Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
The Gifted Dyslexic and Insight Learning #1: Daydreaming and Distractibility
Have you ever wondered if you’re gifted and dyslexic? Or are you a parent of a child who’s gifted and dyslexic and want more information. Sometimes it can be difficult to recognize giftedness. Ronald Davis states, “This would commonly be recognized as daydreaming or simply not paying attention. The student is actually paying attention but has shifted to an imaginary world that is more interesting” (The Gift of Learning 38). How is this a sign of giftedness? Keep reading The Gifted Dyslexic and Insight Learning to learn about the last of our four dyslexic strengths.
This article uses technical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
The Gifted Dyslexic and Insight Learning #2: The Four Strengths
Can people really be gifted and dyslexic at the same time? In the book The Dyslexic Advantage, Fernette and Eide Brock talk about four strengths that people with dyslexia can have:
- “Three-dimensional spatial reasoning and mechanical ability…” (Click to learn more.)
- “The ability to perceive relationships like analogies, metaphors, paradoxes, similarities, differences, implications, gaps, and imbalances…” (Click to learn more.)
- “The ability to remember important personal experiences and to understand abstract information in terms of specific examples…” (Click to learn more.)
- “The ability to perceive and take advantage of subtle patterns in complex and constantly shifting systems and data sets” (5).
Having said this, if you’re dyslexic it doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily have all these strengths:
- However, dyslexics will have at least one of the strengths.
- We’ll discuss the fourth strength, insight, in today’s post. What is insight?
- Insight is the ability to see patterns in the gifted dyslexic’s surroundings, enabling him to reconstruct past events he hasn’t directly observed, foresee possible future outcomes, and create mental simulations for science and engineering projects to figure out if they’re workable.
Read more to learn how insight enables people with dyslexia to come up with strikingly original ideas.
The Gifted Dyslexic and Insight Learning #3: What Is Insight?
Insight is when a person uses intuition and daydreaming to solve problems. According to the Eide’s:
In the first phase, the mind focuses actively upon the problem at hand and sets out the questions that need to be answered. This highly focused phrase quickly gives way to a relaxation phase, where the mind loosens its focus and begins to wander.
… [what] the brain is waiting on is the recognition of “distant or novel associations or relationships,” which are just the kinds of connections that individuals with dyslexia typically excel at making…
This widespread electrical burst [in the brain] creates the subjective sensation of the eureka moment. (153)
Because of its intuitive nature, insight is potent but can be a slow process.
- The daydreamy aspect of insight can make it look like the gifted dyslexic is goofing off.
- This is because the best ideas come when the person isn’t actively working on the problem.
- Also, the intuitive nature of insight can make it difficult for gifted dyslexics to explain how they arrived at their conclusions, making it so that others don’t trust the dyslexics’ ideas.
Insight is particularly useful in settings where the variables are only partially known, in flux, or unclear.
- Gifted dyslexics who exhibit a pronounced insight ability often excel in swiftly changing and uncertain situations, which others find overwhelming.
- Its usefulness derives from the dyslexic brain’s extensively integrated neural network that facilitates connecting unconventional and seemingly unrelated patterns.
- Thus, they can identify patterns that are very similar to the original concepts, instead of relying on abstract generalities to draw conclusions from the data.
Video: Insight Learning
The Gifted Dyslexic and Insight Learning #4: Final Thoughts
Here’s a summary of The Gifted Dyslexic and Insight Learning (Part 4):
- Insight is a powerful problem-solving ability that many people with dyslexia possess.
- However, the daydreamy nature of insight can make a person with dyslexia look lazy.
- Because the eureka ideas often come fully formed, it can also be difficult for gifted dyslexics to show their work, which hurts their credibility.
This means that when people with dyslexia are distracted and daydreaming, they may be doing their best and most creative work.
Related Posts:
- Learning Differences and Spatial Ability: Part 1
- Positives to Dyslexia – Everything is Connected to Everything Else (Part 2)
- What Are the Advantages of Dyslexia? Episodic Memory (Part 3)
- What Are Some Signs of a Twice Exceptional (2E) Child?
- Does ADD and ADHD Make People More Creative?
- Color Coding Music for Success
- Musical Talent and Giftedness
© 2024 Geoffrey Keith
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Glossary
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