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Memory Booster Guide for Teachers, Parents and Professionals GTPP 1_06 of 31

by

Rik Leedale, Chris Singleton and Kevin Thomas

Welcome to the Memory Booster

Guide for Teachers, Parents and Professionals

First Edition - Revised

This document is divided into the following five main sections. Click on the links below to go to the section that you wish to read. Tip – remember to use the ‘back’ button to return to where you previously left.

CONTENTS

Installing and running Memory Booster

Quick Guide to Using Memory Booster

Memory Booster in detail

Getting the most from your memory and Memory Booster

Note for U.S. users:

‘Primary school’ = ‘Elementary school’.

‘Secondary school’ = ‘Senior / High school’


Memory Booster

Guide for Teachers, Parents and Professionals

First Edition

Copyright © Lucid Innovations Limited 2004

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews or criticism, or the copying of short extracts for bona fide training or demonstrations, or where expressly

provided for in this Guide, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Lucid Innovations Limited.

Memory Booster is the exclusive World Copyright of Lucid Innovations Limited. Any attempts to copy, modify, adapt, translate or create derivative works based on this

Software or otherwise to infringe copyright of Lucid Innovations Limited will be pursued to the utmost in the Courts of Law.

Licensed for sale and reproduction to

Lucid Research Ltd, 3 Spencer Street, BEVERLEY, East Yorkshire, HU17 9EL, UK

www.lucid-research.com

www.memory-booster.com


CONTENTS

CONTENTS 3

INTRODUCING MEMORY BOOSTER 5

INSTALLING AND RUNNING MEMORY BOOSTER 6

TO INSTALL MEMORY BOOSTER 6 TO RUN MEMORY BOOSTER 6

QUICK GUIDE TO USING MEMORY BOOSTER 7

REGISTER PLAYER DETAILS 7 KEEP OR CHANGE THE START-UP SETTINGS 7 READ THIS GUIDE 8 START THE MISSION 8

Progressing using the standard or default settings 8 Level 1 of Memory Booster 8 Level 2 10 Level 3 10 The levels get harder – up to level 6 10 Completing a mission 11

MEMORY BOOSTER IN DETAIL 12

FIRST, SOME DEFINITIONS 12 Who is Pooter? 12 Who is Fiona? 12 Training Room 12 Waiting Room 12 What is a task? 13 What is a task object? 13 What is a level? 13 What is a sublevel? 13

CHANGING THE PROGRAM SETTINGS 14 THE SETTINGS PAGE 14

1) Mission Types 14 2) Tasks per sublevel 16 3) Timeout period 16 4) Delay Time 16

WAITING ROOM 17 What is in the Waiting Room? 17

SCORES AND REWARDS IN MEMORY BOOSTER 19 Scoring 20 Cartoons 21 Certificates 21

HOW TO DELETE PLAYERS OR EXIT FROM MEMORY BOOSTER 22 Deleting players with their results 22 How to exit from Memory Booster 22

GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR MEMORY AND MEMORY BOOSTER 23

HOW DOES MEMORY WORK? 23 What is memory? 23 Why do we forget some things? 23 Why do some people have better memory than other people? 24 How can memory be improved? 24


USING MEMORY BOOSTER AT SCHOOL, HOME AND IN THE COMMUNITY 25 How does Memory Booster work? 25 Why is Memory Booster especially useful in the primary school? 25 About the strategies in Memory Booster 26 Some suggestions for classroom organisation when using Memory Booster 26 Adapting Memory Booster to individual learning needs 27 Checking the child’s progress 28 Using Memory Booster with children who have special educational needs 29 Children with dyslexia 30 Additional hints on using Memory Booster at home 30 Further advice and information 31

To get the most from the Memory Booster program we strongly recommend that you read this guide and regularly check the Memory Booster website (www.memory-booster.com) for updated information and advice.


Introducing Memory Booster

In today’s increasingly complex world there are so many situations and occasions when children need to remember things – information, instructions, learning things for tests and exams, lists of things to do during the day.

Memory Booster is a NEW and exciting approach to helping children improve their memory skills, requiring very little teacher, parental or professional guidance.

Memory Booster is an adventure game set in Pooter’s castle. Pooter the Master Computer has lost his memory and needs help from the child to recover it. By playing memory games children not only help Pooter to get back to his old self again but score points and also earn the chance to watch Pooter’s favourite cartoons! During the ‘mission’ the player is guided on the use of different memory strategies, with useful examples, by Pooter’s friendly helper Fiona.

The program presents children with enjoyable tasks which require them to use their memory to the full. Children are taught different memory strategies throughout the game and when practised regularly they can help children gain valuable skills and techniques to help them remember things better throughout their lives.

At any time during the mission the child can go to the Waiting Room, where scores can be viewed, the Memory Strategies can be seen again or a personalised certificate with the player’s name and scores can be printed out!

Scores are saved automatically and the mission can be resumed at a later time.


Installing and running Memory Booster

To install Memory Booster Please note that ‘autorun’ has not been enabled which means that Memory Booster does not install automatically when you put the CD in the drive. This is because the game requires the CD in the drive each time you run it and if autorun was enabled then the software would attempt to install every time you inserted the CD (run the game).

You install Memory Booster onto your computer’s hard drive by running the file called setup on the CD (its full file name is setup.exe). You can so this by one of the following two methods:

1) Open Windows ® Explorer and double-click on the file called setup (or setup.exe) on the CD.

2) Alternatively, click on the Start button (Figure 1), select the Run option and type D:\setup (Figure 2) where ‘D’ is the letter that represents your CD or DVD drive that the CD is in.

Figure 1 Run option Figure 2 Execute ‘setup.exe’

Once you click on ‘OK’ simply follow the on-screen instructions as Memory Booster is installed onto your computer. After Memory Booster has been installed you should see an icon on the computer desktop similar to the one in Figure 3.

To run Memory Booster

To run Memory Booster double click on the Memory Booster icon.

You can also run Memory Booster by selecting Start and then Programs and choose the Memory Booster from the program list.

Figure 3 Memory Booster icon


Quick Guide to Using Memory Booster

Although you can use Memory Booster straight away and without altering any of the program settings (or appreciating the purpose of these settings), we do recommend that you have a go with the program yourself so that you can gain a good understanding of how it works. In addition to this we also recommend that you experiment and familiarise yourself with the setting options so that you can then make suitable refinements and adjustments in order to maximise the benefits to all individuals no matter what their learning styles or abilities are.

Register player details The first time you start Memory Booster you will see a screen similar to the one in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Start or restart mission

Figure 5 Enter the player’s name

Select the yellow button to start a new mission. The red button will be disabled on the first occasion and will only become available once you have started a mission. You are then required to enter the player’s name (Figure 5) followed by their age (not shown here). After confirming that these two details are correct you will see the screen shown in Figure 6.

