visual learners who can't learn visually

I especially like the quote, “just varying delivery style may not be enough and... the unit of analysis must be the individual rather than the group.”

One phenomena related to visual learners is, what I call, "the visual learner who can't learn visually". However common, this paradox is frustrating and most likely perplexing to both student and teacher alike.

Understanding this phenomena is the difference between a D+ student and an A+ student. No matter how "visual" a student might be, if he can't "see" or "hold" the images steady in visual memory, if he can't integrate visual and auditory information, there will be little or no learning regardless of the student's intelligence.

A Dual-Route Perspective on Brain Activation in Response to Visual Words:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989181/
A Dual-Route Perspective on Brain Activation in Response to Visual Words: Evidence for a Length by Lexicality Interaction in the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA)

"This absence of a length effect is critical as it suggests that, in the standard lexical decision task, pseudowords are not processed by the serially operating sublexical route, but by the lexical route. This means that in the standard lexical decision task, whole letter strings of both words and pseudowords are matched against stored orthographic word representations (see Coltheart et al., 1977)."

The evidence of lexical decision by lexical route supports the use of "whole-word" or "Visual-based" reading strategies as a valid primary approach to reading instruction.

"Hence, one would expect a length effect for words even at these levels of the coding hierarchy. Obviously, this was not the case as the word length effect ceased to be reliable in the posterior fusiform ROI. This absence of a word-length effect is suggestive for orthographic whole-word recognition."

Again, supporting reading instruction by "whole-word" or visual-based reading methods.

"In general, the length by lexicality interactions in left temporal and frontal regions are broadly consistent with the position of several authors that the sublexical “phonological” reading route poses specific demands to language regions of the left hemisphere (Borowsky et al., 2006; Pugh et al., 2000; Sandak et al., 2004).

The demands that sublexical "phonological" reading places on the language regions of the left hemisphere, suggests that some persons struggling with the effects of Auditory Processing Disorders and/or some forms of Auditory-based dyslexia may have an easier time learning to read with a whole-word or visual-based approach.

None of this is to suggest the omission of phonics-based instruction, rather is may suggest that some individuals may benefit from a whole-word or visual strategy to reading as the primary instruction with a sublexical "phonological" strategy as the secondary instruction.

Man on a mission...
http://www.readwithdyslexia.info

Its past time to get beyond labels

Its past time to get beyond these labels, Autism, Auditory Processing Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, PDD-NOS, etc...

or at least reconsider what they mean. We take 10,000 children and based on an arbitrary distribution of symptoms, we divide these children up into groups. We tend to forget that these groupings DO NOT EXIST! We (the cultural, we) made them up.

This is exactly the reason why my next book is to be titled, "There is no IS Autism. It's like taking a field of Daisies and dividing them up into groups based on the number of leaves facing north, south, east, or west. Yes, we will find numerical patterns, just as we find patterns in children. But what do those patterns mean? Do they really provide any ability to predict (and control) the next group of Daisies?

I'd say no. Simply overlaying an inherently chaotic system with rational methodology or quanitification does not provide any measure of prediction and control despite the illusion that we have measured and analyzed the system.

Its time we acknowledge that simply placing a child into an artificially defined group does not give us any actual ability to predict or control the behavior of the individual child beyond a statistical probability (similarly to knowing the probable location of a quantum particle).

In the model we use at the NLC, there are no discrete groups (ADHD, Dyslexia, APD, SPD, AS, PDD, OCD, ODD, etc.). There is only a continuum from what we like to call Left-Brain (Auditory) Thinkers to Right-Brain (Visual-Spatial) Thinkers. There is also another continuum from Logic/Reason Thinkers to Feeling/Kinesthetic 'thinkers'.

Depending upon where a person falls along the spectrum on these two scales will dramatically effect how they think, feel, behave, communicate, and process information. Coincidentally, the patterns of Auditory vs. Visual and Logic vs. Kinesthetic remarkably coincide with the Meyers-Briggs patterns and the four Greek Temperments.

If you go too far from the center in any direction you will invariably exhibit a growing list of symptoms consistent with one and probably more than one group. The nice thing is that the dual spectrum model has, over the past six years provided the basis for helping a large number of children and teens overcome many of the effects of these challenges. http://www.swish4fish.com

ADHD: Beyond Tutoring

The Neuro-Linguistic Learning Center is adding a blog to it's support system for Parents of children with Dyslexia, ADHD and other learning challenges.

Parents can now upload their questions on ADHD, behavior and/or learning.

Gerald Hughes, Director
Neuro-Linguistic Learning Center
www.swish4fish.com