The Visual Thinking Advantage
There has been much research, study and acknowledgement of different learning styles (kinesthetic, visual, auditory) and it is commonly accepted that people think in different ways.
Take a moment to think about describing the above picture using words only. You would need to write the physical description, then the emotional connection that you want the picture to invoke, then any hidden meanings in the image.
How many words would that take? How long would that take? Not long if you are a picture/visual thinker. A visual thinker gains all that information in one glance, they see the whole picture and make the associated connections instantly.
This is why visual thinking is an advantage - it is much faster, intuitive, creative and more dynamic than word thought.
This is the key to understanding dyslexia and the other related conditions. For a visual/spatial thinker, they need pictures to process, comprehend, understand and recall information. And those pictures need to be viewed from the correct perspective.
Take a moment to think about describing the above picture using words only. You would need to write the physical description, then the emotional connection that you want the picture to invoke, then any hidden meanings in the image.
How many words would that take? How long would that take? Not long if you are a picture/visual thinker. A visual thinker gains all that information in one glance, they see the whole picture and make the associated connections instantly.
This is why visual thinking is an advantage - it is much faster, intuitive, creative and more dynamic than word thought.
This is the key to understanding dyslexia and the other related conditions. For a visual/spatial thinker, they need pictures to process, comprehend, understand and recall information. And those pictures need to be viewed from the correct perspective.
How the Davis Dyslexia Programme Works for Visual Thinkers
For a visual thinker, they see the world (in their mind) in pictures. The word cat brings up an image of a furry animal and they know exactly what it means. Even if they use their visual thinking skills to view the object from a different perspective, they still know what the word cat means. The Davis Programme gives the visual thinker a way of knowing and being able to control their perception.
Here is an example of HOW the visual thinking process works.
A dyslexic visual thinker can view the mental image from many different perspectives.
• They can ALTER their perspective quickly and easily.
• No matter which image they see, it is still a cat.
• They can still recognise and understand the picture.
Now lets do the same thing with the word...
A dyslexic visual thinker can view the mental image from many different perspectives.
• They can ALTER their perspective quickly and easily.
• No matter which image they see, it is still a cat.
• They can still recognise and understand the picture.
Now lets do the same thing with the word...
The visual thinker uses the SAME technique when dealing with a word. 24 Words, 23 of them are wrong.
Viewing words (or any symbols such as numbers) from a different perspective causes huge confusion.
Viewing words (or any symbols such as numbers) from a different perspective causes huge confusion.
There is nothing physically wrong with their brain. There is nothing mechanically wrong with their eyes.
The problem arises because visual thinkers process information in an inherently different way. Their brain is seeing the image differently from how the eyes are seeing it. Their eyes are staying in the same place, but their mental image of what is being viewed can shift. This is called disorientation.
If they are able to move their perception easily (as most visual thinkers do naturally) they are not even aware that a reversal has been made. In fact visual thinkers move their perception (view) to problem solve. So when they come across a word they do not instantly recognise, they employ this technique.
In reading, for example, the same principle is at work with the words was/saw. The eyes are reading was but the brain image of what they have just read is saw (due to the wrong perspective). Hearing can also be affected by a shifted perspective as can balance, motion and sense of time. These are all examples of disorientation.
Disorientation means your brain doesn't see what your eyes are seeing, your brain doesn't hear what your ears hear and it also affects the senses of motion, balance and time.
If they are able to move their perception easily (as most visual thinkers do naturally) they are not even aware that a reversal has been made. In fact visual thinkers move their perception (view) to problem solve. So when they come across a word they do not instantly recognise, they employ this technique.
In reading, for example, the same principle is at work with the words was/saw. The eyes are reading was but the brain image of what they have just read is saw (due to the wrong perspective). Hearing can also be affected by a shifted perspective as can balance, motion and sense of time. These are all examples of disorientation.
Disorientation means your brain doesn't see what your eyes are seeing, your brain doesn't hear what your ears hear and it also affects the senses of motion, balance and time.
Remarkable Minds, using the Davis method, works with this thinking style because Davis recognises that visual thinkers are using a different area of the brain to process information and uses methods and tools in a way that visual thinkers can relate to and understand.
