Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC Digits Backwards and Difficulty Visualizing

This is now making more sense. Thanks! I am now thinking he asks "how do I make a t?" because he is trying to figure out how to form the letter, not because he is trying to remember what the letter looks like. It would make sense that looking at a 't' as a visual cue would be useful in helping him "relearn" ho to draw it (e.g., "I need to make one stroke down and then another across...").



I will definitely talk to our OT about his official diagnosis. We have thought about getting a full neuropsych evaluation but there isn't one with any experience with gifted kids in our area. We currently homeschool (pulled him out during K because of the difficulty with handwriting on endless worksheets), but accommodations may be necessary in the future so we should start working on that now.

Any recommendations for a book or website that provides really good information on dysgraphia?

Thanks again!

Wow. It is amazing how some kids can compensate so well! I think that's why it can be so hard to figure out what is really going on.

Very interesting idea that kids scoring very high in visual-spatial skills may be using auditory strategies to do that. I know it is something I do myself.

I am very familiar with the "Duh, Mom" voice!

I would really like to know the answer to this. And can these individuals project the picture of a word onto a wall (or in their mind) as vividly as seeing it on paper? And can they visualize an entire word instantly? When I try to picture a word I need to spell it as I am trying to picture it and I can't easily retain the visualization.

Thanks for sharing your DS's experiences and giving me lots of food for thought!

I can perhaps answer some of that from myself, which may not be a universal experience of it. When I try to, I always see whole words. If I need to spell it out loud, I bring up an image of the word and then look at each letter and say it.

When I see stuff like that, if anything it is like a chalkboard in my head in its own visual universe about where a "third eye" might be. Not coherent or overlayed into the real world. Amusingly, my eyes look up and scan like reading when I am putting effort into recalling something visually.

I don't think my pictures are fully encoded as much as they represent really rich patterns that are recconstructed as needed.

Thanks, Zen Scanner. It's helpful to know some people can visualize whole words since that's how I am trying to get my son to remember the spelling of site words. But I don't think my son (nor I) can do it very well. I wonder whether it is something a person can learn and improve over time (in which case we should keep plugging away at it), or whether I should try another method of teaching site word spelling.

Interestingly, I've been testing my own ability to visualize site words quite a bit today and have found I can do it much better when I try to visualize the word in cursive. Oddly, I never write in cursive except for signing my name.

I'm the same way. How do others do it?

Interesting site:

http://www.brainfacts.org/about-neu...ticles/2013/is-photographic-memory-real/

I think it probably boils down to how much detail (or patterns) a person notices visually and then recalls. I'm always getting lost (which interestingly, is a common feature of dyspraxic people but my DS is the one who is dyspraxic)-- for instance I can't recall where I parked in a parking garage or how I got to a certain room in a large building. My 6-year-old tells me where I need to go. Sometimes we end up arguing about it (much to bystanders' amusement), but he's always right.

DS is hyperlexic and was reading practically before he could speak. Is it because he memorized and was visualizing whole words? I think it's because he sees patterns in phonics that other people don't see as easily.

Zen Scanner, KADmom, and others,

If you were given a string of digits (auditorily) and asked to repeat them backwards, would you try to visualize the entire string of digits and then 'read' it backwards?

I would use auditory repetition to say the number several times in my head and then repeat the digits backwards using my auditory memory. If it were a long sting I would probably have to repeat the beginning of the string forwards again after reversing the first 3-4 digit chunk at the end of the string. Hope this last part makes sense -- if you don't use this strategy you may have know idea what I am trying to say here.

Pi22

Pi22, my ds is an extremely visual thinker. I think he would tell you that he doesn't actively *try* to visualize things like this, it's just what happens. I'm guessing he wouldn't "read" it backwards, he'd just see it in his head and tell you the numbers backwards.

I'd probably approach it in a manner similar to what you described

polarbear

I've intentionally practiced over the years to have a wide variety of tools for such things. For a task like that up to a certain threshold I would just visualize. Like PolarBear says, I wouldn't know what I do if I haven't intentionally studied and worked on slowing it down (toss in something Heisenbergy here) enough to tell it is primarily visual. As complexity increases, I use visual chunking with number patterns, and in the past have done pretty good size lists. Put on some background music and my ability will plummet to almost nothing.

I learned long ago that verbal rehearsal was weak and fragile for me.

I've also used tools like memory castles to visually store strings of information using visual imagery combined with semantic story elements. But lots of those tools are rusty.

This is also a problem with retests on such things. Your gifted kid may worry over the problem long after the testing and have a strategy for the next time. Or they may intiate a strategy mid-task and completely obfuscated the underlying results.

Fun stuff.

Interesting. Okay I just tried it with DH and this is what I did: I grouped a string of seven numbers into two groups visually and was able to name them backward from "viewing" the small groups. I did get assistance auditorally but it was secondary to visual.

With phone numbers and words I see them whole in my mind. But probably this is true for most, no?

Ds11 I think is equally visual and auditory.