Sensory Overload Giggle

Meredith and I love this!

From "A-Synesthetic-World"

Photographic Memory

Meredith told me that in science class one day, her friends wanted to "test" her to see whether or not she truly has a photographic memory, which she often claims to have. To do this, a student showed Meredith a picture of a fish--an outline of a fish that was meant to be colored in by the students as an assignment--and then asked her to draw it from memory. She drew most of the fish, but didn't get it all. "Gotcha!" I'm sure they said. Meredith was upset that her classmates now didn't believe she had a photographic memory.  The problem, she told me, was that the person who was showing her the drawing wasn't holding it steady and as a result, the mental picture Meredith took of the drawing was partially blurry.

Something about that story amazes me.  I think the fact that Meredith's mental picture was partially blurry is more amazing than the fact that she can hold images in her mind for a long time (whether or not that is truly a photographic memory).  It demonstrates that she actually does take a "snapshot" of something to remember it and her memory will only be as good as the snapshot she takes!

Update:
Since this post was written, we discovered that Meredith also has Irlen Syndrome--a visual processing disorder. One of the symptoms of Irlen Syndrome is perceiving high contrast things, like black words or lines on a white page,  as moving. There seem to be classic ways that things are seen to be moving--floating, shaking, moving off the page, etc.  With this new understanding, Irlen Syndrome seems to be the logical explanation for why Meredith thought her classmate wasn't holding the picture of the fish steady.  

Processing the Litter from the Day

I met someone recently who told me she sees colors when she closes her eyes to go to sleep at night. I hadn't heard this before and it sounded like some sort of synesthesia, so I decided to ask Meredith if she experienced the same thing. She told me that she doesn't see colors, but she does do something else when she goes to bed that amazes me and highlights beautifully how she processes information visually.

Meredith said that when she goes to sleep at night, she will review her day from beginning to end and then backwards again, sometimes three or four times in a row. When she is doing that, she files away things that she didn't get a chance to file away earlier in the day. She explained that if things don't get filed away, it is very unnerving and gives her a lot of anxiety. In fact, she explained that her little mental assistant, Merebith, goes around Brainsburg (the city in which she lives) like a janitor picking up all the litter from the day. The "litter" is the bits and pieces of information that she needs to file. Once Merebith collects all the litter, she files it away in the Treasure of Files.

After hearing this, I asked another very visual thinker I know whether she did the same thing at night. She said that she reviews her day starting from the beginning and, like Meredith, files information away that she didn't get to earlier. She agreed that unless everything is filed away, she gets very anxious. For her, she calls this process "clearing the mechanism."

The Trees Have Outgrown Their Season

I recently joined a few Facebook groups where people discuss synesthesia. Shortly after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, someone in one of these groups asked whether anyone else was feeling badly for the trees that had fallen down during the storm. Many people agreed that they did. (Sorry for posting the photo for any sympathetic synesthetes out there!) People who personify objects like this may have Object Personification, a subtype of synesthesia.

Seeing that post prompted me to ask Meredith whether she felt bad for trees when they were chopped down. She said definitely yes. Since the trees are now losing their leaves here in the South, it got me to thinking about how that made her feel. When I asked, she said that no, that doesn't make her feel bad. The trees have just "outgrown their season," she explained. How poetic. I love that!

Elaborating on what she meant, she explained that the trees were excited to be moving on to a new set of leaves. Those leaves were like, SO 2012, anyway! I finally understood that she saw leaves as the tree's clothing and really as a fashion statement. She explained that the trees with bright, bold leaves in the Fall were the true "fashionistas." Then there are the scraggly oak trees with a few leaves holding on. She explained that these were like old ladies trying desperately to hold to the last bit of their clothing, afraid of being naked. They are waving their dry and crooked branches around like canes yelling at people in old, crackling voices, "Don't you take away my leaves there, young man!"

As we approached our house in the car later that day, I asked her what she thought about our great big Ash tree in the front yard. At that time, it was at it's peak color--a very bright yellow. For some reason, there have been a whole bunch of butterflies fluttering around this tree lately. Because of the tree's bright leaves and all the butterflies, she said that she sees our tree as a gay man. We had a good laugh at that.