Keep or change the start-up settings At this point you have the opportunity to alter the settings for each new mission. You do this by clicking on the Settings button which takes you to the Settings Page (shown in Figure 18). From there you can alter the game difficulty and the way tasks are presented to the player.

Please note that two of the settings, namely the ‘mission type’ and the ‘tasks per sublevel’, can only be altered at this point in a game. Whereas the remaining settings can be altered at any other time.

Figure 6 Settings button on start-up

Memory Booster has been designed to be effective for all players using the standard or default settings. However, some individual players may obtain even


more benefit when the settings have been adjusted to suit their particular learning style or need. The default Mission is set to type A (see 1) Mission Types) and the default number of ‘tasks per sublevel’ is set to 1 (see 2) Tasks per sublevel). See the section Changing the program settings for details about what the settings do.

Read this guide By clicking on the Guide button you will open this document that you are now reading.

Start the mission Select the blue button marked Play at the foot of the screen (Figure 6) to start the mission.

After seeing the introductory story showing Pooter’s castle, the player is taken to the dungeon and is introduced to Pooter (Figure 7), who isn’t feeling well!

Figure 7 Pooter in the dungeon Figure 8 Fiona

After seeing Pooter for the first time, the player is then introduced to Fiona (Figure 8) who explains how they can help Pooter.

There are three parts to helping Pooter and thereby completing a mission. 1) help to improve Pooter’s memory by obtaining some memory chips for him; 2) help to improve Pooter’s appearance by obtaining a graphics card; and 3) cure Pooter of a virus by obtaining some anti-virus software. The player achieves each of these goals by completing the memory tasks that the Memory Booster software delivers.

But before the memory tasks begin, Fiona explains the first of four key memory strategies that are used in Memory Booster (see section About the strategies in Memory Booster).

Progressing using the standard or default settings

The following descriptions of completing each level and thereby the whole mission will assume that the standard or default settings will be used. For more advanced use of Memory Booster you can see the sections Memory Booster in detail and Getting the most from your memory and Memory Booster.

Level 1 of Memory Booster

Each mission starts at level 1 (What is a level?) where the player is required to remember one object (the target object). The player is shown the memory task screen (a bank of computer monitors as illustrated in Figure 9) and a voice says the name of an object that the player must remember, for example a “red chair”. After a delay (the duration of which can be altered see 4) Delay Time) at least two pictures are shown on any of the randomly selected monitors (Figure 10). The player should then click on the target object, a ‘red chair’ in this case.


Figure 9 Basic memory task screen

Figure 10 Task items

If the player chooses correctly, a green bulb lights up, a score is added and the next memory task is presented. To complete level 1 all twelve green bulbs must be lit.

(NB - Each bulb represents a different sublevel and you can find out about sublevels in section What is a sublevel?. Also, the number of goes or ‘tasks per sublevel’ can be varied from 1 to 3 – see 2) Tasks per sublevel. Setting this to 2 (or 3) rather than the default of 1, means that the player has to make 2 (or 3) correct responses before each green bulb is lit. In this way the player gets more practice at a given difficulty before moving on to harder items – but they will obviously have to do more tasks to complete a level.)

As the player progresses the number of distractor objects shown increases (a ‘distractor object’ is a non-target object i.e. the object that the player shouldn’t choose). Distractor objects can be quite different from, or very similar to, the target object. The more similar the distractor object is to the target object the harder the memory task is. These factors make the memory tasks progressively harder as the player moves up through each level.

After all the twelve green lights are lit the player receives a bonus score, and when on Mission type setting A and C the player is taken to the Secret Room (Figure 11) where a box of memory chips will be found to help Pooter improve his memory. (Mission type B is harder and if the player is performing at a high enough level of accuracy they will not be taken to Pooter’s room this early on in the mission (see Mission Type B).

Figure 11 The Secret Room and memory box

Afterwards, the player goes back to the dungeon where a delighted Pooter gives the player two golden coins which allow the player to select and watch two funny cartoons of their choice (Figure 12).

Pooter then asks the player to start the second part of the mission. Namely, to help him obtain a new graphics booster card that will allow him to look more handsome! Fiona reappears and presents the second memory strategy (Figure 13).


Figure 12 Select a cartoon to watch

Figure 13 Fiona and the second memory strategy

Level 2

The player will continue at level 2 where they are required to remember two objects. Again, as the green bulbs get lit the number of picture variations and other distractor pictures also increase, making each task a little harder.

At the end of level two Pooter gets his much-needed graphics upgrade, and gives the player another 3 golden coins which can be used to watch 3 more cartoons. The player does not have to use up the coins immediately but can save them to spend on viewing cartoons later.

The third and last part of the mission will now commence. Pooter proceeds to catch a nasty virus and needs the player to help with this. Fiona shows the player the third memory strategy, and for Mission types A or C the third and final level 3 is commenced.

Level 3

On level 3 the player is required to remember three objects each time.

After level three has been successfully completed a delighted Pooter presents the player with four gold coins which allow another four cartoons to be viewed.

The levels get harder – up to level 6

As the player goes through the mission they will be given progressively harder memory tasks. Figure 14 shows an example of a task at level 2 where the player has been asked to remember and identify “a red and white bus” and a “a blue balloon”. You can see that the distractor objects make the task harder because some are especially confusable with the target objects – two blue balloons being highly confusable with “a blue balloon” and the white bus being highly confusable with the “red and white bus”.

Memory Booster can be made easier or harder. One of the simplest ways to alter the difficulty is to alter the Mission type but there are other ways (see the section Changing the program settings). Mission type C means that the player has to only make twelve responses, irrespective of accuracy, in order to complete a level and complete the mission. Mission type C is a special facility designed to allow the child with greater learning needs to complete the mission successfully.

Mission type B is a more automated and adaptive version that allows players to progress to the highest possible levels. This setting can deliver the hardest memory tasks of all. However, the difficulty of the tasks presented be adjusted to suit how each player is performing and the program will take them to levels that are appropriate to their ability. Mission type B can allow players to go right up to level 6 but it is expected that very few people indeed will actually go this far; without cheating!


Level 6

Level 6 means that the player is required to remember six objects. The most difficult task at this level occurs when the player is asked to select the six target objects from amongst fourteen confusable distractor objects (twenty objects in total) filling a 5x4 monitor bank, as shown in Figure 15.

Figure 14 A 3x3 monitor bank with 5 objects

Figure 15 A 5x4 monitor bank task screen

Completing a mission

Having completed the mission the player can go back to the ‘Waiting Room’ to see and print out a certificate showing their achievement! Please note that you do not have to wait until a mission has been completed in order to see progress reports or the certificate. Rather, reports and the certificate can be viewed and printed at any stage in the mission. The player’s certificate shows their scores and levels achieved, and can be printed out in normal ‘parchment’ (scroll) style or an ink saver style.

