Writing in Your Mind

Meredith told me recently that she likes writing.  Thinking about her creative potential, I asked her if she ever tries writing stories.  She said, "Yes, I've tried before...well...in my mind."  Then she went on to say that a lot of times in school when she's supposed to be writing an essay, it appears to her teachers that she's not starting on her work and will come up to her and say, "Get to work, Meredith!" or tap her on the shoulder, startling her out of her thinking. 

She explained that it looks like she isn't doing anything, or spacing out, but what she is actually doing is composing her entire essay in her mind.  She literally sees her hands typing on a typewriter in her mind and the words come out on the screen.  Then, she takes time (mentally) to rearrange all the sentences, paragraphs, etc.  She has a checklist of all the things she has to do.  When she is all done, then she'll go to the computer and just copy what she already composed in her mind, literally just typing out what she sees. 

She said sometimes it's really funny because in order to stay out of trouble, she'll go to the computer and move her hands like she's typing (while she's thinking) and ends up getting a bunch of random letters on the screen.  It's all just a cover up because she has to compose in her mind, not on the screen.  

She also said she can understand how it looks like she's not doing anything from other people's point of view.  In fact, she can tell who all the visual thinkers are at school because she'll walk by and see kids staring off into space. 

It explains a lot of things for me.  Like teachers, I also nag her at home to get to work.  It's so confusing because she'll complain about being so stressed out about an essay she has to write, but she's not "doing" anything about it.  Now I understand that everyone in the house is probably distracting her from the work she is doing in her mind, thinking that she is "available" to do other things like take out the garbage.  She always cranks it out on the computer really quickly in the end, and now I know why.

My husband is the exact same way.  We worked in the same office for a couple of weeks once, and I was so embarrassed because it looked like he was just sitting around not doing anything; at the same time it was confusing because he always ultimately delivered.  He said he is still constantly misunderstood at work.  He has a hard time getting presentations done (in his mind), because it looks like he's not doing anything and people stop by to talk to him in his cube and then don't understand why he gets angry for them interrupting him.

These highly visual thinkers sure are misunderstood!!

Math Is Hard If Trees Can't Grow In Volcanos

As discussed in previous posts, some people experience a form of synesthesia called Ordinal-Linguistic Personification or OLP. From what I have read on Facebook pages where synesthetes share their experiences, people with OLP have very strong and specific experiences of numbers and other similar ordinal things--days of the week, for example--as personalities. Another thing that stands out reading about other OLP synesthetes' experiences is that this personification can cause some synesthetes problems in math.

Last summer, Meredith began to spend time with a new friend. As they spent more time together, I began to observe many traits in Meredith's friend that suggested she might have synesthesia. In asking her a few simple questions (I almost always start with, "Do your days of the week have a color?" as that seems to be one the most common forms of synesthesia), it became pretty obvious that she was very synesthetic.

As the three of us discussed the girls' similarities, we began talking about numbers and math. Both girls said that they had a terrible time with math facts. However, it was clear that both girls were intellectually advanced in other areas. I confirmed with the friend's mother that this was the case. On educational testing, both girls scored very poorly on math facts, but very high in math concepts. That seemed very peculiar to me and I was exploring with the girls why that might be.

I asked them how their OLP/synesthesia interfered with math facts. Meredith's friend quickly came up with an example. To her, number nine was a wise, old tree and zero was a volcano. She explained that if she has to add nine plus zero, she comes up with nothing, or zero, because she knows that trees don't grow in volcanoes. She told me in a very sincere manner and had a look on her face as if she was hoping I could shed some light on how she could get around this fact that was very real for her.

She offered a second example. When she would have to add two numbers together and the sum was a different color (in her mind) than the combination of the two numbers' individual color, she would be confused. For instance, if she saw 5 as blue and 6 as red, she would expect the answer (11) to be purple. But for her, 11 is yellow. She told me that once a teacher was helping her and she told the teacher, "...but the answer is yellow," and after her teacher gave her an odd look, she dropped it.

Bringing these examples to the fore and discussing them, I sensed that for the first time, Meredith's friend realized that this personification may be the reason why she has struggled with math facts. It was as if a lightbulb went off and she was able to look at her experiences from outside herself. We talked about ways she might be able to get around her issues with the wise, old tree and the volcano. Maybe she could figure out certain scenarios in which trees could grow in volcanoes. I brought this issue to the staff at their school which they now both attended. I was happy to hear that instead of trying to "cure" this issue, they worked with Meredith's friend's personal framework. Her friend began writing different story lines and scenarios for those math facts that confused her.

