I provide programs of the Davis Dyslexia Association International (www.dyslexia.com) and the Davis Autism Approach (www.davisautism.com).  In my 30 years experience before learning about Davis, I used the best word thinking approaches to help the learner put-together or take-apart sounds to read and spell words. Before the Davis approach recognized the value of employing our natural picture thinking, all dyslexia approaches relied on relating sounds and symbols.  We know that one size does not fit all, thus one way of doing things will not help everyone. 

With dyslexic thinkers, using word-thinking approaches is like trying to download Apple into Microsoft, both being wonderful systems.  Educators and parents can be fooled when a person gains the skill of recognizing and naming words, yet lacks understanding, remains confused and frustrated, often with the feeling of dislike for the activity, upset stomach, frustration when all their trying results in little success. 
 
With autistic thinkers, the world they live in feels made up of random pieces – and each piece is in the ‘now’.  When stuck in the ‘now’, many experiences surrounding them can be overwhelming or be the opposite and not register in their consciousness. The resulting behaviors look like sensory sensitivities and ADD hyper- or hypo- attentiveness. 

The Davis approach is different from every other approach – A fully certified Davis Provider gives the learner credit for being smart in a picture thinking way and provides them with tools to rely on the certainty that comes with knowing how to make sense of language whether reading, spelling or writing. 

It took me decades to discover and two years for each certification with the Davis Dyslexia and Autism Approaches to offer learners a way to ‘make sense’.  Don’t wait until you’ve tried other approaches only to realize that no matter how you try to get the information into the brain, confusion and anxiousness turn on a stream of uncertain possible outcomes picture-thinkers are capable of creating in their multidimensional way;  this results is uncertainty about what is accurately occurring. 

If you and your child and teacher are not getting expected results, consider the possibility that using the only approach relying on getting to the root of struggles using their creative, picture thinking intelligence will be their way of ‘making sense’.

Q -  My children are great workers and players.  They work hard at doing what they’re asked to do, but sometimes getting their attention is difficult.  As a matter of fact, my daughter’s teacher tells me that she daydreams too much.  What can or should I do about this? 

A - Everyone daydreams sometime.  Daydreams don’t just happen; they are most likely prompted by an event  we see, hear, smell, feel, or taste, or memories that bring us back to something.  The triggering event turns our imagination on. 
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Other triggers – curiosity, boredom, confusion, and fear – may bring new or old ideas to mind.  During the time that we are seeing what our imagination shows us, the real world drops away, as our brain receives our imagined scene.  
 
Most of us use our picture thinking daily.  Because picture thinking is subliminal – faster than a person can be aware of – you may not be aware that you think in pictures. You will simply have a rich sense of ideas; call this intuition or nonverbal intelligence. 

Sometimes a person’s tendency for picture thinking is a cause for alarm as with a child whose parent brought her to me because of her ability to ‘see things’ and her poor reading ability. Sure enough, the daughter told me that I was surrounded by a field of pink.  What a relief to both parents and child to understand  her ability to ‘see things’ occurs when her imagination/mind’s eye turns on. Through our work together she realized she controls her mind’s eye on/off switch.

Simply stated, daydreaming is an automatic action for strong creative picture thinkers.  It is a survival solution when trying to solve the confusion accompanying a situation or a new word when reading.  Understanding how it feels when daydreaming occurs, allows her to shut off her imagination so her brain will see only the real letters so she stands a better chance of recognizing the word. 

Embrace your daughter’s daydreaming, provide her the perspective that daydreaming is not BAD, but a good ability of her great brain.  Check to see which of the triggers fits when she daydreams:  Curiosity, Confusion, Boredom, Fear. 

This automatic picture thinking can be interpreted as disability, rather than the ability that picture thinking is. If the help she receives in reading, spelling, writing, or understanding the spoken word is tedious and discouraging for her, consider the possibility that providing her the tools and understanding that come with respecting her picture thinking will give her control and pride about her way of thinking.
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Our perspective creates what we see.   A three year old put his shoes on by himself.  His mother noticed the left shoe was on the right foot.  She said, “Son, your shoes are on the wrong feet.”  He looked up at her with a raised brow and said, “Don’t kid me, Mom.  I know  they’re my feet.”   

Of children with reading difficulties, almost half have problems that are not apparent until 4th grade. From Kindergarten to Grade 3, focus is on ‘learning to read’. By 4th grade, now the focus is on ‘reading to learn’.  Some students have no difficulties with letter or word recognition or phonetic decoding. Yet, their reading difficulty is that they are unable to read fluently or comprehend what they read.

Linguistically, we know that a word has three parts: what it looks like (spelling), what it sounds like (pronunciation), and what it means (definition/picture sense).

A learner who is struggling with comprehension is probably lacking knowledge of what the word truly means.

Words without ‘meaning’, the third part of the word, hamper access to getting ‘the picture’ the author intended.  Often our picture thinking or our non-verbal intelligence demands more than the ability to recognize how to say a word. 

Sometimes it’s the small words we see everywhere (the, so, for, yet) or words with multiple meanings (run, of), or look like other words (on/no/one, of/if/off) that create confusion.  For picture thinkers sensing no picture or uncertainty of which picture associated with a word, is like reading a sentence with holes in it, like swiss cheese.  Another analogy: like viewing a movie where a few frames are missing every few seconds – would you stay for the whole movie?

I recall a 17 year old who could read, and did so with such great expression she often read aloud in class.  The problem she experienced was that she did not understand what she read.  The resulting stress and self-doubt hampered her ability to use the information she read in discussion and testing.

What to do: Take this learner through Davis Orientation Counseling® with the understanding that their great brain (so good at turning on its picture thinking) turns on automatically - and they can turn it off when it gets in the way of seeing the actual words written on the page. Introduce Davis Symbol Mastery®; this is an excellent method that helps the learner to integrate the three parts of essential words. Practice the Davis Sight Exercises - they increase reading fluency.

Learning Options matches short term programs that provide life-long results to take advantage of our natural way of thinking.  When a screening determines hands-on picture thinking strengths, acceptance into the program guarantees changes for the better.

Before the invention of written language, dyslexia and other focus-based and symbol-based ‘dis’abilities didn't exist.  Instead, persons who struggle with written language were likely custodians of oral history because of their excellent ability to memorize and transmit the spoken word.

Imaginative play, an early childhood staple, is rife with examples of intuitive thought and nonverbal thinking. Kids great at this perceive and formulate mental concepts faster than other people, and easily perceive imagination as reality. 

We see kids seamlessly slipping in and out of imagination during their play.  This nonverbal mode of thinking can cause difficulty in learning written language. How?  When efforts to read or write are met with our kids automatic slipping into imagination, they do not come out with words or symbols you expect.  How is this fair?  Their imagination has served them well in other ways, why not with this?

We interpret these difficulties as issues with focus. Unaddressed, this becomes a major complaint, rather than revered gift. 

Being in the real world is a feeling, just as being in the imaginary world is a feeling.  Knowing that negotiating the real world requires both our imaginary-self and real-self to work together is the essence of ‘focus’. 
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By simply recognizing the feeling of focus (being present, oriented), getting tools to make that easier, finding symbols or situations that trigger the need to use their imagination and how to resolve these triggers, you’ll be providing them the best of both worlds.

Keep on doing what you are doing with giving them opportunities to enjoy their creativity alone, with other kids, in group activities, with you.  Take some time to investigate the Davis® tools that help people succeed because of, not despite, their natural way of thinking.  Call, email, or visit my website to consider more Learning Options with which children and adults are empowered.