For those of you who had toddlers who memorized things (for my son it was states, capitols, countries, flags, what language was spoken, presidents, dinosaurs, periodic table, fungus...list continues as he does), how much of this information is retained long term?
My boy seems to get into a single subject at a time and "live" in it until he has learned everything that is possible for his current brain development to grasp. Only then does he move on. He is only more recently starting to branch out to several fascinations at once. At three he knew every flag of the world...it was a major obsession. Just last week, out of curiosity, I quizzed him, and while he knows way more than me, he'd forgotten a lot. Even at that, I was still surprised at how many he knew considering he has hardly looked at them since being 3.5.
How much of this information stays? Is this normal? Does it make his memory/brain function stronger to have learned this stuff and then move on leaving it unused? Is it good to go back and try to force recall? Just curious as to others experiences with prodigious memorizers.
