Dyslexia comes with a different way of living. We see the world through our dyslexic thinking and it is not the same as a non-dyslexic view. One of the major differences is our strength in visualizing.
Visualizing is interacting with space, senses, physical ideas, and new concepts.
75% of dyslexics are above average in visualizing
I think of visualizing as when you can see something as though it were there in the physical and yet it is not.
Another place this comes into play is in noticing anomalies and differences between things.
There are so many examples of this in my life.
- I enjoy playing match games and what’s different games.
- I do well with jigsaw puzzles– they are very relaxing for me.
- I have had jobs that required me to notice defective items and remove them from a moving conveyor belt.
- When I loaded semi-trailers, I was skilled at high and tight trailers. Meaning I used all of the space. I could look at all of the boxes to be put on a trailer and tell someone if it was going to fit or not.
- When I worked as an engineer tech, I often could see the roads and developments on the land I was surveying and tell them why something wasn’t going to work the way they thought it would or offer up options no other person could see.
- As a firefighter I was in situations at times where I could not see a thing while crawling around a house and yet when we would crawl back out, I always knew the way out, I could see it in my head. I had mapped it when we went in.
- When I am going to construct and build something I see it before I even start.
These are just some of my examples.
“People with dyslexia are more likely to form 3D spatial images in their minds than non-dyslexic people.”
Here is another common and interesting detail about visualization for dyslexics,
“Many people with dyslexia often think in images as opposed to words, which is attributed to the unique activations in their brains.”
It’s one of the reasons dyslexic thinkers make really good PowerPoint presentations, videos, movies, and art.
This type of thinking applies to many of the clients I have worked with who are artists, skilled in the unique ability to bring words, feelings, and emotions to life with images. Not only does that visualization apply to art, it also can apply to how they see the written word or how they translate thoughts into the written word. Many of them talk about knowing words through seeing the visual letters of words in their mind.
Careers and job markets
Visual thinking has many job options, from engineering to auto mechanics. As they pointed out in the AI Media website. “This unique spatial ability can be correlated with higher performances in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) areas. Students who may lag in reading can excel when spatial expertise and problem-solving abilities are more heavily required.”
With the rise of artificial intelligence many of the dyslexic industry leaders are strongly recognizing that these skills in visualization are going to be a major asset to a person in the job market.
EXAMPLE OF Visual Thinking
If you want to hear firsthand what that looks like in action I highly recommend this interview with Dr. Robert Ballard. He found the Titanic. CLICK HERE to listen to the interview.
A really important tool to use for people with strong visualizing skills is to have them visualize their success when doing something. I walk my highly visual clients through a whole specialized process I created to fully utilize the outcome of their goals and to see themselves going through the process of getting there. The outcomes this process generates amaze even me.