Memory patterns of acquisition and retention of verbal and nonverbal information in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: Previous research indicates that children with FASD have both memory and learning deficits. However, there is no consensus about whether the deficits identified from a pattern of impairment, and whether this pattern is consistent with the current theories regarding the organization of memory. Thus, the goal of this study was to further explore memory functions and expose possible patterns that may exist in children with FASD.
METHODS: The Children's Memory Scale (CMS) was used to measure visual and verbal memory, as well as learning and encoding, among 30 children with FASD (ages 9-16 years). Functioning was conceptualized through use of a model of working memory.
RESULTS: A significant difference between types of verbal memory in the FASD sample was identified. Specifically, recall of word pairs was found to be more impaired than that for stories. In addition to this, recall of immediate word pairs was significantly more impaired than that for delayed word pairs, implying the presence of encoding deficits in this area.
CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents with FASD displayed specific types of verbal memory deficits and these deficits were greater for immediate rather than delayed memory. These data are consistent with previous studies that describe deficits in immediate memory, and suggest that deficits in delayed memory are better accounted for by encoding deficits. Furthermore, their greatest difficulty arose with those items in which the phonological loop was required, which would have facilitated learning though internal recitation and adequate phonological storage. Further research into these distinctions in memory is warranted, as is exploration into educational techniques that could account for delayed encoding in children with FASD.