I asked Meredith if she remembered a time she said something to a teacher about some synesthetic experience and received an odd look. (It seems relatively common that synesthetes have some early negative encounter with a friend, parent, or teacher after sharing something about their unique synesthetic experiences and that may be one reason they keep it to themselves from that point on. For example, once I was at a party and a guy brought up the fact that his wife always makes fun of him because he says his letters and words have different colors. His wife jumped in and said something to the effect of, "I know! Isn't he just silly?!?" That was a fun moment for me to inform her that no, he was not!) Meredith told me that in second grade, her teacher was holding up flashcards with the different vowel sounds on them (e.g., short a, long a). The class was supposed to say the correct pronunciation of that particular vowel sound out loud when the teacher flashed the card. But when the teacher held up the "short a" flashcard, for example, Meredith would say, "Red," as she sees the letter A as red. Meredith laughed because she said her teacher would just keep holding the flashcard closer and closer to her face hoping to elicit the correct response from her.

It seems to be a surprise to most synesthetes that not everybody experiences the world like they do with different synesthetic experiences. After all, most people probably assume that everyone thinks more or less in a similar fashion and thus, never question it as being "different." In my experience with my family, friends, and other people I have met or read about online, learning that they experience the world a little differently than most due to their synesthesia allows them to bring their unique experiences to the foreground for the first time and perhaps gain some insights as to why they may have felt different at times or had some confusion. Many have expressed relief that they now really understand what is going on.

With child synesthestes who struggle in school, I believe that recognizing their synesthesia is very important in preventing any roadblocks to their school success and self-confidence. As I wrote in an earlier post, Meredith was finally able to figure out how to get around her number personalities distracting her in math class and as a result, her math scores have increased significantly. Perhaps she would have eventually figured it out on her own, but I believe if she can be an active participant in that process and make it happen sooner rather than later, she will be better off. She would experience less confusion, stress, and falling behind in school. That is why I am passionate about spreading the word about synesthesia and how it may impact a child's learning and school experience.

Song Associations and Earworms

I recently learned of more examples of how Meredith visualizes almost everything, including things she hears.

Meredith shared with me that when she sees or thinks of something that reminds her of a song, one of her little ants puts the song on a record player.

If Meredith has an earworm (a song that gets stuck in your head), it shows up on the repeat menu of an ipod.

And of course, she can always go to the Kariokie-Dokie to get the lyrics to any song!

Getting Your Numbers Out of the Way for Math Class

As I discussed in previous posts (here and here), Meredith's numbers are characters.  This is a form of synesthesia called Ordinal Linguistic Personification, or OLP.  From what I've heard from other synesthetes, OLP can sometimes make math harder in the sense that the numbers are distracting to the task at hand.  For example, some numbers might not get along, so it is uncomfortable to add them together. Or maybe the numbers are in the middle of a cooking competition and are divided up into teams (as once was the case for Meredith); so when two numbers who are on different teams need to be added together, it doesn't make sense.

Recently, however, we've noticed that Meredith seems to be having a much easier time in math. When asking Meredith about this, she said that she finally figured a way to get her number characters out of the way so that they don't distract her anymore.  Before she goes into math class, Merebith and Dogot line up all the numbers on one of those "hold-a-ring walking ropes" used in preschools and walk the numbers into a closet, where they remain until class is over!  Apparently the numbers are pretty gullible and easy to manipulate.  When math class is over, all the numbers pile out of the closet and usually most of them are gasping for fresh air since one of the numbers has a little problem with gas...    

Use the "Kariokie-Dokie" to Remember Song Lyrics

I've written before about how Meredith loves music and has an uncanny memory for song lyrics. Today, Meredith explained that she is able to do this because she designed a system in her mind to help her remember the lyrics. All she has to do is head on over to the "Kariokie-Dokie!" 

The Kariokie-Dokie is a karaoke place where Merebith loves to go sing. The Kariokie-Dokie is a bit like a theatre with a big screen and seating. Songs play on the screen with the lyrics, just like you see at any typical karaoke bar. The background visuals on the screen are the synesthetic colors and patterns that Meredith sees when she hears that particular song.

Merebith and her friends love to have karaoke competitions. Merebith has won three karaoke trophies already! Of course, Dogot always loses competitions because he sings in his robot-like voice. The security ants like to participate as well.   

Meredith explained that it takes about three times listening to a song to get the lyrics down--the first time to get the tune and two more times to get all the lyrics. Once she's got them, they are permanently in the Kariokie-Dokie system and she can refer to them anytime she wants to. Pretty soon, however, she has the lyrics committed to memory and doesn't need to look at the karaoke screen anymore.

Meredith and I always talk about the irony that she can remember all the lyrics to songs even when words are not her friend in other settings. Now, however, it makes sense because when she is singing, she is accessing a dynamic, mental visual system to "see" the words.  And the fact that after a period of time she no longer needs to refer to the karaoke screen is testament that processing information (even words) through a visual thinking circuit is what ultimately solidifies information into knowledge and long-term memory for her and other highly visual thinkers

Do Your Planets Have Papparazzi, Too?

