Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Memorizing Numbers

I just found out that my 12-year-old son has my credit card number memorized. I have only occasionally let him use it and it has been at least a month since I last let him use it. He says he never tried to memorize it, he just remembers it. When I let him make an online purchase today he was able to type the number correctly without looking at the card and he also remembers the 3-digit number on the back. He only needs to look at my card to double check that his "dyslexia" which he has not been diagnosed with didn't cause him to accidentally transpose any numbers.

He always memorized lines faster than most kids but he never really talked about his ability to memorize numbers. He says he has always been able to do this.

I don't have my credit card number memorized. My husband doesn't have it memorized either and we don't have "learning disabilities."

Sounds like he has a great memory. I wonder if he remembers it via his visual system or auditory system, or both? I'm sure his memory is a great gift!

His learning style is both auditory and visual. Only his motor memory seemed to be a problem and that has gotten so much better. He has been in musical theater since age 4 and he used to have trouble remembering dance steps, but now he has no trouble with last minute changes to the choreography like when one of the kids doesn't show up for the performance and they have to change things 30 minutes before the show.

That is pretty darn good memory! I used to do testing for point of sale systems, and had a couple of the dummy card #s memorized; more by feel on the 10-key than in my visual memory...but that was only after many many (many) repetitions of keying them!
If ds10 had that info I could rest easy...dd4, not so much

Maybe a photographic memory -- it's processing more as a picture than as a string of numbers that might be dyslexically mixed up.