I don't believe the "Use it or lose it" claim of many. The brain does not lose information or skills except in severe situations. They just become dormant. They can be relearned much easier because the information is still there. The pathways to that information just needs to be reawakened. I had to retrain my mind with math skills many times. It was never like I needed to relearn. I just needed to refresh the skill.

I had a NeuroPsych Assessment last month. My skills are no different than in previous NPA's. My memory is still horrible but my prompted memory is much better. Prompted mean that with just a little clue or reminder, the memory becomes available. This is what I experienced with academics. Just a bit of a reminder and the pathways to the memories were reawakened. Then, this information can be stared in new memory location that is more accessible. It takes a bit more work the second time but it is not like learning from scratch.

A problem I have is trying to process a long multi-step formula. I need to break it down into many simpler steps. I believe my problem is a reduced digit span that limits my ability to hold multiple items in memory at the same time. I have the same problem trying to comprehend complex and overly descriptive sentences. I get a sense of being lost trying to juggle too many concepts.

These problems gave me a new empathy for people with learning and comprehending difficulties.