| A child or adult with Autism or a | | | | frustration as they may not be processed at |
| Communication disorder will have difficulties | | | | the speed expected. This lag in processing |
| fitting into our extremely verbal world. | | | | time can create resistance, immature |
| These difficulties can create isolation from | | | | behavior, odd play, tantrums or reluctance to |
| others and threatening walls of silence. | | | | participate. As a result the normal teaching |
| However, there is a specific sub group of | | | | methods that are based on processing incoming |
| people diagnosed with these disorders who | | | | language can fail. |
| have a hyper-visual system. In these cases, | | | | |
| when the visual system is harnessed, teaching | | | | Sequencing & Associating |
| communication becomes much easier. | | | | |
| | | | Visual people often use the brain's |
| I Rode the Train, I Want to be an Engineer | | | | Associator to form memories. They learn of a |
| | | | new idea and they relate that idea to their |
| Hyper-visual people are experiencing visually | | | | own knowledge base. The opposite of the |
| when speaking. Their communications may | | | | Associator is the Sequencer from the verbal |
| appear to be almost nonsensical rambling but | | | | pathway. |
| in fact they are following a very logical | | | | |
| pattern. The difference is the pattern | | | | The Sequencer is rigid and ordering, one |
| followed is visual rather than verbal. The | | | | sound following another to make a word, words |
| exchange below illustrates this point. | | | | produced in specific order to form |
| | | | grammatically correct sentences and ideas |
| I asked Mark, a college student, "How did you | | | | linked in order to make paragraphs. |
| get here today?" He replied, I took the train | | | | |
| in from Long Island. My family went to the | | | | The Associator is time-independent and the |
| beach (Mark was seeing himself on the train | | | | Sequencer is very time based. Understanding |
| but did not say this). Maybe I will be a | | | | consequences depends on a time based |
| engineer. The reason I like engineering is | | | | understanding of cause and effect. |
| that there are serious problems. (Mark was | | | | |
| thinking about being a transportation | | | | My son, Whitney, at age 4, wanted to jump off |
| engineering and designing train tracks and | | | | of the roof to fly like Superman, without |
| freeway intersections) I have always been | | | | understanding, from verbal reasoning, the |
| good in math. When teachers are difficult to | | | | danger involved. Whitney would sit mesmerized |
| understand. (Mark is seeing himself at school | | | | watching Disney's Snow White as if he were |
| doing well except when the teacher is | | | | deaf. In fact, at times, I could scream in |
| confusing and then associating to a video he | | | | his ear and he could not hear me even though |
| watched about Einstein)Like Dr. Einstein- | | | | all of the parts of his ear to brain |
| There was an exhibit on Einstein at the | | | | physiology were judged to be normal. At |
| history museum did you see it? | | | | these times his visual brain powered by his |
| | | | associator were shutting down his verbal |
| Mark was attempting to answer my question but | | | | sensory system. |
| his picture mind took him on quite a ride as | | | | |
| one picture blended into the next from the | | | | If the pictures drive the thought, children |
| train- to a vacation to an engineering career | | | | can appear to be oblivious to cause and |
| to Einstein, at the museum. The expected | | | | effect. They may disregard threatened |
| answer was "TRAIN". This very verbal | | | | consequences. Often Mavericks feel that they |
| illustration demonstrates how the visual | | | | must complete the pattern to finish the |
| pathway can create leap-frog thinking-which | | | | thought they have developed through the |
| to verbal people can seem like impulsivity. | | | | associator before they can transition to the |
| | | | next idea. If the thought is disrupted the |
| Instead of negotiating the world with verbal | | | | Maverick may hit a wall and resort to talking |
| reasoning, a visual person often negotiates | | | | with lines from a movie or echoing what was |
| with patterns. As a result the "sameness of | | | | said or get stuck like a broken record and |
| routines" becomes the template to make sense | | | | repeat the same thing over and over again. |
| of the chaos of everyday life. We refer to | | | | |
| these visual learners as "Mavericks." We | | | | With the appropriate training, Mavericks can |
| often ask Mavericks to adjust to changes in | | | | learn effective verbal communication. The |
| schedule or adjustments in plans based on how | | | | teaching methods must first then harness the |
| we typically explain things - by talking. | | | | visual system first before moving forward to |
| These words can create more confusion and | | | | teaching communication. |