Figure 16 An example certificate

In order to gain the most from using Memory Booster we recommend that you also read the Memory Booster in detail and Getting the most from your memory and Memory Booster.


Memory Booster in detail

First, some definitions

Who is Pooter?

Pooter is a lovable character who is a computer and features the voice of Brian Blessed. (Pooter can be seen in Figure 7.) He introduces the game to the player and although he is always friendly he believes that he is the most powerful computer in the universe and that he knows everything. However, upon first meeting him we see that in fact he is not so all knowing and does make some obvious mistakes. Pooter now needs the player’s help in order to make him good once again. Pooter requires the player to get three items that will upgrade Pooter to his former grand self.

Who is Fiona?

Fiona is the young woman in the program, and is there to help the player complete the tasks that will in turn help Pooter. (Fiona can be seen in Figure 8.) She demonstrates the different memory strategies and techniques encouraged by Memory Booster. She will appear just after the player has helped Pooter to obtain one of his upgrades and just before the start of the next level.

If the player is doing a mission which only has three levels (ie on Mission Types A or C) the fourth memory strategy will not be automatically introduced during the mission. However, the player can still watch the fourth memory strategy by going to the Training Room and selecting ‘Strategy 4’ (Figure 17). For Mission Type B Fiona introduces strategies at different points depending on how well the player is doing (see 1) Mission Types).

Training Room

The Training Room allows the player to replay any of the strategies that Fiona has introduced or play others not yet introduced. There are four strategies and these can be replayed as helpful reminders at any time. Go to the Training Room by selecting the “Strategies” button from the Waiting Room, and then selecting any of the four ‘Strategy’ buttons (figure 15).

Figure 17 Strategy 4

Waiting Room

In the Waiting Room the player or administrator can access other aspects of the program. The Waiting Room is explained in more detail in the section Waiting Room.


What is a task?

The tasks are the memory tasks themselves and these form the core opportunities for the players to practice, exercise and develop their memory skills, strategies and techniques.

At level 1, a task could be as simple as being asked to remember and find, say, a cow (the target or target object). On the task screen (Figure 9), the nine blank computer screens gradually fade in and a picture of a cow appears (the target object) along with other pictures (the distractor objects). The task is for the player to click on the cow and when they have made their choice (response), this single task has been completed.

At level 2, the player is asked to remember and find 2 objects. After the delay time the objects (the target objects and the distractor objects) appear in the monitors on the task screen and the player has to select both of the target objects (in any order). This is also a single task.

In a similar way a single task can be described at levels 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The default setting of 1 for ‘tasks per sublevel’ (see 2) Tasks per sublevel) means that for missions A or B the player is required to correctly answer 12 tasks in order to complete each level. (On mission Type B setting the player only has to make 12 responses, whether correct or incorrect, in order to complete a level.)

However, the number of ‘tasks per sublevel’ can be altered from 1 to 2 or 3. And when set to 3 it means that the player will be required to make 36 correct responses in order to complete a level i.e. 3 correct responses per sublevel.

What is a task object?

An object in this context is the thing, or object, that the program is asking the player to remember and identify. During each task the player will be required to identify the object, or picture, that they were asked to remember. They will have to identify this ‘target object’ from other non-target or ‘distractor objects’ that will also be shown.

At level 1 the player will be asked to remember and identify one target object. At level 2 the player is required to remember and identify two target objects and so on up to level 6 where the player is asked to remember and identify six target objects.

What is a level?

Each level directly represents the number of objects the player is required to remember. So in level 1 the player is required to remember and select one object from amongst the distractor objects. For level 2 the player is required to remember and select two objects from amongst the distractor objects, and so on up to level 6 where the player is required to remember six target objects.

What is a sublevel?

There are 12 sublevels to each level (except for level 6 where there are just 10). The number of memory tasks required to be accurately completed at each sublevel can be set from 1 to 3 – the default is set to 1 memory task per sublevel. Sublevels start easier but get progressively harder as the player is presented with more variations of the targets and more distractor items. For example, if the target item is a blue ball, different coloured balls (or more than


one blue ball) may be shown in adjacent slots. The number of other unrelated distractor items also increases.

Changing the program settings

You can set the way Memory Booster operates either before a mission starts or during a mission. Please note that some settings can only be altered before a mission is commenced. The settings can be used to make the mission either easier (for those who are finding it a little too hard) or harder (for those who need more of a challenge). Memory Booster is very flexible and changes are be made by way of the Settings Page (Figure 18) which allow you to adapt the mission for a particular player’s needs.

Figure 18 Settings Page on start up

To configure the settings prior to starting a mission simply go to the Settings Page just after you have entered the name and age of the new player (see Figure 6). If you do this at this stage you will be able to alter the ‘Mission type’, the ‘tasks per sublevel’, the ‘Timeout period’ and the ‘Delay time’ (see below). If you wish to alter the settings after you have commenced a mission you will only be able to alter the ‘Timeout period’ and the ‘Delay time’. You can do this by visiting Settings Page by way of the Waiting Room (see Waiting Room).

The Settings Page There are four parameters that can be altered on the Settings Page and these are described in detail below:

1) Mission Types

Once you set a ‘mission type’ (choose a mission to play) for each player you cannot change it during that mission. But if, after completing a mission, the child wants to attempt a new mission they can do so and the new mission can be of a different type. If you wish a player to try a different ‘mission type’ before they complete a current mission then you can register their name and age again so that a new mission can be set for them. (There are spaces for up to 28 missions in Memory Booster). Missions can be overwritten when all spaces are filled.

A mission is completed when the player has helped Pooter obtain all three things that he requests, namely some Memory Chips, a Graphics Booster Card and Antivirus software. Players start or continue as many missions as they wish.

Mission Type A

This is the standard (default) setting which will determine a player’s mission unless it is changed before beginning the mission; that is just after entering or registering the child’s name and age.


Only the first three game levels can be played on Mission Type A and after each level the player will visit Pooter, who offers his thanks and the opportunity to view some of his funny cartoons. The fourth memory strategy will not be introduced to the player during the mission as this normally happens beyond level 3. However the fourth strategy can still be learned by going to the Training Room and selecting it there.

Mission Type B

This is the hardest setting which may suit an ambitious child or one with a very good memory (or good memory skills) or one who has found his or her first mission relatively easy and wants a greater challenge.

The aim for the Mission Type B setting is to provide a more automated and adaptive way to stretch players of a wide ability range. This setting adjusts the difficulty level automatically depending on how well the player is actually doing during the mission itself. Here it is possible for a player to reach level six where he or she is required to remember and identify six images. Not only will the player be allowed to progress further to harder levels, but the actual ‘delay time’ automatically increases as he or she demonstrates a high level of accuracy (meaning the player has to hold the information longer in their ‘short term’ and ‘working’ memory in addition to being required to remember a greater amount of information).

