Clockwise or Clockconfused?

My garage door opener bit the dust.  I saved it for my kids so they could take it apart---they love to explore stuff like that.  When I brought it out to work on, the first step was to take out a screw.  Meredith took on the task and started turning the screwdriver to the right to unscrew it.  My husband and I chimed in right away like all parents do in that sing-songy voice: "Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty."  Meredith still has some difficulty with left vs. right.  To be oh, so helpful, we chimed in again, "Right is clockwise and left is counterclockwise."

Meredith told us that she never understood that, because clockwise goes right at the top of the clock, but then turns left at the bottom of the clock.  It took a second for me to understand what she meant, but then I could see her problem.  She had a very good point!  I guess everyone makes the assumption that when you say that clockwise is to the right you mean that at the top (12), you go right.

This was yet another example of how it is so easy to take things for granted and make incorrect assumptions.  It is also a great example of the strengths of a visual or dyslexic mind.  Meredith saw the clock work in a way that I never even thought of.  It is time for all kinds of minds to be valued for their unique strengths.  I know that more and more is being done to address educating all kinds of minds, but I think there is a very long way to go. 

This is why I am so thankful for those who acted boldly and started the Odyssey School in Austin, Texas, because they are the embodiment of this view.  The tagline for the School is that they serve "Bright Children Who Learn Differently."  Last week, Odyssey School posted something on their Facebook page that impressed me beyond description.  They understand the basics that some children learn differently and benefit from a different teaching environment than public schools.  But, they are so far beyond that.  They understand that they are not only addressing deficits...they are nuturing unique strengths in students that may have otherwise not be realized:

     "Working 'for the kids' sounds good, feels good, looks good. But we are also working for ourselves - these kids can make our world better."

Can You Turn Your Brain Off?

I wish I had the ability to "turn off" my brain like my daughter.  Here is the story on how I discovered how she turns her brain off.

I picked Meredith up from swim practice and she was very excited to tell me that she was able to hold her breath for a whole length of the pool for the first time.  Her Dad, being a former swimmer, taught her some techniques to help her accomplish this goal.  On the way home, she said, "It's really easy if you just put your mind to it...Actually, you just turn your mind off."

Of course I then had to ask her if Merebith went to sleep when she turned her mind off.  Meredith said that actually, Merebith is given a tranquilizer to make her faint.  For Dogot, she presses his reset button because he'll be out of it for awhile.  I asked Meredith who was the one to give Merebith the tranquilizer shot.  She she that it was one of the "hands" with the Mickey Mouse gloves on it.  Meredith explained that basically she controls these mechanical hands when she needs to do something to Merebith or Dogot.  Ah, now I remember.  She talked about a hand coming out to tickle Merebith to give her the feeling of guilt.  This is one of the many mechanical hands that she uses in her mind.

Back to tranquilizing Merebith...  Meredith said that she laughs at Merebith when she is sleeping after being shot with the tranquilizer because she mumbles things like, "Dogot...Dogot, don't touch...the computer," and "What...should..I wear?"

Dogot, on the other hand, mumbles other words while he is sleeping: "Bark...bark...bark."  I don't mean bark like "ruff, ruff," I mean he actually says the word, "bark," because as you know, he is a robot after all.

Taken to Heart

Our family was watching TV and a person was talking about how he needed a heart transplant.  Meredith asked me if you are still the same person if you get an organ transplant.  I put two and two together and asked her, "Do you think you would lose all your feelings if you got a new heart?"  "Yes," she said, quite seriously.  There is that literal, pictorial mind again.  Sweet and sad at the same time that she wondered about that.  I was wondering how she pictured love residing in her heart.  Did she see literal pictures of feelings sitting in her heart like she sees Merebith in her brain?  I got the chance to ask her that yesterday and she thought about it for a minute and responded, "Mom, Merebith is only in my brain--she hasn't left Brainsburg [that's where Merebith lives and works] and gone other places in my body."

We had a lot of fun thinking about how Merebith could take some travels around Meredith's body.  Maybe she could jump in a gondola and travel around on the blood, visiting different organs.  But then Meredith said that every time she moved, Merebith would be tossed around against her body.  I guess this doesn't happen when Meredith is in her brain, because she isn't in Meredith's literal brain...she's really just in her mind.