How do you "see" words and numbers?

[Philabuster]

My number visualization is very similar to nellie.

Numbers start at Zero. They go up on an incline to 10, then make a 90° left turn. 11-20 go downhill slightly to 20 then another 90° left turn. 20-30 go back uphill, then at 31, it makes a 180 left turn uphill (kinda like a switchback road up a mountain). The switchbacks continue until 100, then turn in the same direction as the 1-10 incline and take a long slow uphill to infinity.

Negative numbers are just a long slow downhill infinity slope from zero about 45° off from 1-10 numbers.

Now visualizing calendar years are a whole other system of lines, turns and slopes.

REPORT ABUSE

[Patte Rosebank]

Speaking of time, when you draw a clock, do you write in all the numbers from 1-12, or do you write the 12, 6, 9, and 3 first and fill in the other numbers after that?

Apparently, this is one of the tests psychologists give you to see how your brain works.

REPORT ABUSE

[Ivriniel]

Haggis: I have to disagree that ADD has something to do with being good at visualizing, because visualizing is something that does not come naturally to me at all.

Larynxa: I also have left-right confusion. I’m a lefty, but no one ever tried to make me switch. I’m so grateful to my parents on that front, because my graphomotor skills are bad enough without being forced to use my weaker hand.

Who tested you for left-right confusion? I have a student right now that I would be curious to see tested that way. The poor kid can’t do the Hokey Pokey. He keeps switching limbs as we put them in and out. The other day, he finally got it on the last limb, but he had to physically hold back the wrong leg with both hands to stop himself from putting it in. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

REPORT ABUSE

[nellie]

Larynxa: Just tried your clock thing and I would put the 12, 6,9 and 3 first. Gee never thought about that before! What’s it supposed to mean? LOL not sure I want to know!

REPORT ABUSE

[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

It means you will never be a clock maker.

What if it’s a digital clock?

Already when we are playing a board game and it says, “PLAY WILL PROCEED CLOCKWISE” my kids take a while to figure it out.

Another lost skill, alas. And neither of em knows how to hitch a horse to the buggy.

Signed,

The Old Coot,

Rick

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

I love it Rick,

Alas! to not apreciate the elegence of an analog time piece what is this world coming to! I guess time marches on!

K

REPORT ABUSE

[jjbphoto]

i do not have to many problems with number able to figure them out in my head ok. sometime easy sometimes not so much. but words and reading kill me all the way. i work in the architectural field and have no problem figuring out how to put something together from scratch. but if you ask me to put notes to the detail or write an email i spend more time doing that and really not doing a good job at it either. i have been in special ed classes my whole life even in college i had taken a learning disabilities class and found i have one. o yes here i am off onto another thing when i was talking about numbers. i see them and they makes sense when i say them out load i flip the numbers around i.e. 650 i would say 605. i see 650 i know it is 650 but still say it wrong. so last night i watched ADD and loving it for the first time and cried like a big baby that i finally understand what is wrong with me. i have really been having problems lately and tried to explain to wife and she just couldnt understand where i was coming from till we watched it last night and we both had a big OOOO moment. sorry for rambling on and on about anything and everything

REPORT ABUSE

[Curlymoe115]

I think the visualization is why I never enjoy a movie as much as I do a book. My world is populated by characters from the book and I picture the story as it unfolds. I think that is why if I find that I have started in the middle of a series I have to go back to the beginning and start so I can develop the “whole world” of these characters. I love to read because the characters always follow my direction. Recently read the graphic novel of a series that was later “made” into a television series. Of course you are trying to put the characters from the tv series into the book but they just don’t neatly fit the story.

I also have always had a really hard time with left and right and for a compass I always go top bottom left and right which is of course N S W E. If I try to do it the other way I get messed up. In the city I live I picture the city laid out on the map and head for the direction of one of the known landmarks, so if I am going North West I am heading towards West Edmonton Mall. If I am going South Central I am heading toward the Edmonton International airport. This way I usually can find my way even if a street ends and I have to backtrack along the river. I could never do Hokey Pokey and Aloutte was impossible. I was always a few minutes behind.

REPORT ABUSE

[Curlymoe115]

jjbphoto – in our family there are number people and their are letter people. My brother was very smart but sit him down with a book and he always felt out of sync. It sounds as though you have a disconnect between your mechanical brain and your verbal brain. When you are doing it it makes perfect sense and you can see it laid out perfectly in your mind. Therefore you follow these steps that you see and complete the project. Then you are asked to sit down and describe using letter instead of the numbers that you see. So it doesn’t come out because these are two different languages and you are not great with the math/english dictionary. That is why there are technical writers that specialize in translating this from one language to another. What would be ideal would be a partner or secretary that you can describe the sequential steps to and that can help you translate this.

REPORT ABUSE

[jjbphoto]

curlymoe115, where is Larry? i had just watched the ADD and loving it and was just totally emotional at the time and just needed to vent. i really appreciate your input. i was tested as a kid in 4th grade and then after that spent the rest of my school years in one special ed class after another. went to college years later and still couldn’t do it so got tested for learning disability and found i was at a 5th grade reading level. i have improved since then a little. i spend allot of time reading and rereading codes and technical manuals for work. still most of the time i have to read it 2 or 3 times and still ask if i am understanding it correctly. but right now i am just happy to have a job.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

jjbphoto

I feel your pain. our stories are similar. 2-3rd grade diagnosis and un-medicated. Thinking about meds now… Sounds like you struggle with dyslexia. Try reading out loud for extra brain processing. It takes longer but “forces” your concentration to focus more. I have to do that with stuff i find boring or long-winded and wordy.

