Gina--That was the first thing I thought of, too! I'm going to email her links to a couple online "concentration" games. I'm not sure how much it will help, but it sure can't hurt. Talley Sue--Your description of looking at a scene is almost exactly what my friend has to do. It is a combination of observing and memorizing. The only pattern is that the six or so objects are chosen from the same group of about a dozen. But they are in a different place each time and arranged in a different way. And there's not enough to put them into groups or clusters. I never knew that about typing--how interesting! No wonder I can't type more than about 50 wpm; I'm still doing it letter by letter. Seeking--I learned about spatial organization in college (I'm a writer/editor) as one way of organizing a description. That's exactly what my friend has to do--remember how the objects are placed within the space. But unlike writing, in which you have time to organize your thoughts, she needs to do it in a matter of about ten minutes. I know from working with her on documents that it takes her a long time to organize her thoughts, so having to do it in a few minutes is causing her some trouble. Flyleft--Here's an analogy: You are the boss of a cook. You walk into the kitchen (for about 10 minutes) and have to remember where each piece of equipment is, what it is used for, and where it's positioned in the room. Then you have to instruct the cook what to do on each piece of equipment and the sequence in which to use each piece. The speed and ability to use each piece of equipment are timed, and points are deducted if the cook does something wrong (the cook does exactly what you tell him to do, in the order you tell him). So not only do you need to know where the equipment is and what it's for, you have to tell someone else to use it properly. (A similar analogy would be a doctor doing triage in a room full of accident victims.) Chiefneil--Are you saying you can teach an old dog new tricks? ;-) I didn't know that visualizing an activity will cause the same brain function as actually doing the activity. I think that's the key. I suggested that she "practice" by making a 3D model that she can work with at home. I tried to come up with a "story" situation like you describe, but she didn't seem to understand what I was getting at, and I think it confused her further. But I hadn't thought about involving other senses. I'll have to give that some more thought. Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions. I have a feeling that the best method will be practice, practice, practice.

Several years ago I had three very geriatric dogs. Knowing that they wouldn't be around indefinitely, and wanting the "next generation" to have an opportunity to learn from the oldsters (which is, in my opinion, the optimal way to train a puppy), I adopted a puppy. Only one of the three geriatrics (Bootsers) was still active enough to even try to play with the puppy (Tasha), but even Bootsers couldn't keep up with her for long. Within a month, Boots was completely worn out, while Tasha was becoming more and more active. Tasha is a herder, so she has exceptional intelligence and inexhaustable energy. She housebroke very quickly but drove us all nuts with her maniacal activity level. There was NO WAY I was going to take on another puppy in addition to Tasha; she was already more than most dog lovers could handle, but I had to do something to rescue the oldsters from her constant bothering. So two months after adopting Tasha, I adopted a young adult Aussie, Pippin, to be her companion and play buddy. They were a perfect match. Pip was past the puppy stage and reasonably well-mannered (needed work on his recall and not chasing the cats), and Tasha couldn't wear him out. The geriatrics could go back to sleeping their days away in peace, while I kicked the herders outside for an hour or two to exhaust each other. It's another option to consider - adopting a young adult rather than another puppy to companion your current puppy. Raising a puppy is a tremendous amount of work, but it's easier when the pup has an adult dog to learn from (assuming the adult dog is well behaved). BTW, even though Tasha was raised in a house full of dogs, she has always been most closely bonded to me. Bonding is more a matter of training and individual personality than it is a matter of whether or not the puppy is raised with other canines. Laurie

I still have the train game. Here's what you do. When the game is free open it in a separate window or tab. Do not close the tab/window or close your browser or turn off your computer. You can play a long as you like. I did this last time but finally lost it when I accidentally open something else on my "train" tab. Linda

I'm still playing! I left my computer running overnight with the Train game in a separate window. heh heh Yeah, I know, I'm the one who was complaining about not getting anything done because I was playing so much. In my own defense, I did four loads of laundry yesterday, went grocery shopping today, wrapped and shipped a box full of gifts, cleaned the cat box, changed the decorations in my themed bathroom, and a few other misc. tasks. So I am getting some things done, just doing them in between games!