The Color Four - A Mini-Documentary

Last year, Meredith was the subject of a mini-documentary film challenge.  A group of three university students were looking for a topic and had recently read an article about how Meredith's school had created an innovative environment for students with learning disabilities.  They came to the school and asked to interview some students, thinking that their film was going to be about this unique school.

After they learned about Meredith's unique learning and thinking style during her interview, they changed the focus of their film a bit and focused more on Meredith.  In the beginning of the film, Meredith is drawing and describing her number 4's personality.  It's a bit hard to hear, but she talks about how her number four likes snails and in the drawing, you can faintly see the girl holding a snail with the number four on it.  This is an example of her ordinal-linguistic personification (OLP) and how she personifies numbers.

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.

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...    

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!