I can recall a photographic image of someone’s face far better than I can recall a living image; the recalled photographic image is by no means clear and precise, but it is better than the almost nothing I have in the case of a living image. Also, the better I know someone, the less precisely am I able to visualise what he or she looks like. I have described this by saying that when I get to know someone well, that person “disappears into me”. What I am meaning by this is that I feel that I cannot recall the visual appearance of a person for whom I have strong emotional feelings because there is so much else about that person that I know, and so much else about what I know that is much more important than the outward appearance of that person, that the superficial outward aspect is lost beneath the weight and volume of all else I know.

I would love to be able to bring to mind and play with clear, vivid images and I have been thinking about the matter on and off over the past few months. I’ve been experimenting by looking very carefully at familiar objects in my immediate environment and then looking away and trying to recall a picture of the object in my mind. For instance, I tried to recall what our dining room chairs look like. Yes, they are wooden, dark wood, yes, they have padded seats that I can visualise, but what do the back-rests of the chairs look like? I had no idea at all. So I went to have a look, then I studied them very carefully; looked away, tried to recall the image; studied the back-rests of the chairs again; looked away …. And, after many tries, I thought I had the image of the design of the back-rests of the chairs firmly memorised. Well, that was about a week ago. As I sit here now at the computer, the dining room chairs and table are right behind me. I am in fact sitting on one of the chairs. And I cannot recall what the backrest looks like!

This morning, having woken up very early, I was lying in bed in the dark and experimenting with trying to visualise things. I have recently downloaded some information on Image Streaming – http://www.winwenger.com/imstream.htm – and was trying some of the techniques recommended there, which Wenger says will help almost anyone develop an ability to create and use vivid images. Well, when I deliberately try to visualise an object or person, then I get a blurry, vague, ghostly monochrome image; and when I just close my eyes and wait for an image to appear, I get nothing to break the darkness in front of my mental eyes!

But then I stopped trying and suddenly, while I was in that hypnogogic state, a sudden very clear, bright 3D image of a section of a cobbled path flashed into my mind, and then was gone. I tried to recreate it, but I couldn’t. Still, there and then I decided that I am going to make a concerted effort to learn to visualise at will such quality images. I am telling myself that it has got to be something like learning to whistle (a sad comparison, because, alas, I have never succeeded in learning to whistle) or, come to think of it, to play the bugle (another sad comparison, because I spent two years in the school cadet band trying unsuccessfully to learn to play the bugle!) and that if I succeed I will have at my disposal a marvellous tool!

“Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.” – The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

What are the signs of NLD?

* Great vocabulary and verbal expression – OK I have good verbal expression but actually not that great a vocabulary
* Excellent memory skills – not particularly – see my post above.
* Attention to detail, but misses the big picture – no – not me – I am very much a big picture person
* Trouble understanding reading – nope – no problems understanding reading
* Difficulty with math, especially word problems – nope – in fact I find word problems a lot easier than maths requiring mental arithmatic.
* Poor abstract reasoning – no I have excellent abstract reasoning.
* Physically awkward; poor coordination – true
* Messy and laborious handwriting – true
* Concrete thinking; taking things very literally – no – think very much in abstract terms a lot of the time.
* Trouble with nonverbal communication, like body language, facial expression and tone of voice – not really.
* Poor social skills; difficulty making and keeping friends – yes and no – I do have lots of friends but don’t find it that easy, though very easy to make casual friends.
* Fear of new situations – definately not.
* Trouble adjusting to changes – definately not
* May be very naïve and lack common sense – sometimes – especially when younger.
* Anxiety, depression, low self-esteem – sometimes – especially when younger
* May withdraw, becoming agoraphobic (abnormal fear of open spaces) – definatel not

So where does that leave us – and how does everyone else here judge themselves against this list?

From memory, the differen learning styles are:

Visual – people see pictures and use visual clues in their language – yes I can see that, I can see your point of view, I get the picture etc

Aural – can hear what has been said, good at memorising conversations/lectures. Tend to be slower at reading as silently vocalises the words in their head. Learn to read by phonetics rather than whole word recognition. Speech patterns would include I hear what you are saying, I think I know what you are saying …

Kinesthetic – learn by doing, physical action learning – learn better if can move around, touch feel, repeat (repeating physical action, not rote learning). Can’t remember the speech patterns for this.

Certainly in the UK all of this is taught on education courses (or the ones I have been on) and teachers are encouraged to include methods suitable for all learning styles in their lessons, but I’m not sure how much of that gets put through into the classroom.

I can remember birthdays, anniversaries, to do lists but could never rote learn – failed abysmally at things like learning French and Latin vocabulary and verb structures but did well at aural French. In drama I could not learn lines but I could improvise. I have really good logical and analytical skills but don’t remember details (I would term it trivial details but that is just my bias). I have a degree in English but can’t quote from any of the texts I have read – I just excelled at literary criticism and at creative writing. Interestingly, I do find things like mind maps help, but only because I remember the patterns and relationships in them and therefore can recreate them, not because I picture them. I can also think around problems very easily “out of the box” , I think creatively and therefore find problem solving and innovation easy. I can draw quite well if something is right in front of me, though I find perspective difficult. I can’t draw from memory at all.

Now for slight controversy. I don’t think I was always like this. As a small child I learned visually but was damaged by a measles vaccine (old dirty type – one of the first ones that actually gave you measles) – this damaged my eyesight so I find it difficult to use both eyes together, it also damaged my nervous system. This isn’t me saying this by the way and I didn’t know it as a child, I just got clumsy and forgot how to do things (throwing and catching a ball and skipping for instance) – I have been told this by opticians and also by a psychiatrist (I have a nervous tick and so was sent for analysis to see if I had nervous problems – they said I hadn’t it was physical and is caused by measles – my Mum and I both stated categorically that I hadn’t had measles – we went through the history of when the “symptoms” first appeared in fine detail and finally we said it was just after I had my measles jab – that led to an “I told you so” moment from them). The reason we hadn’t linked things properly in our minds was that within a couple of days of having the jab I came down with mumps and then immediately after that Glandular Fever and we had always thought it was the Glandular Fever.

Sorry this is so long!

Joy