If the player is performing at a high level (in this context meaning at least 75% of all attempts at a given level are correct) then he or she will have to complete two adjacent levels before seeing the Pooter reward. If the player reaches the end of a level with less than 75% accuracy then he or she will meet Pooter immediately and before going to the next level. After seeing Pooter the player then has the opportunity to play the cartoons if he/she wishes.

The complete mission will end when the player has helped Pooter to obtain his three items: (i) the memory chips; (ii) the graphics card; and (iii) the antivirus software. How many levels the player gets presented varies depending on how accurate they have been. Players who are finding the tasks more difficult (making more errors) will see Pooter at an earlier and easier stage, whereas those more able players (making less errors) will be taken to harder levels before they receive the rewards. In this way it is expected that players of varying abilities will have equal opportunities to receive the same rewards and also to be able to complete their own mission. Therefore the number of levels required in order to complete Mission Type B will vary from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 6 depending on how accurately they are completing their mission.

A further feature of Mission Type B is that the Delay time (i.e. the duration between when the player has heard all of the names and the time when they can respond) varies according to the performance of the player. Initially, the default setting for this is 5 seconds, but if the player is doing well, the delay time will automatically increase making the task a little harder (the player has to keep them in their short-term memory for a longer period of time). On the other hand, if the player is not doing so well, the delay time will decrease making the task a little easier. In this way Memory Booster aims to give the player just the right amount of challenge to encourage their learning.

Although most of the settings in Mission Type B are automatically set it is possible to vary the amount of practice required at each sublevel. You can do this by determining the number of ‘tasks per sublevel’ (see 2) Tasks per sublevel).


Mission Type C

This setting is intended for use where it is felt that a player should be rewarded even where their accuracy levels may be very low. Attempting Mission Type C means that a player will get to see and play the same rewards so long as they have made 12 attempts at remembering items irrespective of their accuracy.

Mission Type C is the easiest Mission to complete. Essentially it is similar to Mission Type A but does not depend on accuracy in order to receive the rewards. Even when a player gets items wrong, he or she still progresses up to the next sublevel and will see Pooter and his cartoons when the level has been completed. The system is not rewarding mistakes since no positive feedback is given to incorrect responses. Rather this setting allows the player to make enough progress so that they can play the same cartoons and help Pooter in the same way as other more able players. This setting could be used for children who would otherwise find Memory Booster hard and need extra encouragement, for example children with special educational needs or disabilites.

On Mission Type C you can also vary the difficulty by altering the ‘delay time’ (see 4) Delay Time). You cannot alter the number of ‘tasks per sublevel’.

2) Tasks per sublevel

This setting only applies to Mission Types A and B. Its default value is 1 though it can be changed to 2 or 3. It simply determines how many tasks the player must get correct before each of the twelve lights at the foot of the screen goes green indicating that this sublevel has been successfully completed. Once all the lights within a given level are green a bonus score is calculated and the child either sees Pooter or goes to the start of the next level. In a nutshell, if ‘tasks per sublevel’ has been changed to 3, the player will be required to make 36 correct responses before they can complete this particular level.

One way to think of this setting is that it could be regarded as a way to set the amount of practice that each player is required to do before they are allowed to move on to harder levels.

Note that the number of tasks per sublevel can only be altered before starting a mission; once a mission has commenced this feature is not available on the settings screen and therefore cannot be altered.

3) Timeout period

This is the time allowed for a player to attempt each task. It is the number of seconds elapsing between the pictures being shown on the task screen and the task being recorded as an incorrect or null response because the child didn’t click on the pictures in allocated time.

The timeout period has three settings (Longer, Medium and Shorter) but these are all typically around half a minute at level 1. However, as the levels increase then the timeout period shortens, so at level 3 the timeout periods are 16, 13 and 11.5 seconds respectively. The default setting is the ‘Longer’ one, but this can be altered to the ‘Medium’ or Shorter’ settings if required.

4) Delay Time

This represents the time elapsing between the child hearing the names of all the pictures that must be remembered, and the pictures coming into full view so they can be selected. This delay forces children to hold words in memory and so


encourages them to use the valuable memory strategies taught by Memory Booster throughout the mission. The default delay time is 5 seconds, but the teacher, parent or professional can alter this from 1 second (minimum) to 15 seconds (maximum) at any point in the game. In Missions A and C, this delay time remains constant through the game (unless manually altered). However, in Mission Type B, the computer will automatically alter the Delay time to maintain a high level of challenge for the child (see section Mission Type B).

For further advice on using the settings to adapt Memory Booster for children’s individual learning needs see section Adapting Memory Booster to individual learning needs.

Waiting Room

What is in the Waiting Room?

This room (Figure 20) has a menu board from which different features of the program can be reached. You can reach the Waiting Room from various parts of the program wherever the button showing the portrait of the ‘Laird of the Castle’ is shown.

Figure 19 Portrait button

Figure 20 Pooter’s Waiting Room

If a player has either started or finished a mission, he or she can go to the waiting room by starting Memory Booster, selecting the large red button marked ‘Carry on with last mission’ (Figure 4 page 7), choosing their name from the list and selecting OK (Figure 21). At this point the portrait button will be available to take the user to the Waiting Room (Figure 22). It is worth noting that names shown in red on the list (figure 19) represent players who have finished their mission and those in blue are players who haven’t yet.

Figure 21 Select name

Figure 22 Finished mission


You can also get to the waiting room whilst playing the memory tasks. After the pictures appear on the bank of monitors (Figure 10) the portrait button will appear at the bottom right of the screen.

The Waiting Room options

Scores

This button will take you to the scores page (Figure 23). After each level has been completed or when the player leaves Memory Booster by clicking on the End button in the Waiting Room, the player’s current session is saved onto the hard drive (no scores, data or information is saved to the CD). The session records the date, scores and other details about the mission. The bars on the Scores page show the scores achieved for a particular session.

Figure 23 Points scored results page

A player may have up to 20 sessions, which should give everyone enough opportunities to practice their skills and complete a mission. Different sessions do not have to be done on different days.

Levels

This takes you to the Levels achieved page (Figure 24). This shows how far through the mission a player has got without reference to their scores. A player on a Type A or C mission will only need to aim for the end of level 3, whereas a player on a Type B mission has the possibility of going as far as level 6 .

