How Our Family Uses Mnemonics

When I was a young girl, my grandpa taught me about word association. He told me when he needed to remember someone's name, he would try to think of something associated with that name. I've always remembered my grandpa's tip and still use it when necessary.

As my children went through school and were required to memorize assignments, I taught them the word association technique. Once, on a car trip, Katelyn brought along her homework (She's the only child of mine who would actually take homework on a vacation) and the rest of the family brainstormed to help her memorize the capital cities of all 50 states. Baton Rouge, Louisiana still stands out in my mind. We helped her remember it by thinking "Loise has too much rouge on her cheeks."

A couple of years ago, when Katelyn was going through pharmacy school, she and I came up with some unique and often funny ways she could remember the names of generic drugs. One of the drugs that I recall Katelyn learning is Levetiracetam. It's the generic drug for Keppra, something Cody takes for seizure control. Levetiracetam was one of the more difficult words to remember, so we got ridiculously creative and came up with, "Tyra (Banks) had to leave and try to seat them." ( Levetiracetam = Leave and Tyra seat 'em) Katelyn will never look at Tyra Banks the same way, but more importantly, she will never forget Keppra's generic equivalent.

Yesterday, Katelyn was trying to remember a friend's birthday. She thought it was on the 9th day of the month, but found out via facebook that it's actually the 10th. I offered this suggestion to her, "Your birthday is on the 16th, an even number. Nine is an odd number. Just remember that your friend's birthday can't be on the 9th, because it's an even number like yours."

At that point, Katelyn stated, "That's how I remember your birthday mom. When I was little, you told me I could remember your birthday is on the 29th because it's odd, just like you."