Once information has been received and recorded in the brain and integrated, it has to be stored so that it can be retrieved later. There are two forms of memory, short-term and long-term. Short-term memory is that which you can hold onto as long as you are attending to it; (for example, getting a phone number from the information operator and holding it in your head until you dial it) but which is lost when not attending to it (someone interrupts you before you dial the number).
Long-term memory refers to information which has been repeated and stored so that it can be made available by just thinking about it (for example, your home address). A child might have a short-term or a long-term memory disability. This disability might be more for visual or for auditory information. For example, you might go over a spelling list or a math concept with a child and he or she seems to know it (he’s attending to it); yet, later you find that the child has lost it.
In contrast, he or she might remember things done weeks or months ago in great detail. A child with a short-term memory disability may have to go over something 10-15 times to learn it (make it long-term memory) whereas a child without this problem might be able to learn it in 3-5 repetitions. Problems with memory can occur with short-term or working memory, or with long-term memory. Most memory difficulties occur in the area of short-term memory, which can make it difficult to learn new material without many more repetitions than is usual. Difficulties with visual memory can impede learning to spell.
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