Figure 24 Level achieved results page

Settings

From the Settings Page (The Settings Page), the ‘Mission Type’, ‘tasks per sublevel’, ‘Timeout Period’ and ‘Delay Time’ can be set at the start of a new mission (Figure 6). However, once the mission has been started only the ‘Timeout Period’ and ‘Delay Time’ options are available for modification. These can be accessed from the waiting room at any time during a mission. If you wish to change the mission type or the number of tasks per sublevel you must do this before the mission starts (see section Changing the program settings).


Strategies

Here you can watch the four short movie clips where Fiona explains, with examples, the four Memory Strategies used in Memory Booster. These strategies are also introduced one by one before the start of each game level. See Figure 25.

Figure 25 Select strategy screen

Cartoons

If a player has one or more gold coins still ‘in the bank’ they can be used outside of the normal flow of the game to view Pooter’s cartoons. The cartoons vary in length but most last for just over a minute.

Figure 26 Select cartoon screen

Certificate

This button takes you to the page where a preview of the Certificate can be seen. (Figure 27). The player can select which character signs the certificate (Pooter, Fiona or Phibby the frog). You can enlarge the view of the certificate to see it in more detail by altering the zoom setting. If you uncheck the ‘Parchment’ tick box the certificate will be printed on plain white paper (without the image of parchment scroll).

Figure 27 Print certificate screen

By pressing the Copy button you can easily copy and paste (use Ctrl+V or your application’s menus) to paste the certificate to a different application such as a word processor, spreadsheet or a graphics program.

Guide

That is exactly what you are reading now! You can access this guide from several different places within Memory Booster.

Scores and rewards in Memory Booster Memory Booster has four main incentives to play: the pleasure in helping Pooter and seeing him improve; earning coins and playing the cartoons; seeing the


accumulation of points and scores; and a certificate of achievement signed by a character of their choice. You can view and print out the certificate at any point in the program. Memory Booster has been designed to provide positive encouragement wherever possible, to children of all abilities and this includes receiving an encouraging report and certificate.

Scoring

There are two types of scoring systems in Memory Booster. One is to see the actual points scored and the other is to see to what level the player has achieved.

Scores

Points are awarded in the following ways:

1. Upon successful completion of a task (remember there are between 12 and 36 correct task responses per level) 100 points are awarded.

2. Following three correct responses in a row, a mini bonus system will be activated. This awards between 50 and 300 points for each consecutive correct response including the original three that triggered the mini bonus. This mini bonus will only be added to the score at the point of a task being answered wrongly.

3. A mega bonus is added to the main score at the end of each level. On the default setting the mega bonus would be 600 points at level 1, 1200 at level 2, 1800 at level 3, 2400 at level 4, 3000 at level 5 and 3600 at level 6. Mega bonuses are based on 50 points per correct task. So the possible number of mega bonus points will be greater where the number of ‘tasks per sublevel’ (see 2) Tasks per sublevel) is set higher – meaning that you have to get more items correct before you can progress through the level.

A player completing a mission of Type A or C may achieve a final score of close to 15,000. An advanced player (Mission Type B) reaching the end of level 6 (no mean feat!) can expect a score closer to 150,000.

Levels

Memory Booster has a maximum of 6 levels, each with 12 sublevels apart from level 6 which has only 10. The number of pictures that the player is required to identify relates directly to the level that they are playing. So, if the player is at level 1 then Memory Booster will be asking them to identify one picture from a bank of distractor items. If the player is at level 2 they will be required to identify 2 pictures. This may sound easy at first but the task difficulty is not just a function of how many pictures the player is required to identify. Various other aspects within the program mean that the load on memory can actually be very demanding. As the sublevels within each level increase, more and more distractors are placed near the target item(s). For example, the target may be a small green frog; however there may also be a large green frog, a small brown frog and a small green frog sitting on a stone! There may also be other non-related distractors such as fruit, cars, flags and other things, some of which may also be green like the frog. The highest sublevel of Level 6, for example has 6 target items and 14 variation items, both related and different, and is at this point is placing a very high demand on memory. One way to succeed at this level is to develop and utilise an effective memory strategy – and that is the whole point of Memory Booster! In order to progress you will have to practice and develop your own memory techniques, mnemonics or other memory aids.


Whatever strategies the player utilises will benefit them in many other aspects of their life, including their education.

Cartoons

Although the memory tasks in Memory Booster are much more interesting and pleasing than conventional memory exercises, one of the most enjoyable parts for most players is watching Pooter’s cartoons! Players have earned the privilege of being able to play a cartoon and there is a wide range to choose from. Each cartoon is designed to be humorous and different cartoons will appeal to different players.

During missions of Type A or C the player meets Pooter at the end of each level and Pooter gives the player some gold coins which can either be hoarded or used immediately to watch the cartoons. At the completion of level 1 Pooter offers 2 coins, after level 2 he offers 3 coins and the final 4 coins are provided after level 3 (which means mission accomplished). There are nine coins and nine different cartoons but if the player likes a particular cartoon he or she can watch it more than once. See Figure 26.

In mission Type B (hard) the player may need to complete 2 levels instead of one before seeing Pooter and earning some gold coins. It all depends on how good they are! The better the player is the harder they have to work in order to get the coins.

If a player has completed a mission but as yet hasn’t spent their coins they can still come back to play the cartoons. They should go to Pooter’s Waiting Room and from there to Pooter’s cartoon room.

Certificates

A Memory Booster certificate can be viewed and printed out if your computer has a printer attached and working. It is normal to complete a mission before the certificate is printed but this is not necessary and judgement should be used to maximise encouragement for each player.

The printed certificate will look best if printed out in full colour with the ‘Parchment’ option selected (a tick shown in the box). If you wish save ink you can deselect the ‘Parchment’ option. You may also wish to print in grey scale rather than colour (depending on your printer’s options). See Figure 28.

Figure 28 An example certificate


How to delete players or exit from Memory Booster

Deleting players with their results

Memory Booster allows up to 28 players to register their names and undertake missions. For security reasons it is not possible to delete names within Memory Booster until all 28 name slots have been filled. When this has occurred a new player will not be able to Start a new mission by way of the big yellow button (figure 4) without first rubbing out someone else’s name. In this situation the new player will be taken to a screen where he or she can choose someone else’s name to be rubbed out and replaced with their own name. Parental or teacher supervision may be advisable in this event.

For the benefit of parents and teachers, a special utility program designed to delete players and their results can be found on the computer’s hard drive, having been installed along with the Memory Booster software. This utility has the file name MBAdmin.exe and is normally found in the folder path:

C:\Program Files\LucidResearch\MemoryBooster\

If you do wish to delete the names of one or more players from Memory Booster then please run this useful utility program - it is very easy to use, though choose with care those players you wish to erase as the process is irreversible!