Hey curlymoe, have you ever thought that the ability to come up with fantastic mental imagery when reading comes from the “inattentive” faculty of our “disorder”? Ever noticed how little girls with ADD Primarily Inattentive Type can come up with amazingly rich and imaginative fantasies during play? I remember getting into books sometimes and just “losing myself” that way. And I am the combined type! Sometimes teacher would find me in hyperfocus while reading and accuse me of sleeping at my desk! lol.

REPORT ABUSE

[Curlymoe115]

Yeah I was always terribly creative especially when imagining my world. The blue bullets world was one for truth and justice and they didn’t mind that I talked all the time and answered every question without giving other people a chance. A problem with reading comprehension seems to be a lot higher then a lot of people want to acknowledge. That isn’t the same as “not being able to read” but fully understanding what you are reading is a skill that has to be practiced. And technical writing and manuals are a different kettle of fish altogether. Especially since the writers of these manuals do not speak the same language as most of their readers. They assume that you are technically at the same level as them and treat you as though most of this is just a light review. It is like going to a sporting or theatre event for the first time. No one has names and so you are watching the action with no real idea of who is doing what. So when the person in the next seat leans over to ask you who just scored you shrug and say you have no idea. When I was programming and had to write manuals for the programs I would use my 80 year old father in law as my target audience. If I could explain it to him in a language that he could understand and teach him to use the program then I felt fairly safe that it was understandable to a good portion of the population. Therefore I had to throw out everything that I knew and just follow the program like a beginner.

I am also a combined subtype and always have been. I was extremely active and day dreamer at the same time. I always hum or otherwise use my mind to keep myself from feeling bored. I usually have a book for traffic lights, or start a fantasy for long trips to keep myself occupied. I can even dream two dreams at one time. I think it helps that my world is made up of sounds, and pictures and lights. As long as I can keep my brain busy I can keep my body still. My kids hate us being in public and I start humming or singing along with the song playing in my head, or I join another conversation that is happening around me. They just don’t understand the compulsion.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

Wow Curly,,, I really liked reading your last post. so much to think about it was like fireworks popping off in my head Oh I want to respond to that no that no that… let me pick out some of the brighter ones…

First of all, I have a tremendous talent for reading and comprehension. When I was in 1st grade I literally had a 5th grade reading level. Ironically I sometimes have to read a paragraph several times to “get it” and I usually use a “voice” in my head to “hear” the author “speaking” the text to me. For this very reason I LOVE audiobooks. (side note: Frank Mccort’s Teacher Man; Marley and Me, and A brief history of everything, 5 people you meet in heaven all good books on audio). My favorite application of reading is Drama/Theater. I absorbed as much acting training as I could in High school and college without declaring a Major in it. I LOVE to do improv…

Reading your post again…

“Especially since the writers of these manuals do not speak the same language as most of their readers. They assume that you are technically at the same level as them and treat you as though most of this is just a light review. “

Well for them it is… you’ll get up to speed with more practice. I like your example of “beginner’s mind” using your father as a test subject – brilliant! Check out Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind. I imagine you reading the manuals and thinking “get to the point! show me where the action is this is all trivial bs!” (thank god for spell check i am typing way too excitedly!). This is actually good i think because you are keeping the programming accessible to non-engineering folks and inviting the previous generation (your dad – in law) to join as a real-world test subject.

Kettle of fish … very amusing colloquialism! I live in Southwestern WA love cooking and hate fishing LOL

A BOOK for traffic lights!? WOW you are either very fortunate or very good at switching from one task to another – NOT ME – this is not advisable for people like me who need to keep focused on one thing and stay there – they talked about this in the film. Have you ever been so engrossed that you had missed a green light or had someone honk at you at a green light? I used to drive 40 miles on the interstate to go to work. to keep myself from speeding 15-20mph over the limit I listened to audio books in my stock car stereo. I loved it!

Hey our own kids think we are weird no matter what, but at least we’re happy! Keep singing my busy minded friend. It has been fun, C-ya later!?

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

My son and I see things the same way.

It is a hard aspect of ADD to master, that links your creative and dream state mind to the conscious.

When I have memories and try to recall details of numbers or events I see them like layers of video or

code on a computer and often in 3d.

If focused THIS CAN BE A VERY POWERFUL TALENT.

It is just short of having an Eidetic Memory

The bad side is that often even simple thoughts and memories can come back in High Definition like that

this can cause a lot of confusion, can invoke feelings of despair or nostalgia and can be very distracting if you can’t keep it in check

But it has saved me SO MUCH TIME around the house and at work

I can just go in to the memory and see where i forgot stuff or where things others need to go find are.

Same thing with names and phone numbers

REPORT ABUSE

[powcat]

NUMBERS: I have a great memory for birthdays and addresses; can usually remember these after consciously writing them down once or twice. But not so for phone numbers; I would have to repeat the number out loud several times to remember it until I could write it down/ punch it in. Money is okay if I’m not distracted; otherwise, confusing. The time: something else altogether.

WORDS: I am really good at spelling because a word will look wrong to me if it’s spelled wrong; I visually remember what it looks like. I also learned to read very early; I remember reading aloud to my kindergarten class! crazy.

I learn better if I can read something in front of me, rather than listen. On the other hand, I’m a songwriter…

I have a poor memory for stuff like types of cars or even colours, but I have done visual arts most of my life…

so I get confused about what kind of ‘learner’ I am; I seem to be all over the place.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts