Dyslexia In VGs and AHs
This is from Anthony (VG):
I am a Visual-Spatial Learner (VSL), good in math, and have a bit of Dyslexia. I also love jigsaw puzzles and brain teaser type games.
I have the ability to see something from all angles in my mind, which is a quality of Dyslexics. Part of the reason that they sometimes confuse letters and write backwards and upside down is that we see them as 3-dimensional and are viewing them from another angle such as the back, top or bottom.
You dont get much more visual than that! We cannot get meaning from just a symbol. Letters and words need to be understood and be able to make a picture in our minds to make sense and meaning to us...
When you say the word dog out loud, we see a dog in our minds. When we see d-o-g, we see weird shapes (from all angles) but we dont see a dog....
The good thing is that were great at seeing other things from all angles, like models, architectural drawings, etc.. Its easy for us to see a 3-D drawing in our minds as long as the picture represents something.
This is from John Ratey (AH):
ADDers (for this discussion I will group the ADDer with the specific Dyslexic) misperceives reality in many ways, because their brains are speeding along - going faster than they need be - always searching for the next letter or word.
Before accurately grasping the b, they sometimes turn it in their head and see or write a d. They see a word briefly and then they speed their gaze onward to the next word.
The ADDer, always pushed and driven faster than necessary, sees the bit of reality (whether it be the word, the event, the emotion), but they are propelled by their inner Whats Nextness. Thus they catch a half or part-representation of the fact before them and miss the full appreciation of the reality bit.
Any attempt at delaying the demands of the Whats Nextness is met with frustration and often frank anger; there is a push ever forward, ever faster, to get out of this fix of not quite perceiving and being uncertain...
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