they understand. We routinely use expressions that mean something different than the words. Consider these: you are my sunshine, opportunity knocks, make a bee-line. To ‘get the picture’ requires not only literal dictionary word meaning, but how we picture the idea words create.
Our brain uses picture thinking daily. When picture-thinking our brain receives what we’re imagining. Many famous people known for their picture-thinking intelligence -- Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Charles Schwab, Jay Leno – succeed because of their ability to think in pictures. These same people struggled with word-thinking tasks such as reading, writing, spelling.
How can this be? Well, when your brain works best by imagining what you’re reading, and you come upon a word that has no picture, you ‘draw a blank’. We can easily picture things – flower, elephant. Other words with less easily pictured meanings -- on, of, was – ‘draw a blank’. What’s a picture thinker to do? might see the letters in different order -- no, for, saw. Gets confusing, doesn’t it?
Research shows that becoming aware of the feeling that comes with the Uncertainty that accompanies words with ‘no’ picture is at the root of substituting other words (saw/was, on/no, of/for), getting a different picture than the author intended. This is NOT because of something wrong with your brain. Instead that feeling is when your imagination turns on to try and help you. The idea of being ‘present’ ‘oriented’ ‘focus’ is when a dyslexic knows to shut off their creativity so their brain can get what their real eyes are seeing – instead of substituting words.