One day, Meredith and I were laying in my bed talking and one of those incredible conversations unfolded little by little.

She started by saying, "You know what the weirdest thing to me is? Gravity." We talked about it for a few minutes and the conversation took a predictable course into the topic of space in general. Meredith shared with me that she always thought of the planets as different colors. Pluto, for example, was purple. At one point, I asked her what color Saturn was and she said, "Whoops, Mrs. Toler forgot Saturn in that picture. Let me get another picture." What she was saying was that during our conversation, she was looking at a mental picture she had of the Solar System from Mrs. Toler. Mrs. Toler was her third grade teacher. Meredith must have been looking at a picture her teacher had drawn on the board of the Solar System in which Saturn was missing. Fortunately, Meredith has multiple mental pictures of the Solar System.  She said it's hard to count, but she estimates maybe she has about 100 pictures in her mind.

So, as Meredith buried her head in the pillow, pausing the conversation while she was looking for a more complete mental picture of the Solar System, I asked her where exactly she was looking for this new picture. She explained to me that she has three places to look for space. There is "space" as in a physical area like a person's bedroom or a museum room. Then there is "space" like in your personal space (or your "space bubble" she explained). Lastly, there is a file on "space" as in outer space.

I asked her if she remembered when one day she told me that she had gone to her mental pictures of the Solar System and started labeling it with words for the first time. It was about two weeks after we started our therapy with Dr. Florance to improve her verbal thinking system. It was one of the obvious signs that the therapy was really working.  It was so remarkable. Now instead of just thinking of the Solar System in pictures, she was thinking of it in pictures AND words.

Then, of course, Meredith started telling me all about each planet and how they were each different personalities.  (I didn't know this at the time, but this is another example of her object-personification synesthesia.)

First, there is Sunphie, the Sun. She is bossy and talks like a California teenager.  For example, she tells Vestean (Venus), "You should really get some life on your planet."  Vestean answers back, "Why don't YOU have life?"  Sunphie replies, "Because I'M smokin' hot!"

Mercury and Mars are brothers--Max and Mark Murcer.  Mark is always mad at Max because he copies him.

Earth is the Peacemaker and his name is Earthen.  He is SO happy all the time since he is the only planet with life.  Earth's Moon is kind of boring.  He says, "Hello...thank you for landing on my face."  He is sort of like a butler for Earthen.  But as he circles Earth, he moves close to Vestean who is always asking him for things when he passes by.

The funniest and most clever thing of all, to me, is that she said the stars are the paparazzi taking pictures of all the planets.  The stars' twinkling, of course, is the flash going off on their cameras.

Next comes sophisticated Jupiter whose name is SJ.  He says, "Hello, fellow citizens!"  The hurricane is his birthmark. Saturn is very mature, and Neptune is hyper, constantly saying, "Hi star, hi star, hi star..."

Poor Uranus is named Urinater and he always has to pee, as you can tell from the expression on his face.  Lastly, shy little Pluto is named Penelope Purple.  Everyone else calls her "Penelope P."

Meredith said she could talk about the Solar System for hours and hours, but of course that would bore everyone!

Music is the "Go-To"

I recently read this great post by a teen with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), "Music is my 'Easy' Button." Through that post, she enlightened me to three main reasons why music is so much more appealing than talking for people with APD:

1.  Talking (for those with APD) is monotone.  Music is the antithesis to monotone.
2.  Talking is fast.  Music has long pauses, which makes processing the words much easier.
3.  Talking is random.  Music has a beat or pattern, which helps in processing and remembering the words.

What a smart young lady to analyze why music is so helpful to her. I asked Meredith if this was the case for her as well and she definitely agreed. She expanded on the fact that music has long pauses by saying that each word itself is drawn out, and as a result, easier to process.

One thing I have always been curious about is why it is that Meredith struggles with repeating conversations that she has had, yet can remember all the words to almost every song she hears.

I suspect that synesthesia has something to do with how easy it is for Meredith to remember song lyrics. I know that Meredith sees colors when she hears music. When I asked her how she remembers the words, she said that along with the seeing colors from the music, she sees the words as well--kind of like you would see on a karaoke screen I imagine.  (This sounds like what some people describe as "ticker-tape synesthesia.") Each song has different colors and lyrics. For example, one song might elicit blue and purple and the words would be green. I would think that in some form or another, this must help her in remembering the lyrics.

One other interesting thing Meredith told me was that she can listen to music in her mind.  Not imagining the music, but actually hearing it.  Here is a story that explains this a little bit...

Meredith and one of her good friends like to send videos to each other. Meredith told me that this morning, she was singing a song (into a hairbrush microphone) and recorded it for her friend. When she played it back to herself, she was surprised because she didn't hear the music playing in the background along with her singing.  She then realized that the music she thought was playing out loud was actually just in her head!