineral preparations suitable for age will be useful.

Memory disorders: why memory becomes poor, normal and connection with diseases, treatment

Memory - important function our central nervous system perceives the information received and stores it in some invisible “cells” of the brain in reserve, in order to retrieve and use it in the future. Memory is one of the most important abilities of a person’s mental activity, therefore the slightest memory impairment weighs on him, he is knocked out of the usual rhythm of life, suffering himself and irritating those around him.

Memory impairment is most often perceived as one of the many clinical manifestations of some neuropsychic or neurological pathology, although in other cases forgetfulness, absent-mindedness and poor memory are the only signs of a disease, the development of which no one pays attention to, believing that a person is this way by nature .

The big mystery is human memory

Memory is a complex process that occurs in the central nervous system and involves the perception, accumulation, retention and reproduction of information received at different periods of time. We think most about the properties of our memory when we need to learn something new. The result of all the efforts made in the learning process depends on how someone manages to catch, hold, and perceive what they see, hear or read, which is important when choosing a profession. From a biological point of view, memory can be short-term and long-term.

Information received in passing or, as they say, “it went into one ear and out of the other” is short-term memory, in which what is seen and heard is postponed for several minutes, but, as a rule, without meaning or content. So, the episode flashed and disappeared. Short-term memory does not promise anything in advance, which is probably good, because otherwise a person would have to store all the information that he does not need at all.

However, with certain efforts by a person, information that has fallen into the zone of short-term memory, if you hold your gaze on it or listen and delve into it, will go into long-term storage. This also happens against a person’s will if certain episodes are often repeated, have special emotional significance, or for various reasons occupy a separate place among other phenomena.

When assessing their memory, some people claim that their memory is short-term, because everything is remembered, assimilated, retold in a couple of days, and then just as quickly forgotten. This often happens when preparing for exams, when information is put aside only for the purpose of reproducing it to decorate the grade book. It should be noted that in such cases, turning again to this topic when it becomes interesting, a person can easily restore seemingly lost knowledge. It’s one thing to know and forget, and another thing to not receive information. But here everything is simple - the acquired knowledge, without much human effort, was transformed into sections of long-term memory.

Long-term memory analyzes everything, structures it, creates volume and purposefully stores it for future use indefinitely. Everything is based on long-term memory. Memorization mechanisms are very complex, but we are so accustomed to them that we perceive them as natural and simple things. However, we note that for the successful implementation of the learning process, in addition to memory, it is important to have attention, that is, to be able to concentrate on the necessary objects.

It is common for a person to forget past events after some time if he does not periodically retrieve his knowledge in order to use it, so the inability to remember something should not always be attributed to a memory impairment. Each of us has experienced the feeling when “it’s spinning in our heads, but it doesn’t come to mind,” but this does not mean that serious disorders have occurred in our memory.

Why do memory lapses happen?

The causes of memory and attention impairment in adults and children may be different. If a child has a congenital mental retardation immediately problems with learning arise, then he will come to adulthood with these disorders. Children and adults can react differently to the environment: the child’s psyche is more delicate, so it endures stress more difficult. In addition, adults have long learned what a child is still trying to master.

It’s sad, but the trend towards using alcoholic drinks and drugs by teenagers, and even small children left without parental supervision, has become frightening: not so rarely recorded in reports law enforcement agencies and medical institutions cases of poisoning. But for a child’s brain, alcohol is a powerful poison that has an extremely negative effect on memory.

True, some pathological conditions that are often the cause of absent-mindedness and poor memory in adults are, as a rule, excluded in children (Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis).

Causes of memory impairment in children

Thus, the causes of memory and attention impairment in children can be considered:

• Lack of vitamins, anemia;
• Asthenia;
• Frequent viral infections;
• Traumatic brain injuries;
• Stressful situations (dysfunctional family, despotism of parents, problems in the team that the child attends);
• Poor eyesight;
• Brain tumors;
• Mental disorder;
• Poisoning, alcohol and drug use;
• Congenital pathology in which mental retardation is programmed (Down syndrome, etc.) or other (any) conditions (lack of vitamins or microelements, use of certain medications, changes in metabolic processes for the worse), contributing to the formation of attention deficit disorder, which, As you know, it does not improve memory.

Causes of problems in adults

In adults, the reason for poor memory, absent-mindedness and inability to concentrate for a long time are various diseases acquired during life:

Of course, anemia of various origins, lack of microelements, vegetative-vascular dystonia, diabetes mellitus and other numerous somatic pathology leads to impaired memory and attention, promotes forgetfulness and absent-mindedness.

What types of memory disorders are there? Among them are dysmnesia (hypermnesia, hypomnesia, amnesia) - changes in memory itself, and paramnesia - distortion of memories, to which the patient’s personal fantasies are added. By the way, others around them, on the contrary, consider some of them to be a phenomenal memory rather than a violation of it. True, experts may have a slightly different opinion on this matter.

