The Right Kind of Memory

We often hear that children on the Autism Spectrum have a spectacular memory. How is your child's memory? The trick about memory is figuring out if your child remembers the "right things." What do we mean by "right things?" Well, for each of us, we are able to use past experiences that we have encountered to help us on new future endeavors. This is called our episodic memory.


In a four article series, RDI Consultant Linda Murphy wrote about what it means to have an EPISODIC MEMORY, and how to tell if our child does or not. For the next four Thursdays, find her article here on our blog from RDI Connect. Here is the first section:

"Imagine this: you spend the day in Boston with a friend. You take the T there, walk around Faneuil Hall, do a little shopping on Newbury Street, have lunch in the North End and visit the swan boats in the Public Garden. In that one day, the memories formed and memories used span a variety of topics. You probably remember the things that you talked about with your friend or the laughter that you shared, more than you remember any particular item that you looked at while shopping. Or you probably remember how good your meal tasted, but maybe not the other items that were listed on the menu. Maybe when you got to the swan boats there was a line and you used your memories of waiting in other lines to appraise how long you might need to wait in this line. Each of these memories is an example of episodic memory.

Episodic memory refers to one’s autobiographical memory. As we move and do things throughout our life, we are creating a story about ourselves. We use this self narrative to share our experiences with others and to negotiate new situations in the future. Without memories to pull from, the world would be a scary place; any new situation would leave us feeling lost. With episodic memory, we can enter a new situation and figure out what to do because we remember a similar situation from our past. Now imagine you took that same trip to Boston with a child who has ASD. His memories may instead be the names of the T stops you rode through, how loud the restaurant was and the anxiety he felt waiting in line to go on the swan boats because he didn’t know how long he was going to have to wait. What is meaningful moment-to-moment to a child with ASD may be different from what is meaningful to another person. Instead of forming memories that will later help with problem solving and planning, a child with ASD may be forming memories that lead to fear of the unknown. Developing episodic memory is difficult for people with autism, yet it is a critical skill needed for living an independent, happy and stress free life. It is also one of the foundations of the RDI® Program."

To read the entire article by Linda Murphey click here