How to exit from Memory Booster

Only one player may play Memory Booster at a time. To allow someone else to play, the first player must exit the program by either clicking on the yellow exit buttons found either at the top right of the screen in Pooter’s Waiting Room (figure 20) or near the bottom left on the main game screen (example, figure 10). Upon exiting, the player’s results will be safely saved into Memory Booster’s results database file (for the technically minded, the database has the file name KIDSRECORDS.DAT). For the second player to begin playing they should launch Memory Booster again by double-clicking on its desktop icon.


Getting the most from your memory and Memory Booster

How does memory work?

What is memory?

Memory is a complex activity of the brain that allows us to store information and retrieve it again when we need it. Humans have two distinct memory systems:

1) A system that keeps a record of our personal life experiences: this is usually called autobiographical memory.

2) A system that holds knowledge about the world: this is usually called semantic memory; unlike autobiographical memory we often have to make a conscious effort to store information in semantic memory.

Because these two memory systems work in slightly different ways, it is possible for one system to work better than the other. For example, a child might have a good autobiographical memory and remember in detail everything about a holiday, but a poor semantic memory so they easily forget things that need to be learned in school. Both memory systems can store information from all our senses – vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch – but in semantic memory visual and auditory-verbal modes of information usually predominate, unless another mode is particularly important for some reason (e.g. a perfume maker would probably have a very well-developed semantic memory for odours).

Why do we forget some things?

Very few people appreciate that human memory is a system which is designed to forget information as well as to remember information. Generally, we only retain the information we need for as long as we need it, then it is forgotten. Why is this? The answer is quite simple. The human brain is constantly bombarded with huge amounts of information, and even though the information storage capacity of the human brain is very large, if we stored every single item of information that ever reached our senses from the moment we were born, our memory would probably be totally overloaded before we started school. The fact is: we simply do not need to retain most of the information we receive each day. We only need to retain some of that information and can safely forget the rest. The trick is to make sure that the information we do need is stored properly in memory ready for the time when we require it again.

We can hold a certain amount of information in memory for a short time provided we work hard to keep it there (e.g. by thinking about it or rehearsing it to ourselves). This process is called short-term memory (or sometimes ‘working memory’ because we use this when working on any task, such as listening to a conversation, reading or doing mental arithmetic). But unless we also make an active effort to store that information in long-term memory in a semantic (i.e. meaningful) form, it will normally be forgotten very rapidly. Once in long-term memory information is reasonably permanent. However, if we don’t use that information we are likely to find it difficult to access when we need it, and if the information is not stored very efficiently in long-term memory, it will also be difficult to access. So when we say we have ‘forgotten’ some item of information what we really mean is either:


(a) the information was never properly stored in long-term memory in the first place, or:

(b) the information has been stored in long-term memory but we can not find it because it has not been stored in an efficient way and/or because we haven’t used that information for ages.

This is why most adults find they have forgotten many of the things they learned in school (e.g. French verbs). The evidence that this information has not totally been forgotten is that if they try to relearn the information after a while it begins to come back to them. In the end they find the task of relearning that information easier than if they had never learned it in the first place. So the moral is: the more we use certain information, the easier and quicker we can retrieve it from memory when we need it.

It is instructive to compare memory with storing things in our home. We all have encountered the situation of not being able to find something that we know full well has been put away in the home somewhere. The problem is that it is not where you expect to find it and there are so many places that things might be hidden in the average home. After wasting time fruitlessly searching you may conclude that it is easier to go out and buy another rather than to continue searching! The longer ago you put that thing away, the more likely it is that you won’t find it unless it has been stored in a sensible place.

Why do some people have better memory than other people?

People vary in the efficiency of their long-term memory. Some people have a good long-term memory and some a poor long-term memory. Like other cognitive skills, this is probably determined partly by heredity. But research has shown that most of the difference between people with good and poor memory can be attributed to the methods or strategies they use to learn that information in the first place. By developing appropriate memory strategies we automatically store information in a more organised and efficient way that makes it easier for us to locate when we need it.

Despite individual differences in memory, research indicates that for most people memory can be improved significantly by appropriate training. This does not mean that we can enlarge the storage capacity of our memory; what it means is that we can make our memory more efficient, so that it is more likely to absorb new information and hold that information in a way that makes it easy for us to find it again immediately we need it.

How can memory be improved?

In order to make an individual’s memory more effective we need to ensure four key things:

Practice – the more often we do something, the more likely we are to remember it.

Memory strategies – these are ways of processing information more efficiently that will help you remember it better.

Organisation – this ensures that information is stored in a more meaningful and well-organised way and which is easier for the brain to recall when needed.

Understanding – if we understand information it is easier for us to remember that information; also if we understand how memory works, it is easier to make it work efficiently for us personally.


Using Memory Booster at school, home and in the community

How does Memory Booster work?

Memory Booster is an enjoyable adventure game that has been specifically designed by psychologists and educationalists to improve children’s memory. It works by teaching tried-and-tested memory strategies and by giving enjoyable practice so that these strategies are assimilated and can be applied in everyday learning. Memory Booster has six levels of increasing complexity, and incorporates many features (such as cartoon rewards) that help to motivate children and ensure that they derive the maximum benefit from the activities. The program can be used with all children aged 4 to 11 years or older. Although it has been used successfully with 3 year-olds its success at this age is likely to depend quite a lot on the child’s maturity and familiarity with using a computer, so it may be more suitable for some 3 year-olds than others. Over age 11, Memory Booster is particularly useful to help children with severe memory problems (as is the case with many dyslexic children) or other children with learning difficulties. The difficulty level of Memory Booster can be tailored to suit the child’s individual needs so if necessary the program can be made easier for very young children or children with special educational needs, and harder for older children or very bright children. The program can also automatically adjust its difficulty according to the progress of the child, which helps to maintain just the right degree of challenge and maximises learning. The items in the program vary each time it is used, so children can play the adventure many times and not become bored. The program remembers where each child has reached in the game and next time they enter the program it automatically carries on from where they left off.

Why is Memory Booster especially useful in the primary school?

During the secondary school period most pupils spontaneously begin to develop strategies to help them learn and remember. Some children are a lot better at doing this than others. Very few primary school children discover these memory strategies of their own accord. However, research has shown that memory strategies can be successfully taught during the primary phase. These strategies must then be practised so that they become automatic. If given this opportunity all children are much better equipped to cope with the learning tasks that confront them in school, which improves their all-round educational achievement.

In other words, Memory Booster is beneficial for all children in primary education because at this stage very few are likely to develop the necessary memory strategies of their own accord. Of course, these strategies can be taught in other ways, but teaching memory strategies in the classroom can be a time-consuming task, especially if done on a one-to-one basis. It can be done with a whole class or in small groups, but the teacher will still need to check that each child in the group has assimilated the strategies and can apply them successfully. This will still generally demand a lot of teacher time and in a busy primary classroom it can be difficult to make additional time available.