Dysmnesia

Phenomenal memory or mental disorder?

Hypermnesia - with this disorder, people remember and perceive quickly; information put aside many years ago pops up in the memory for no reason, “rolls up”, returns to the past, which does not always evoke positive emotions. A person himself does not know why he needs to store everything in his head, but he can reproduce some long-past events down to the smallest detail. For example, an elderly person can easily describe in detail (down to the teacher’s clothes) individual lessons at school, retell the literary montage of a pioneer gathering, and it is not difficult for him to remember other details regarding his studies at the institute, professional activities, or family events.

Hypermnesia, present in a healthy person in the absence of other clinical manifestations, is not considered a disease; rather, on the contrary, this is precisely the case when they talk about phenomenal memory, although from the point of view of psychology, phenomenal memory is a slightly different phenomenon. People who have a similar phenomenon are able to remember and reproduce huge amounts of information that is not associated with any special meaning. These can be large numbers, sets individual words, lists of items, notes. Great writers, musicians, mathematicians and people in other professions that require genius abilities often have such a memory. Meanwhile, hypermnesia in a healthy person who does not belong to the cohort of geniuses, but has a high intelligence quotient (IQ), is not such a rare occurrence.

As one of the symptoms of pathological conditions, memory impairment in the form of hypermnesia occurs:

• For paroxysmal mental disorders (epilepsy);
• In case of intoxication with psychoactive substances (psychotropic drugs, narcotic drugs);
• In the case of hypomania - a condition similar to mania, but not reaching it in severity. Patients may experience increased energy, increased vitality, and increased ability to work. With hypomania, memory and attention impairments are often combined (disinhibition, instability, inability to concentrate).

Obviously, only a specialist can understand such subtleties and differentiate between normal and pathological conditions. The majority of us are average representatives of the human population, to whom “nothing human is alien,” but at the same time they do not change the world. Geniuses appear periodically (not every year and not in every locality), but they are not always immediately noticeable, because such individuals are often considered simply eccentrics. And finally (maybe not often?) among various pathological conditions there are mental illnesses that require correction and complex treatment.

Bad memory

Hypomnesia - this type is usually expressed in two words: “poor memory.”

Forgetfulness, absent-mindedness and poor memory are observed in asthenic syndrome, which, in addition to memory problems, is characterized by other symptoms:

Asthenic syndrome, as a rule, is formed by another pathology, for example:

• Arterial hypertension.
• Previous traumatic brain injury (TBI).
• Atherosclerotic process.
• The initial stage of schizophrenia.

The cause of memory and attention impairments of the hypomnesia type can be various depressive states (there are too many to count), menopausal syndrome occurring with adaptation disorder, organic brain damage (severe head injury, epilepsy, tumors). In such situations, as a rule, in addition to hypomnesia, the symptoms listed above are also present.

“I remember here, I don’t remember here”

With amnesia, not the entire memory is lost, but individual fragments of it. As an example of this type of amnesia, I would like to recall the film by Alexander Sery “Gentlemen of Fortune” - “Here I remember - here I don’t remember.”

However, not all amnesia looks like in the famous movie; there are more serious cases when memory is lost significantly and for a long time or forever, therefore among such memory disorders (amnesia) there are several types:

1. Dissociative amnesia erases events that caused psychological trauma from memory. Severe stress causes a defensive reaction in the body, and it tries to hide away situations that a person cannot survive on his own. These events can only be retrieved from the depths of the unconscious using special methods (hypnosis);
2. Retrograde amnesia - a person forgets what happened before the injury (most often this happens after a head injury) - the patient came to his senses, but does not remember who he is and what happened to him;
3. Anterograde amnesia – before the injury (TBI or severe psychotraumatic situation) everything is remembered, but after the injury – failure;
4. Fixation amnesia – poor memory for current events (a person forgets what happened today);
5. Total amnesia - all information leaves memory, including information about one’s own “I”.

A special type of memory loss that cannot be controlled is progressive amnesia, which is a sequential loss of memory from the present to the past. The cause of memory destruction in such cases is organic atrophy of the brain, which occurs in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Such patients poorly reproduce traces of memory (speech disorders), for example, they forget the names of household objects that they use every day (a plate, a chair, a clock), but at the same time they know what they are intended for (amnestic aphasia). In other cases, the patient simply does not recognize the thing (sensory aphasia) or does not know what it is for (semantic aphasia). One should not, however, confuse the habits of “zealous” owners to find a use for everything that is in the house, even if it is intended for completely different purposes (from an old kitchen clock in the form of a plate, you can make a beautiful dish or stand).

You have to invent something like this!

