Free You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults With Attention Deficit Disorder by Kate Kelly, Peggy Ramundo Page B

can heal ourselves and renew our depleted reserves of mental energy. Rather than fighting it, we need to give in to it and accept the self-imposed rest time. Our brains must recharge. Each of us has to find the best way to facilitate this renewal.
    Undependable Memory and Learning Systems
    If you look at a picture of the brain, you won’t find an area labeled The Memory. Memory is a process rather than an identifiable part of the brain. The function of memory is a system with multiple parts scattered throughout the brain. Some of the differences ADDers experience are related to problems with memory. In the following section, we will examine the impact of ADD symptoms on the memoryprocess.
    The First Step of Memory: Acquisition. The first step in the process, acquisition, is closely related to selective attention. Besides paying attention to incoming information, it involves a preliminary decision to accept and store it.
    As ADDers, many of us feel embarrassed by how much we don’t know. Our selective attention deficits make it difficult to acquire information that nevereven finds its way into our memories! The positive side is that an ability to notice things others miss results in a fascinating and eclectic storehouse of interesting knowledge!
    The Second Step of Memory: Registration. We have to register information before it can become part of memory. In this second step of the memory process, we consciously make an effort to secure the information in ourmemories for subsequent recall. If we superficially register the data, we’ll have difficulty retrieving it later. Problems of arousal or alertness often impair adequate registration. We may only partially understand conversations, phone messages or directions and jump the gun on new tasks.
    Coding and rehearsal are two important parts of registration. Every time you use a file cabinet, you areusing a system of coding. You decide whether to file the piece of paper by subject, writer’s nameor type of required action. As you may recall from the discussion of spatial organization, this is no small task for some ADDers.
    Registering information involves essentially the same kind of sorting and filing. We decide to code, or file, incoming information as a visual image, a word or a sound.For example, we can code the name “Tom Thumb” in several ways. The code can be a “picture” of Tom, the midget with an enormous thumb (visual); a word, “finger” (verbal) or a sound, “Tom Thumb is a bum” (auditory).
    Rehearsal is what children used to do in their one-room schoolhouses—memorizing by reciting their lessons aloud. We use rehearsal to practice and repeat information until we anchorit in our memories. To be effective, rehearsal must be more than rote memorization. It must include elaboration of information. If you have ever memorized a word list by singing a silly song you created from the words, you have used rehearsal elaboration.
    Rehearsal is another problem for an ADDer because it’s tedious and requires patience. These are usually not his best qualities! He is creative,though, and can be quite inventive with the sometimes off-the-wall coding methods he designs.
    The Third Step of Memory: Storage. The third step involves storage of the processed information. There are four storage systems: instant recall; active working memory; short-term memory; and long-term memory . These storage systems aren’t characterized by their size but by their duration, or how longinformation is stored in each.
    Instant recall has the shortest duration. Seeing the flash of lightning in your mind’s eye is an example of instant recall. Touch-typing also uses this kind of memory. The typist holds the key’s location in his mind only long enough to press on it.
    Active working memory functions much like the working memory of a computer. While you work, the words on the screenare held in the computer’s temporary storage. If thepower goes out, you lose your work forever unless you