UPSIDE-DOWN, AND BACK-TO-FRONT

An interesting incident last week yet again led to a deeper understanding of the way in which the 'dys-lexic' (Diesel) picture-thinker mind can work.

Dys-lexics ('Diesels' in my terminology) tend to be plagued by reversals.  As children we get horribly mixed with our left and right, and with our left or right directionality.  Not only do we attempt to print, or read from right to left across the page (instead of left to right), but we often reverse the shape of the letters (putting d for b) or put the letters in the wrong order through the word we are writing. (tac for cat). It is also often the case that we print our 'e' and our 's' in reverse, and that we create individual round letters (o, a, p etc) in a clockwise, rather than the required anti-clockwise direction.

As an amateur carpenter I know that I am likely to mix and inter-place my numerals (3.25m) so as to cut my timber too short (2.53m), while the same tendency wreaks havoc with my telephone bill, and has nothing short of dire consequences when I try to write cheques!

We often hear such reversals in the speech of Diesel children, (aks instead of ask), who also commonly get the beginnings of words 'fack to bront'.  I am personally inclined to think that this happens because (at least in my own case) when I talk I am actually 'reading' what I am saying off a small (over-worked!) screen in my mind's eye that works in the same way as a TV News-reader's cue screen.

My first encounter with this left me feeling very burned when as an 11 year old child, trying desperately to remember the name of my new class-teacher (Mr Don), I blurted out a loud greeting in front of the class, "Good morning Mr Nod" - and quickly discovered his complete lack of humour, and specific lack of tolerance for this 'dys-lexic' kid.

This whole sad business of reversals takes on yet another dimension when we realise that the numeral 9 is just an upside-down 6, that in just the same way 7 (when printed) is an upside-down 4, and that 5 is an upside-down then reversed 2.  In short, reversals  of one sort or another account for at least six of our nine numerals!  All part of what we call DYSCALCULIA, which is just another aspect of 'dys-lexia'.

And now I see that there is more.

Last week a local small-block farmer was describing a toxic plant that we all deal with locally - sometimes known as Giant Carrot-weed.  He commented that it is well-known historically as a particularly nasty poison, and was used to kill Aristotle, or Socrates or some similar famous philosopher - but he couldn't remember the proper name of the weed.

"I can see the word in my mental picture" he said. "It has a 'y', then an 'ew '. " - and neither of us could make any sense of this.

Sitting opposite him at the table I grabbed a pencil and paper and printed it as he had 'seen' it - 'yew'.
"There it is, that's it" he said.  " 'hem', the name is Hemlock".

From where he sat, reading my print upside-down and back-to-front, what he 'saw' in his brain suddenly made sense.

When we recognise that our brain will sometimes both reverse and invert the picture (probably associated with a genetic tendency to left-sidedness) - fack to bront and down-side up - we begin to understand why we see things differently and why we can be such good problem solvers.  It may also help us tolerate the strange comments and behaviour we see in our children.

Laughton King
28/9/12