Paramnesia (distortion of memories) is also classified as a memory disorder, and among them the following types are distinguished:

• Confabulation, in which fragments of one’s own memory disappear, and their place is taken by stories invented by the patient and presented to him “in all seriousness,” since he himself believes in what he is talking about. Patients talk about their exploits, unprecedented achievements in life and work, and even sometimes about crimes.
• Pseudo-reminiscence is the replacement of one memory with another event that actually took place in the patient’s life, only at a completely different time and under different circumstances (Korsakov’s syndrome).
• Cryptomnesia, when patients, having received information from various sources (books, movies, stories of other people), pass it off as events they themselves experienced. In a word, sick people pathological changes They resort to involuntary plagiarism, which is characteristic of delusional ideas found in organic disorders.
• Echomnesia - a person feels (quite sincerely) that this event has already happened to him (or saw it in a dream?). Of course, similar thoughts sometimes visit a healthy person, but the difference is that patients attach special significance to such phenomena (“get hung up”), while healthy people simply quickly forget about it.
• Polympsest - this symptom exists in two versions: short-term memory lapses associated with pathological alcohol intoxication (episodes of the past day are confused with long-past events), and a combination of the two various events one period of time, in the end, the patient himself does not know what really happened.

As a rule, these symptoms in pathological conditions are accompanied by other clinical manifestations, therefore, if you notice signs of “déjà vu”, there is no need to rush to make a diagnosis - this also happens in healthy people.

Decreased concentration affects memory

Impaired memory and attention, loss of the ability to focus on specific objects include the following pathological conditions:

1. Instability of attention - a person is constantly distracted, jumps from one object to another (disinhibition syndrome in children, hypomania, hebephrenia - mental disorder, developing as a form of schizophrenia in adolescence);
2. Rigidity (slowness of switching) from one topic to another - this symptom is very characteristic of epilepsy (those who communicate with such people know that the patient is constantly “stuck”, which makes it difficult to conduct a dialogue);
3. Insufficient concentration of attention - they say about such people: “That absent-minded person from Basseynaya Street!” That is, absent-mindedness and poor memory in such cases are often perceived as features of temperament and behavior, which, in principle, is often true.

Undoubtedly, a decrease in concentration, in particular, will negatively affect the entire process of memorizing and storing information, that is, on the state of memory in general.

Children forget faster

As for children, all these gross, permanent memory impairments, characteristic of adults and especially the elderly, are very rarely observed in childhood. Memory problems that arise due to congenital characteristics require correction and, with a skillful approach (as far as possible), may recede a little. There are many cases where the efforts of parents and teachers literally worked wonders for Down syndrome and other types of congenital mental retardation, but here the approach is individual and dependent on various circumstances.

It’s another matter if the baby was born healthy, and the problems appeared as a result of the troubles suffered. So you can expect a child to have a slightly different reaction to different situations:

• Amnesia in children in most cases is manifested by memory lapses in relation to individual memories of episodes that took place during the period of clouding of consciousness associated with unpleasant events (poisoning, coma, trauma) - it is not for nothing that they say that children quickly forget;
• Alcoholization in adolescence also does not proceed in the same way as in adults - the absence of memories (polympsests) for events that occur during intoxication appears already in the first stages of drunkenness, without waiting for a diagnosis (alcoholism);
• Retrograde amnesia in children, as a rule, affects a short period of time before injury or illness, and its severity is not as clear as in adults, that is, memory loss in a child cannot always be noticed.

Most often, children and adolescents experience memory impairment of the dysmnesia type, which is manifested by a weakening of the ability to remember, store (retention) and reproduce (reproduction) received information. Disorders of this type are more noticeable in school-age children, as they affect school performance, adaptation in a team, and behavior in everyday life.

For children attending nurseries preschool institutions, symptoms of dysmnesia are problems with memorizing rhymes and songs, children cannot participate in children's matinees and holidays. Despite the fact that kindergarten The baby visits constantly, every time he comes there, he cannot independently find his locker to change clothes; among other items (toys, clothes, a towel) he has difficulty finding his own. Dysmnestic disorders are also noticeable in the home environment: the child cannot tell what happened in the garden, forgets the names of other children, read fairy tales every time as if he was hearing them for the first time, does not remember the names of the main characters.

Transient disturbances of memory and attention, along with fatigue, drowsiness and all sorts of autonomic disorders, are often observed in schoolchildren with cerebrasthenic syndrome of various etiologies.

