Short Sighted

My extremely helpful and lovable 11 year old son, Noah, is also incredibly short sighted. His eyes are in perfect condition and not the problem. The short sightedness is a condition in which he can only remember things for about 10 seconds unless he needs to recall Bionicle, Science, or other trivia he's interested in. While he loves school, homework, and papers from the school tend to not be among the things he chooses to recall. This is something we as an entire family have been trying to improve upon. It has become a routine to drill Noah every night about whether his homework is done, has it been signed by a parent, did you do the spelling as well, and are there any papers for me in your backpack? The girls occasionally assist in this process as they testify for or against him when they have witnessed what actually has happened. Last night after I had drilled him thrice about whether or not he needed to give me some papers, I sent him to bed satisfied that we had successfully made it through another day. This morning I found one sealed envelope addressed to the parents of Noah lying on my bed. I went down the hall to collect dirty clothes and found one sketch he'd drawn of his father lying on the floor. After loading the washer I began to pick up some toys in the family room and discovered some of Noah's baby pictures he'd taken to school for a project lying on the floor. I am realizing that while I am grateful those items are not smashed and eternally forgotten in the abyss of his backpack, I know we still have room for improvement.