Spaced Retrieval

Spaced Retrieval is an evidence-based therapy technique to improve procedural memory. It has been proven especially effective in helping people with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and aphasia. Spaced Retrieval training gives people the opportunity to successful recall information over progressively increasing intervals of time. The ultimate goal of training is to enable people to learn or retain and successfully recall information and or skills over meaningful intervals of time, such as days or weeks. One of the appealing aspects of the technique is that it focuses on what a person can do and encourages success rather than what the individual can’t do. We can think of Spaced Retrieval as form of cognitive prostheses, it capitalises on the strengths of a person living with dementia. Spaced Retrieval is a way of managing behaviours such as repetitive questioning, misplacing items, wandering/getting lost, disorientation, and non-adherence to physical therapy or dietary requirements.