Before treatment

Before you begin to treat the symptoms of memory impairment, you need to make a correct diagnosis and find out what is causing the patient's problems. To do this you need to get: more information about his health:

1. What diseases does he suffer from? It may be possible to trace the connection between the existing pathology (or suffered in the past) with the deterioration intellectual abilities;
2. Does he have a pathology that directly leads to memory impairment: dementia, cerebral vascular insufficiency, TBI (history), chronic alcoholism, drug violations?
3. What medications is the patient taking and is memory impairment associated with the use of medications? Individual groups pharmaceuticals, such as benzodiazepines side effects have similar disorders, which, however, are reversible.

In addition, in the process diagnostic search A biochemical blood test can be very useful, allowing one to identify metabolic disorders, hormonal imbalances, and deficiencies of microelements and vitamins.

In most cases, when searching for the causes of memory loss, they resort to neuroimaging methods (CT, MRI, EEG, PET, etc.), which help to detect a brain tumor or hydrocephalus and, at the same time, differentiate vascular lesions of the brain from degenerative ones.

There is a need for neuroimaging methods also because memory impairment at first may be the only symptom of a serious pathology. Unfortunately, the greatest difficulties in diagnosis are presented by depressive conditions, which in other cases force one to prescribe a trial antidepressant treatment (to find out whether there is depression or not).

Treatment and correction

The normal aging process itself involves a slight decrease in intellectual abilities: forgetfulness appears, memorization is not so easy, concentration of attention decreases, especially if the neck is “pinched” or blood pressure rises, however, such symptoms do not significantly affect the quality of life and behavior at home . Older people who adequately assess their age learn to remind themselves (and quickly remember) about current affairs.

In addition, many people do not neglect treatment with pharmaceuticals to improve memory.

There are now a number of drugs that can improve brain function and even help with tasks that require significant intellectual effort. First of all, these are nootropics (piracetam, fezam, vinpocetine, cerebrolysin, cinnarizine, etc.).

Nootropics are indicated for older people who have certain age problems, which are not yet noticeable to others. Drugs in this group are suitable for improving memory in cases of cerebral circulation disorders caused by other pathological conditions of the brain and vascular system. By the way, many of these drugs are successfully used in pediatric practice.

However, nootropics are a symptomatic treatment, and to get the desired effect you need to strive for etiotropic treatment.

As for Alzheimer's disease, tumors, and mental disorders, the approach to treatment should be very specific - depending on the pathological changes and the reasons that led to them. There is no single recipe for all cases, so there is nothing to advise patients. You just need to contact a doctor, who, perhaps, before prescribing drugs to improve memory, will send you for additional examination.

Correction of mental disorders is also difficult in adults. Patients with poor memory, under the supervision of an instructor, memorize poems, solve crossword puzzles, and practice solving logical problems, however, training, while bringing some success (the severity of mnestic disorders seems to have decreased), still does not give particularly significant results.

Correction of memory and attention in children, in addition to treatment with various groups of pharmaceutical drugs, includes classes with a psychologist, exercises for memory development (poems, drawings, tasks). Of course, the child’s psyche is more mobile and better amenable to correction, unlike the adult psyche. Children have the prospect of progressive development, while older people only experience the opposite effect.

Question for a neuropsychologist: a teenager has poor memory

G.R. children: 1994, 2000

Now he goes to exercise therapy every day except Thursday, and to the pool 2 times a week.

Problems with memory and attention since early childhood. However, he concentrates on what interests him for about 2 hours (with a short break).

So, I went to aircraft modeling for 3 years, the coach sent me home after 2 hours of classes, because Vanya began to “go stupid” and interfere with other children. However, I spent these 2 hours with pleasure and did very painstaking work.

When studying new topics (especially languages), he forgets the material he has covered and learned and has to return to it all the time. The situation with mathematics is a little better, but not much - he forgets what he has learned.

Biology, physics, chemistry are better. He doesn’t read at all and can only be forced through a scandal.

I had hyperactivity and attention deficit throughout elementary school, and as a result, I was transferred to home schooling (I still can’t concentrate in class; September was spent in the classroom and many of the class brought home empty notebooks). The hyperactivity went away a couple of years ago. The lessons do everything to me, he says that he cannot concentrate on the text. When I read biology, he answers questions at the end of the paragraph, when he reads it himself, he says that he did not understand anything. the europathologist says that as a result labor activity symmetry is broken - his right shoulder is higher than his left, in short right leg, at the command to stick out the tongue, the sticking out tongue also looks to the right.

G.R. children: 1994, 2000

In cases where the child regularly experiences difficulties when working with educational material, an important part of learning is the formation of positive motivation through increasing the child’s self-confidence. You cannot set big tasks for him right away. You can, for example, ask him how much he can do on his own. You can go to the point of absurdity: “Can you read one line yourself, write one word?” Let him do at least some part on his own and without the feeling that it is too much and overwhelming work. Let him be convinced that he can do at least something himself, without the help of an adult. Gradually, the amount of independent work can be increased and be sure to celebrate the child’s successes in this field.