The advantage of Memory Booster is that it does not require teacher input in order to be effective, because the program teaches the memory strategies, provides structured practice in applying those strategies and gives a print-out of the child’s progress that the teacher can review at leisure. The program can


automatically adapt to the individual child’s needs and provide prompts where necessary, so that learning is maximised.

Memory Booster also helps to develop the child’s concentration and attention. This is particularly the case when the child gets to the higher levels (level 3 and beyond).

About the strategies in Memory Booster

The strategies that Memory Booster teaches (in order) are:

Rehearsal – simple repetition of verbal information.

Visual imagery – creating pictures in the mind to represent the information that has to be remembered.

Creating stories – generating a narrative that links together the information in the form of a story; if the story is amusing then it is more likely to be remembered.

Grouping – using higher-order conceptual categories (e.g. ‘living things’, ‘things we use in the home’) to group items together.

Although these are not the only memory strategies that are useful in education, they all have the benefit of being easy to acquire and are applicable to most types of material that the child is required to learn in school. In contrast with some other mnemonic schemes, these strategies do not require tedious or complicated pre-learning (e.g. of number links). These strategies are also extremely well-tried and tested in the classroom and so are widely advocated by experts in this field. Substantial research in psychology and education has established that when children use these strategies their learning and recall is significantly better. These strategies are introduced in this particular order because rehearsal is the simplest and easiest to acquire, visual imagery is the next most difficult, and so on. This order also fits with the sequence which seems to develop spontaneously in children who have not been trained to use memory strategies, but of course for these children it usually develops much later in schooling.

Towards the latter part of the primary stage some children begin spontaneously to use simple memory strategies (such as rehearsal), but it is not normally until secondary school that children spontaneously develop more complex memory strategies that require active organisation of the material to be remembered (this includes strategies such as grouping and creating stories). However, younger children can be trained to use all these strategies, and can benefit from them in their learning on an everyday basis. By enabling primary school children to acquire effective memory strategies the teacher or parent is helping to equip them with skills that will enhance their attainment in school in the primary stage and beyond. With practice, these strategies should become automatic, so that in time learning and remembering requires less effort and more can be accomplished in the time available.

Some suggestions for classroom organisation when using Memory Booster

Memory Booster can be used with a whole class of pupils or just with individual pupils that the teacher feels need the benefit of memory training. Each child in the class can be registered on the program and can use it whenever the teacher


permits. This could be organised using a class rota so that children know when it is their turn to use the program, or simply on a first-come, first-served basis, so that children who complete their work early can spend time using the program. However, since children who are slow to complete their work are probably the ones most in need of the training given by the program, the danger of the latter approach is that these children do not receive the help they so desperately need. A solution to this is to suggest that parents purchase Memory Booster for the child to use at home.

If desired, teachers can provide additional input on the memory strategies that Memory Booster teaches, e.g. by devoting some class time to explaining them and perhaps engaging in some simple games that will demonstrate how they work.

The children can then be left to practice the strategies on Memory Booster. Children may enjoy having competitions to see how far in the adventure they can get, and how many points they can score. It is a good idea for the teacher to remind the children to use these strategies in their everyday learning, so that their new skills are applied as widely as possible. Or when asking children about particular learning tasks the teacher can ask questions like: How did you learn that information? Which strategy did you find worked best to learn that?

Memory Booster is designed to be used in a normal classroom and does not require a special environment. A moderate amount of distraction should not be a problem, and since the tasks demand close attention and concentration it is usually found that working on Memory Booster improves children’s attention and concentration over time. However, it is not recommended that children should play on Memory Booster in very noisy environments unless headphones can be provided, because they need to hear the names of items spoken clearly. Of course, children differ in their ability to ignore distractions – young children and some older children are notoriously poor at this. If children have identified difficulties with attention and concentration it is recommended that they use Memory Booster in an environment with as little distraction as possible, otherwise they are likely to make poorer progress than expected.

Adapting Memory Booster to individual learning needs

Memory Booster forces every child to start at the beginning of the adventure so that they are introduced to the four strategies, but older children will find they can swiftly progress through the first two levels before being confronted with more challenging tasks. Younger children (or children with special educational needs) are likely to take longer to work through the first two levels and may not progress to the higher levels for some time. The teacher can configure the program to suit particular children, as required. For example, the teacher may decide that children with special educational needs should do fewer items or tasks per sublevel before progressing (see Section 2) Tasks per sublevel for information on how to do this). This should help to avoid them being discouraged by failure and they should get more frequent rewards. Alternatively, the teacher may decide that the child should not be required to hold information in memory for such a long period of time (see Section 4) Delay Time for information on how to do this). For the child who processes information more slowly and who needs more time to think through a difficult task and respond appropriately, the Timeout period on Memory Booster may need to be increased (see Section on 3) Timeout period).


In addition to the variable controls explained above, Memory Booster has three pre-set ‘Missions’, which can be selected by the teacher or parent to suit the needs of particular children.

Mission Type A is the default setting, which should suit the average child. It is recommended that most children start Memory Booster on this Mission, which will take them up to a maximum of Level 3. The child plays 1 game per sublevel and delay time is set to the default value of 5 seconds (see Section 2) Tasks per sublevel for explanation). Timeout is at the ‘longer’ setting so the child is given plenty of time to respond (see Section 3) Timeout period for explanation). However, if Mission Type A is being used with older children (age 8+) or children who are known to be bright, it is recommended that the number of games per sublevel is increased to 2 or even 3, to give them additional challenge appropriate to their age and ability (see Section 2) Tasks per sublevel for information on how to do this).

Mission Type B is more suitable for very bright children, those that respond well to a more difficult challenge, or as a subsequent mission for children who have already successfully completed Mission Type A. Mission Type B allows the child to proceed through levels 1 – 3 and on to the much harder levels 4, 5 and 6. In levels 5 and 6 the child is encouraged to experiment with the four different strategies they have learned and see which works best for them. In Mission Type B the delay time is also automatically varied by the computer so that a constant level of challenge is presented to the child. If the child is doing well, the delay time is automatically increased, making the task a little harder. If the child is not doing well, the delay time is automatically decreased, making the task a little easier. If it is found that this creates too much difficulty for the child, the delay time can be readjusted, as required (see section on 4) Delay Time), but rarely, if ever, should this be necessary.

Mission Type C has been designed with less able children in mind, or children who have special educational needs (see Section Using Memory Booster with children who have special educational needs).

Since the items in Memory Booster are different each time, a child can embark on several missions of the same difficulty. So it is not necessary to alter the Mission Type for the child to enjoy and benefit from undertaking as many missions as they want. However, if the child feels that the task is becoming too easy, it is a simple matter for the teacher or parent to raise task difficulty by changing from Mission Type A to Mission Type B or by increasing Games per sublevel and/or Delay time, and/or decreasing the Timeout period (see Sections 2) Tasks per sublevel, 4) Delay Time, and 3) Timeout period for information on how to do this).

