Learnong Regression

[Anonymous]

So last year my child would do addition in his head and was drilled on 8 plus 8 and 9 plus 9 and what not. We started to stop drilling him because he basically would use it to delay bedtime. It was driving us nuts. Fast forward a year later he can barely do 4 plus 5. It is like he had a stroke or a concussion and now I wish I had recorded it because he used to be so good at it. Anyone experience anything like this? Should we get him assessed? Take him to the doctor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So last year my child would do addition in his head and was drilled on 8 plus 8 and 9 plus 9 and what not. We started to stop drilling him because he basically would use it to delay bedtime. It was driving us nuts. Fast forward a year later he can barely do 4 plus 5. It is like he had a stroke or a concussion and now I wish I had recorded it because he used to be so good at it. Anyone experience anything like this? Should we get him assessed? Take him to the doctor?

Op here. Sorry about the title. He is having a meltdown in front of math sheet he would have knocked out last year rather quickly!

[Anonymous]

He's just out of practice. He can relearn.

Kids learn skills/facts and then, when they don't use them, they put them away. It's not regression. It's efficiency.

[Anonymous]

How old is the child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is the child?

Op here. He is 8.

[Anonymous]

OMG it's OK

Sometimes it is just regression esp if he's got a lot of new stuff happening in his life, new lessons as well.

But you also may want to understand working memory. Some people have more than others. My son for example really struggles with retaining info. An example of working memory is sightreading music. So a kid who can remember and build on memory will play the song after practicing a few times. If you have poor working memory it will be very hard to keep it all in balance because you may forget parts as you continue to learn it. So ADHD kids will have often poor working memory as it goes along with executive function to some degree.

Don't jump to the conclusion that your kid has ADHD but learn about working memory and see if there's any pattern to other things he's struggling and forgetting. My guess is it's likely just a phase at age 8. FWIW my kid who I told you about was diagnosed with poor working memory at about age 9/10.

[Anonymous]

Why are you drilling him at bedtime? Let him relax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you drilling him at bedtime? Let him relax.

Op here. He asked to be given math problems. He thought it was a fun game.

Pp re working memory: thank you for that! He definitely isn't ADHD but there could be other issues, and I wouldn't rule out ADD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG it's OK

Sometimes it is just regression esp if he's got a lot of new stuff happening in his life, new lessons as well.

But you also may want to understand working memory. Some people have more than others. My son for example really struggles with retaining info. An example of working memory is sightreading music. So a kid who can remember and build on memory will play the song after practicing a few times. If you have poor working memory it will be very hard to keep it all in balance because you may forget parts as you continue to learn it. So ADHD kids will have often poor working memory as it goes along with executive function to some degree.

Don't jump to the conclusion that your kid has ADHD but learn about working memory and see if there's any pattern to other things he's struggling and forgetting. My guess is it's likely just a phase at age 8. FWIW my kid who I told you about was diagnosed with poor working memory at about age 9/10.

DP but sounds like my DC—thanks for your insight. I didn’t realize her struggle could be related to brain function.

[Anonymous]

PP who talked about working memory here.

It's a very fascinating subject. Working memory and IQ aren't related. So it's not that it impacts intelligence per se but it will impact how quickly you learn. My daughter is not high IQ but working memory is amazing. My son who has the working memory challenge is probably on paper more knowledgeable and "smarter" than her.

Working memory is however affiliated with executive function. So my 11 yr old daughter can say she studies for a test 2 days before it so that the day before she can study last minute details or if she has questions she can leave herself a day to figure it out. That's her own planning. She can take a piano piece and struggle to play it and after 6-7 times she can learn it pretty well. That's working memory.

I would say that complexity is another very visible trait if someone who is not strong in this - the ability to problem solve and manage a sequence, processing is very equated to working memory.

Gifted kids are typically measured by IQ but they are realizing now that strong processing which is basically working memory also includes gifted.