You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults With Attention Deficit Disorder (43 page)

The Tactile/Kinesthetic Learner…
has an excellent sense of direction
is well
coordinated in sports and physical activities
uses his body sense and “hands-on” performance to anchor
information in memory
has difficulty processing both visual and auditory input
“translates” pictures and words into movement
uses imprecise words: “talks” with his hands
follows directions best by watching and
doing
learns best through physical activity
needs a lot of movement
knows something
by doing it

You will undoubtedly identify with certain parts of this list. You probably notice similarities between this list and that of memory skills, which was roughly divided into sensory modes. Since memory and learning are integrally connected, it isn’t surprising that the quality of your memory is directly related to the mode of input. If your preferred learning style is auditory, you
probably
identified memory problems with visual tasks. In school, you may have had problems in reading and in subject areas like geometry that require a visual orientation.

If you’re primarily a visual learner, you probably identified memory problems with verbal input. You may be a good reader who picks up social cues well but who has difficulty responding to the verbal interactions in those
settings. Unlike your auditory learner counterpart, you may have encountered particular difficulty when lectures became the teaching vehicle in junior and senior high school.

If you’re a kinesthetic learner, you may be an excellent navigator, athlete and “fixer-upper” with your tactile, body-sense memory. But you may have memory problems when input is visual or auditory without having any action
connected to it. School probably worked best for you when you were actively involved in learning groups or physically manipulating instructional tasks.

Of course learning and memory are more complex than this overly simplistic framework. Individual aptitudes for math, language and mechanical skills factor in to the equation. For example, you may learn best through auditory input of numerical
data rather than language. Your unique ADD deficits are also part of the puzzle. You may be a visual learner who doesn’t read well owing to specific problems with cognitive fatigue or inattention to detail. Or you may be unable to clearly define your preferred learning style because you use them all. You may be a multisensory learner who needs to hear it, see it
and
do it to anchor information
for learning.

Learning/memory styles are further defined by individualized systems of information processing. You may be a detailed, sequential learner who learns through step-by-step, logical, structured thinking. You may be a realistic, practical, concrete learner who prefers hands-on learning. Or you may be a perceptive, intuitive learner who begins with the big picture, learns through abstractions
and loves fantasy and humor.

Tuning Up Memory Techniques

This framework doesn’t provide clear-cut definitions and tidy boxes you can use to categorize your learning/memory modes. But it can help you customize the tips and tricks you use to bypass weak areas and maximize the strong ones. Consistently writing things down is helpful for many ADDers. But if you aren’t a visual learner it may not
work for you. You may do much better with tape-recorded reminders. So, as you read some of the suggestions that follow, keep your learning style(s) in mind.

Analyze the Circumstances:
Are you trying to remember something in a noisy, distraction-filled environment? Can you change the circumstances under which you’re trying to remember? Can you find a time and place that enhances your memory power?

Relax:
How are you feeling? Are you stressed or depressed? Mood and emotions impact your ability to remember. If your thoughts are preoccupied by worry and various life stresses, you can’t concentrate and remember.

Get in the habit of using various relaxation techniques. The techniques of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing or visualization can free your mind and body from preoccupation
with thoughts that interfere with concentration.

Various kinds of relaxation training courses are offered in recreation and community learning centers and are outlined in a number of books and tapes on the subject. Try to find a system that works well for you and use it regularly. Make it a part of your daily schedule to improve your memory and also your general emotional well-being.

Minimize the Anxiety That Interferes with Memory:
How many times have you started your sales presentation only to “blank out”? Your hands are shaking, your stomach is churning
and your heart is pounding. As you begin getting the words out of your mouth, your brain is filling with words of its own: “You’re going to blow it! You know you always forget what you’re going to say.”

Lots of people approach public
speaking with a sense of dread. But an ADDer can experience a paralyzing degree of stage fright. He’s terrified that his erratic memory won’t work. He’ll blank out at the wrong time and history will repeat itself. He’ll fail miserably—again.

There isn’t a simple solution to this problem, but understanding that anxiety interferes with memory can provide a place to start. Use the anticipation to
work for you instead of against you. In the comfort of your home, sit back and allow yourself to imagine all the details of the situation you dread.

Think about your physical reactions: your palms sweating and your heart racing. What does it feel like? Use the mirror as your audience and practice. Do you remember what to say? Is it firmly anchored in your memory? What questions might someone
ask about your presentation? Are you prepared to answer them?

Consider a worst-case scenario. What do you fear about the situation? Are your fears realistic or only remote possibilities? After you visualize the situation at its worst, visualize it at its best. Positive thinking puts you in control and gives you a useful frame of reference when you’re talking to an audience instead of your mirror
or spouse.

By thinking realistically about some of these things, you increase your focus on task performance. You have less time to focus on your fears and worries when your mind is constructively occupied. If you can decrease your anxiety, you can free up your energies for remembering instead of worrying.

When it’s time to make your presentation, choose a neutral focal point such as a light
fixture and gaze at it to ground yourself.
Although you’ll need to gauge audience reaction, you can use your focal point as your cue to relax. This can increase your attention to memory and distract you from focusing too much on the faces and reactions of individual audience participants.