While finding photographs for this post, I ran across this photo and thought that Meredith and other synesthetes like her would probably get a big kick out of it. I wonder if these sweaters are also like, SO last year?

Numbers as People

I recently wrote a post about Math as Characters.  As a follow-up, I wanted to post a picture that Meredith drew me a few months ago...I just found it.  It shows her numbers zero through nine as she thinks of them, including their color.  Perceiving numbers, days or the week, or other sequential items as people is called Ordinal-Linguistic Personification, or OLP.  It is a subtype of synesthesia.

I will try to describe her numbers' personalities the best I can here.  She could probably write pages about each number since they have many independent stories.  For one example, once they had a cooking competition among themselves that lasted for a few weeks.  They divided up into groups and they each had one type of food to work with.  Merebith and Dogot were the judges...

Perceiving numbers, days or the week, or other sequential items as people is called Ordinal-Linguistic Personification, or OLP.  It is a subtype of synesthesia.

1 - God Boy  Since he is "number one" or "numero uno" as they say, he is pretty full of himself.  He has a halo and wings.

2 - Confused Girl  She is confused because she is made up of both curves and straight lines.  She's kind of dumb.

3 - Partyboy Boy  Since he's made of curves, he's really fun and hyper.

4 - Normal Girl  She is holding a snail that is branded with the number four.  All of her snails are branded with the number four because they are like her "herd."  She's pretty average because she is made of straight lines.

5 - Cool Boy  He's cool because he has a "cool" curve.

6 - Lonely Girl  She is lonely without her number 1 because she likes to be with other people and her favorite number is 16.  She is in a wheelchair because she is clumsy without her partner (number 1).

7 - Innocent Boy You can tell he is innocent from his little propeller hat and ice cream cone.

8 - Twin Boys  They are named twin boys because they are conjoined twins. The smaller brother sits on top of the bigger brother. Their symbol is Gemini.

9 - Alien Girl Alien Girl is a tom-boy. She is always CRAZY!!!* She annoys everybody.

0 - Fun Boy He is hyper and likes being happy.


*Meredith wrote that as you can tell by the use of color!

House of Cards

Ever since I worked with Dr. Cheri Florance, I knew that Meredith's auditory skills were weak, but I mostly thought of it in terms of an overall language processing issue...that pictures were Meredith's first language and words were her second language and as a result, "listening" to people talking would always be difficult for her.

This summer, however, Meredith was officially diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), scoring in the Lower Extreme range of the test.  This wasn't a surprise to me given my perspective on Meredith's weak language skills.   However, it did cause me to shift my focus slightly and start exploring things from an APD viewpoint.  One great resource I have come to find is specialty groups on Facebook, including a few APD groups.  These groups are so helpful because you can hear individual stories and get advice from many people dealing with the same issue.  It is great to be able to communicate so quickly with people as well.

Through one of these APD Facebook groups, I stumbled across a blog from a teen with APD that was so helpful in understanding things from the point of view of an adolescent with APD.  In one post, she presents an insightful "Guide" for parents on how to help their child with APD.  She explains that it is very difficult if she is talking to one person and another person (like a pesky brother!) talks over them or if the person she is talking with stops the conversation for a moment to talk to someone else.  She said that if her conversation is interrupted, she loses all the auditory information that she was processing.

Immediately, I could relate to what she wrote and understood why Meredith would always get so mad at her younger brother for interrupting a conversation.  If she is interrupted, she is more than irritated.  She is downright mad at him and will snap at him very quickly.  I always thought she overreacts and was selfish that way.  But now I understand.  I understand that she loses the conversation that she was trying to hold on to so desperately.

Asking Meredith about whether or not this was how she experiences things, she wholeheartedly agreed and explained that a conversation for her is like a "house of cards."  It is very delicate and interruptions can cause it to come crashing down.  What a great explanation.  As a result, we now talk specifically about this in our family and her younger brother is understanding better that his big sister is not just a big ol' meanie or a selfish person.  And once again, I have a new layer of understanding that is enhancing our relationship and our family dynamic.