This reminds of Kvothe from "the Name of the Wind" (a magician prodigy who's mentor trained him very hard, emphasizing memory and concentration, allowing him to best every other magician).

Upvoted for:

1) Awesomeness 2) Actually putting something into practice and observing what happens instead of spending endless time theorizing and worrying about whether it the "best" use of time while getting nothing done (which I think is a fairly common problem in this community).

It sounds like Alex is benefitting a lot right now from having a large working memory. It is nice to have enough memory that you don't get left behind. That's usually not been a problem for me, but when it happens I can end up wasting an hour of potential learning. I don't know that many kids would benefit as much as Alex, I think most kids would get bored and frustrated more easily.

My only concern is whether Alex's gains in working memory are permanent and if not whether he can keep up the training needed to maintain it. If no to both, then he might be at a disadvantage later on, especially if he's surrounded by people who naturally have that level of memory. Although perhaps it would still beneficial overall.