Checking the child’s progress

Parents and teachers will want to check the child’s progress on Memory Booster from time-to-time, and children will want to know how well they have done. Feedback on the child’s performance can be obtained at any time by going to the Waiting Room and selecting ‘Scores’ or ‘Levels’ (see section Waiting Room for information on how to do this). The Levels page indicates how far the child has progressed through the Mission, with each session shown as a bar on the chart. In Missions A and B, this provides an objective measure of how the child’s memory skills are improving. The Scores page gives a record of the number of points a child has achieved in each session, and for most children this will give a reasonable indication of the amount of effort they have put in. These records


can be printed out on a personalised certificate if desired (see Section Certificate for information on how to do this).

[Note that because progression in Mission Type C is based on different principles, this will not necessarily provide an objective measure of how the child’s memory is improving, but it will give some idea of the effort they have put in.]

Because Memory Booster has not been designed as a standardised test there are no norms against which to compare children’s progress. However, as a rule of thumb the following table shows levels that children might be expected to achieve after several sessions with the program:

Memory Booster target level

Age range After 1 – 5 sessions

After 5 – 10 sessions

After 10 – 20 sessions

4 – 7 1 2 3

8 – 11 2 3 4 – 5

11 + 3 4 5 – 6

Note that the targets given in the above table apply only to children in mainstream education who do not have special educational needs. SEN children may achieve these targets but it could take them longer.

Using Memory Booster with children who have special educational needs

Although Memory Booster is beneficial for all children, some teachers may prefer to reserve the program for use with children who have difficulties with learning and memory. In such cases the teacher should ideally consider whether or not to configure the program to suit the individual child. To make things more straightforward for teachers and parents, Mission Type C has be designed specifically for less able children and children who have special educational needs. These children usually need more frequent rewards to stay on task and more easily become frustrated or discouraged by failure. In Mission Type C, the program will progress regardless of the child’s performance, so that they will get the reward of seeing the cartoons regardless of their performance. On the other hand, if the teacher or parent feels that the child needs or is ready for a bit more challenge than is offered by Mission Type C, then Mission Type A can be selected but configured to make it easier (see Section Adapting Memory Booster to individual learning needs). In Mission Type C it is difficult to get a clear idea of the extent to which a child’s memory skills are actually improving. An ideal objective is to enable SEN children using Memory Booster to advance from Mission Type C on to Mission Type A, in which case real progress in memory skills will have been made. If they have already done Memory Booster Mission Type C they should have gained the confidence to tackle the harder challenge of Mission Type A.

If the special needs teacher or SENCo is not sure whether the child has memory difficulties or wants an objective measure of how poor the child’s memory is, there are tests available that can be used to check for this, e.g.

Lucid CoPS Cognitive Profiling System [age 4 – 8 years] (for further information see www.lucid-research.com).


LASS Junior [age 8 – 11 years] and LASS Secondary [age 11 – 15 years] (for further information see www.lucid-research.com).

Working Memory Test Battery for Children [age 5 – 15 years] (for further information see www.tpc-international.com).

The last of these tests is a suite of conventional tests, whereas the rest are computer-based tests.

Children with dyslexia

Children who have dyslexia typically have memory difficulties. Usually these difficulties are in auditory working memory, so they tend to forget instructions, have problems learning multiplication tables, and easily lose track of what they are doing (e.g. when reading, writing, or doing arithmetic). Working memory also affects children’s acquisition of phonics (i.e. learning the relationships between letters and sounds).

Some children with dyslexia have problems with visual memory, so they find it hard to recognise words by sight (e.g. using ‘flash cards’), and also cannot find their way around using visual cues (e.g. in an unfamiliar place). Visual memory is also very important in spelling, because a great many English words are irregular and their spelling does not follow phonic rules. The only way to learn to spell irregular words is by using visual memory.

Whether they experience problems in auditory working memory or visual memory, or both, children with dyslexia should find Memory Booster especially helpful, because it teaches them strategies to learn more effectively and remember more easily. Memory Booster contains both visual and auditory/verbal features and has a beneficial effect on all types of memory problems.

For more information about dyslexia visit the British Dyslexia Association’s website:

www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk

Additional hints on using Memory Booster at home

When using Memory Booster at home, most of the points outlined above will apply. If Memory Booster has been recommended for home use by the child’s teacher or Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) it is a good idea to ask them if the program should be configured in any particular way to meet the child’s individual needs. (See section above: Adapting Memory Booster to individual learning needs.) If such advice is not forthcoming, then parents will have to decide themselves which is the best way to use the program. In doing so, it will be helpful to keep a few simple rules in mind in order to optimise the effects of Memory Booster on your child’s learning:

Start easy and gradually get more difficult.

If children start with the Memory Booster program being set too difficult for them, they are liable to become frustrated and discouraged. If this happens they may take a dislike to the program altogether and subsequently avoid playing on


it. It is safer to start at a relatively easy setting (e.g. by beginning with Mission Type A) and then after completing that Mission, encouraging the child to play again with the various settings increased in difficulty, or advancing to Mission Type B.

Use Memory Booster as often as possible for periods that are not too long.

Although no harm is likely to be done if children play on Memory Booster for long periods, it will usually be found more effective if the program is used in relatively short bursts at regular intervals. For younger children (4 – 7 years) it is recommended that this should be in the region of 10 – 20 minutes, two to three times each week. If the child is trying hard at the tasks, it demands close concentration and effort so a lot of mental energy is expended, which can be very tiring for young children. Older children (8 +) should be able to cope with longer periods (20 – 30 minutes), three or more times a week. As the child assimilates the strategies and accumulates practice, they should find the tasks less effortful.

Work in a quiet environment if possible.

Children have to cope with distractions encountered in the normal classroom and Memory Booster is designed for this. However, a reasonably quiet environment in which to work with the program at home is usually helpful for your child. The tasks presented by the program are very challenging, particularly at the higher levels (Level 3 and beyond) and a high degree of concentration and attention is required for successful performance. Your child has to hear the items clearly and this can be difficult if there is competition from the TV or from other children playing noisily. In a noisy environment it is recommended that children use headphones while working on Memory Booster.

Reward effort and achievement.

Although Memory Booster incorporates its own rewards, which help to motivate your child, most children will respond positively to additional reward, praise and encouragement. These rewards and encouragements will also signal to your child that you value the activity and see it as beneficial to their development and education.

Further advice and information

For further information on memory and advice on how to improve children’s memory skills in the classroom and at home, please visit the Memory Booster website:

www.memory-booster.com

guide for teachers, parents and professionals · memory booster guide for teachers, parents and...

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