Shichida Research

These recent posts about building memory have been accompanied by a spell of research and a renewal of fascination for what is being done in Asia.  Today I'm going to give myself a break in writing, and just share a few videos that I came across, if you're interested.  Unfortunately, Shichida's methods are a little bit secretive, and his popular book has not been translated into English.  Shichida's program uses a lot of Doman's ideas, which are widely available in his books.  The place that I have learned the most about Shichida is from Brillkid's forums.  Some of the parents in that forum have taken their children to Shichida's schools.

Overview- WOW!

Exercise for babies, similar to Doman's Physically Superb program.

This is a clip from www.homeeducation.sg about their program for developing photographic memory.   I haven't purchased or used these products, but I'm thinking about it...

Programs for photographic memory often include eye-tracking exercises, which are readily available on the internet.  My son loved the following one.  Watch out for the red and blue spiky one that YouTube suggests at the end.  It has a scary clown at the end as a practical joke.  I would have laughed less if my toddler had been watching it with me.  Superboy is just cute:

Memory Magic Review

Note: I am in no way compensated for this review. I am not affiliated with "Accelerated Learning Methods" in any way. I simply love this product and I wanted to write about it.

What is Memory Magic?
Memory Magic is a computer CD from www.acceleratedlearningmethods.com, designed to help young children develop photographical memory and speed reading. There are progress charts and reward certificates that you can print out and use with the program.

The elements I love
Silly Story

This is my son's favorite part of the program. Based on Makoto Shichida's program for developing photographic memory, the game helps children to easily memorize 100 objects in sequential order. When I first heard about this, it seemed incredible to me, but because of the silly nature of the story, simple animation in the computer game, and the funny voice that tells it, I was personally able to memorize them within a couple of days, and my 3-year-old followed suit within a week, with some story prompting. The game also includes a printable file, which is pictured here, and used in the video. This video was made a week after we got the program in the mail, and features the first 20 cards.  It was the first time we "played the silly story game" that day.  If we want to do all 100 at the same time, we do it on the computer.



Bits of Intelligence Cards
This was the meat and potatoes of the program for me. There are 380 bits of intelligence cards (Based on Glenn Doman's philophies) that you can print out and use with your children. That's 38 sets of 10 cards with a colorful picture on the front and a set of 5-9 facts about it on the back. Pictured here is one of the fruits, vegetables, and nut sets that I made on 8 1/2" by 11" card-stock for my children. Cost of printing, paper, and lamination not included. It may be awhile before I make all 380 of them…

Rapid Memory Flash games
These are associated with the bit cards. They quickly show 10 related bits, with the picture first and then the text. Then you can go to a screen with 20 or so small pictures and click on the ones that were previously flashed. If you get it right, the image is replaced by a star, if you get it wrong, it turns into a splotch of paint and disappears. When you have selected the ten that were shown, a smiley face comes out and says "Good job", regardless of how many you may have gotten wrong. This game is challenging for me! I usually play it with Peter and we try to remember the pictures together. Alternatively, you can just let the computer flash through any of the 380 pictures and let the kids watch it like a video. This is what I do with my younger children.

Eye Tracking Cards
These are neat. I wouldn't pay six dollars for them, but my children like them and I think that they are a valuable asset to our bits program. We show them during breakfast every day, and it takes about 20 seconds to do. My five-month-old baby can do these.  My husband has been studying eye health for himself, and he was very impressed.

Follow that Dot!
This is a computer game that flashes a dot in a specified shape. On the next screen you click on the outline of what you saw. Harder levels flash more than one shape before you get to click on what you saw. This is a challenge for me! With my children, we only watch the flashing, which they love. Picking the outlined picture is frustrating for them, so we do not do it.

What I didn't like*
The programming. This is an older program, and it was not very user friendly to set up. My husband thinks that the makers were originally developing a subscription website, and when that didn't work for whatever reason, they put the whole website onto a disk. You essentially are getting a webpage in disc format. Included are pdf images of buttons used in the game, and other weird files that my husband could decode but are Greek to me. The "name" of the disc comes up as "Drag contents to" Instead of "Memory Magic". I also had to install a flash player off the internet to play the games. In the "Learn More" section, the information links to their website, so you have to have internet access to learn more, AND some of the links are broken. But don't let that stop you.
*See comment by company below

Conclusions
The content is fantastic. If you are potentially interested in purchasing this product, I recommend subscribing to their website. We purchased this product when a secret sale came up that I only knew about because of my subscription. After seeing the quality of this product, I will probably be purchasing from them again, and I enjoy their e-mails. They have a lot of useful information, whether you purchase from them or not. I have been subscribed for a year and I look forward to their e-mails.

Memory Cards

Today's activity comes from Sidney Ledson's book, "Give Your Child Genius IQ".  Click on the link and scroll down to see a picture of a little girl doing an exercise similar to the one provided in this post.  I highly recommend this book.

Preparing the Materials
Print out the document, on card stock if desired, and laminate, if desired.  The large sheet pictured above is a worksheet, and the rest of the document's pages are cards, so cut them out.  For a simpler activity, simply print out two copies of one of the landscape pages, and cut one of them out.

Here is the document: 
memory activities pdf

I made it in WORD, using the "Webdings" font.

Playing the Game
Show your child two or three cards, and then show them the worksheet and ask them to find the pictures that they just saw.  They can identify them by placing pennies or another manipulative on the picture, or by marking it with a writing utensil.  If you have laminated the worksheet, they can do this with a crayon or dry-erase marker and use the worksheet again and again.

Gradually make the game harder by adding more cards, and/or lengthening the time between when you show the cards and when they mark them on the worksheet.  For example, you can show them the cards before you eat, and give them the worksheet after.

Why do memory activities?

Memory muscles, like other muscles in the body, grow with use.  I like this activity for my little ones because it is age appropriate for them.  Playing traditional "memory", where you turn over the cards until you find a match, is something that my three-year-old doesn't have the patience for yet.  See Chess for Preschoolers for more on my philosophy on intellectual vs social maturity.  Eventually, he may want to memorize the Declaration of Independence, but let's face it, that sort of thing just doesn't do it for him right now.  Card games like this do.  Because the game is based on pictures, instead of words or ideas, the game is concrete. The objective is clear, even for my toddler.
 
Another thing that is great about these activities is how simple it is adapt the challenge level of the game.  I dare you to try it yourself.  Mix up the cards, quickly look at ten of them and place them in a pile.  Then try to identify them on the worksheet.  How did you do?  Okay, maybe you're smarter then me.  Look at 15 of them, and then put it away for a day.  Then try to identify them on the worksheet.  Haha.  I couldn't do it either.  Not yet, anyway.  Do these activities every day, and your child will surprise you.