It is important to remember that one's preferred learning style, between
auditory-sequential to the left and visual-spatial to the right, lies on a continuum. Just
like handedness, some of us lean strongly one way or the other, but many of us lie
somewhere in between and are able to use one hemisphere over the other (just like our
hands) for certain tasks. I've met people who are able to think in pictures or in words,
depending on the task. They literally switch from one mode (images) to the other (words)
as though they had a switch (we find this among highly and profoundly gifted).
So, while our books tend to speak in very general terms (for example, "visual-spatials
have trouble with spelling"), this is not to say that every visual-spatial tests weak in that
area. Some visual-spatials, particularly gifted ones, master compensatory strategies that
mask any difficulty in left-hemispheric skills.
As far as helping others understand your child's perspective, I really like the visual
attached that I found in Linda VerLee Williams' book, Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind
(1983). Where the left side (the auditory-sequential side) sees all the parts to the whole,
the right side (or visual-spatial side) sees the flower as a whole. Neither perspective is
any more accurate than the other, yet they are very different. When you think about it,
relationships - business and personal - need both perspectives to succeed. If we each
only saw each situation in its parts, as the left side of the illustration, we'd be missing the
whole forest!
Allie
auditory-sequential to the left and visual-spatial to the right, lies on a continuum. Just
like handedness, some of us lean strongly one way or the other, but many of us lie
somewhere in between and are able to use one hemisphere over the other (just like our
hands) for certain tasks. I've met people who are able to think in pictures or in words,
depending on the task. They literally switch from one mode (images) to the other (words)
as though they had a switch (we find this among highly and profoundly gifted).
So, while our books tend to speak in very general terms (for example, "visual-spatials
have trouble with spelling"), this is not to say that every visual-spatial tests weak in that
area. Some visual-spatials, particularly gifted ones, master compensatory strategies that
mask any difficulty in left-hemispheric skills.
As far as helping others understand your child's perspective, I really like the visual
attached that I found in Linda VerLee Williams' book, Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind
(1983). Where the left side (the auditory-sequential side) sees all the parts to the whole,
the right side (or visual-spatial side) sees the flower as a whole. Neither perspective is
any more accurate than the other, yet they are very different. When you think about it,
relationships - business and personal - need both perspectives to succeed. If we each
only saw each situation in its parts, as the left side of the illustration, we'd be missing the
whole forest!
Allie