You can also use an actor’s trick to conquer stage fright. Imagine your audience sitting in their underwear
or in the nude. In your mind’s eye, they will appear rather silly and much less threatening. Just don’t indulge too much in this fantasy or you may burst out with uncontrollable giggling!

Make the Choice to Remember:
To remember anything, it is important to be mentally present. Stimuli from the environment will make their way to your sensory organs whether or not you want them to. But you can’t
properly store anything until you make a conscious effort to file it somewhere.

When you were growing up you may have frequently heard the words, “I tell you what to do and it goes in one ear and right out the other.” Wasn’t it great when you were punished for not listening and got sent to your room? You had uninterrupted time to conjure up a wonderful mental picture of hundreds of tiny word rocket ships zooming into your right ear, traveling through the twists and turns
of your brain and shooting out your left ear! Seriously, that visualization is an accurate representation of what happens when you don’t work at remembering.

You need to slow down the velocity of those
data input
rocket ships to make use of the cargo they carry. It isn’t easy but you need to make a conscious decision to remember or you will lose the information.

Train Yourself to Be a Better Observer:
Simply seeing or hearing something doesn’t provide an anchor to secure the data in memory. But careful observation does. When you meet someone new, say his name several times to yourself and make mental notes of cues that set him apart from someone else. Is there anything unique about his appearance? Does he wear a pocket watch that is his personal trademark? Does he continually readjust
his belt?

Use planned practice sessions to improve your powers of observation. Years ago there was a TV game show that used visual memory as its format. Contestants examined a photograph and reported all the remembered details when the picture was removed. You can do the same kind of visual memory exercise by using a magazine photograph. Try allotting shorter periods of “study” time as your recall
improves, and keep track of the number of accurately remembered details.

Reduce Your Use of Rote Memorization:
Simple repetition of information may be helpful for short-term memory. It can help you remember which parking garage you parked in—at least long enough to write it down. But if you don’t anchor that data
in another way, you may end up calling a taxi to drive you home and a detective
to find your missing car!

Understand What You’re Trying to Memorize:
If you try to remember information of a complex nature simply by regurgitating it, you won’t be able to permanently store it in long-term memory. Make sure that you clearly understand the meaning of what you’re trying to memorize. Ask questions and anchor the new information to something you already know.

Put Information in a Larger Context:
Struggling with “It’s right on the tip of my tongue” is extremely frustrating! The next time you find yourself hoping that you’ll somehow miraculously remember where you left your raincoat last week, go in to your memory files and activate associations. What day did it rain? Wasn’t it the day you got soaking wet running through a downpour with your briefcase and three bags of
groceries? If you were carrying your briefcase, were you on your way to or from work during the rainstorm? If you were running, had you already lost your raincoat?

Through these side associations, you may be able to find both the memory and the raincoat you left on a shelf in the garage before you headed out to the grocery store. Finding the missing memory piece is easier if you can put the rest
of the connected puzzle pieces together.

Use Your Senses—Visual Memory:
The expression “Do you see what I mean?” is an example of the use of imagery in thinking. Many people remember best through visual memory. Incoming information, feelings and experiences are rather effortlessly translated into concrete mental pictures.

An ability to design mental images and “play” with them in the mind is
the basis for imagination and creativity and is a good anchor for remembering. You can use visualization and mental imagery to improve the initial registration of information and to
prompt its recall when you need it. If you routinely misplace your car keys, try using the following technique the next time you start to put them down somewhere.

As you drop your keys on the bathroom sink where you’ve
stopped to wash your hands, look at them and the faucet and create an imaginative mental image—visualize your keys tossing about as they are swept over Niagara Falls! Taking a moment to create the image may be enough to stop yourself from breezing out of the room without them. But even if you do leave them behind, chances are that an image of the falls will pop up in your mind when you start
searching for them later.

Mental imagery works well for remembering names. If you need to remember the name of your new client, Stuart Carpman, you might create a mental image of a giant fish
(carp)
. Your giant fish is covered with mounds of red hair because this is the real Mr. Carpman’s most significant feature. Unlike ordinary fish, your carp is swimming in a huge bowl of
stew
which is, of
course, your visualized connection to his first name. The more outrageous the connections and visualization, the more effective the image will be in prompting your memory.

Use Your Senses—Auditory Memory:
Verbal learners can use their word, rhyme and sound sensitivity to prompt memory recall. Try putting your shopping list in a rhyme or inserting the things you need to remember into the lyrics
of a well-known song. Record your speech or list of errands on a tape recorder and repeat it as you play back your tape.

Use Your Senses—Kinesthetic Memory:
If your preferred learning mode is kinesthetic, borrow from the actor’s repertoire and use your body sense to memorize. Think about what you need to remember, visualize yourself doing it and then act it out. If you frequently leave the iron
on, exaggerate the motion of turning it off and think about how wonderful it will feel not to wonder later whether you turned it off. The action can physically trace the memory in your mind.

Try sitting in your rocking chair and memorizing to the rhythm of the rocking. Use your restlessness as a memory aid. Instead of simply spinning in your desk chair or pacing around your office, practice remembering
at the same time. On each spin or stroll across the room, repeat the names of your new clients or the things you need to do before you leave for vacation. Memorize to the rhythm of your movement.