Some of the steps an occupational therapist might take are: Occupational therapy can help by providing support to improve working memory and maximize on the patient’s strengths. Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can all affect a person’s ability to retain the information required to complete everyday tasks. Occupational therapy can go a long way toward helping seniors to compensate for memory loss and maintain maximum independence. Occupational therapy activities to improve working memory Similar strategies are an important part of occupational therapy for memory loss. Most of us employ strategies, such as writing grocery lists and adhering to routines to avoid or compensate for these lapses. These minor lapses are usually more indicative of trying to do too much at once than they are of a decline in functioning. Of course, we all have occasional lapses in working memory, such as when we go to the grocery store and forget two of the six things we’d planned to buy, or when we misplace our keys. We use it to cook, to bathe and dress ourselves, to engage in conversation, to follow directions, to remember phone numbers, and in many other daily activities. We use working memory many times a day, every day. It helps us to learn and to build on what we already know in order to accomplish tasks and to solve problems. Working memory is the ability to act on past memories and use the information in new situations. Working memory refers to the thoughts and information you hold in your mind so you can use them to complete a task or follow multi-step directions. Although it’s not always possible to reverse the decline, working memory can often be strengthened with the help of memory occupational therapy. But people with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain injuries experience cognitive decline that makes everyday tasks difficult. We drive, cook dinner, write birthday cards, and accomplish a whole host of daily activities without giving much thought to all of the information and steps that are required to carry out each task. Those of us who have normal cognitive function rarely think about the number of tasks our brains are doing at any given time.