| Our ability to understand the world around us | | | | frustration, or withdrawal. Thus, visual children are |
| relies on a central communication system that is | | | | often diagnosed with a plethora of disorders, such |
| visual and auditory. The brain has four pillars that | | | | as autism, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, |
| help us connect our sense organs to the brain and | | | | depression, oppositional defiant disorder, and |
| result in our understanding and managing our | | | | mental retardation. Labels such as these are often |
| everyday lives. These four pillars are visual | | | | diagnosed based on presenting symptoms. |
| attention, visual memory, auditory attention, and | | | | Visual thinkers can have as many as 50 |
| auditory memory. | | | | presenting symptoms. If the cause of these |
| Visual attention is a very powerful set of tools. | | | | symptoms is an overworking visual pathway, then |
| These tools are used to connect our eyes to our | | | | the solution can be quite unique when compared |
| working memory. Visual attention opens the door | | | | to other treatment ideas. |
| to our brain's visual processing pathway. We use it | | | | Help for the Maverick |
| to open the portal to the brain's visual processing | | | | One way to help Mavericks is by reducing |
| pathway and connect our eyes to our working | | | | auditory distraction and teaching them to pay |
| memory. Visual attention is also the first step in | | | | visual attention. Visual attention can be tightly |
| forming a visual thought, which is one tool we use | | | | formatted by training key skills sets. As you work |
| to make the world more comprehensible for | | | | through exercises that help train visual attention |
| ourselves. | | | | and self control you will help Maverick to |
| Why visual children are misdiagnosed | | | | successfully negotiate a verbal world. |
| Instead of negotiating the world with verbal | | | | Pictures and puzzles are key elements to working |
| reasoning, a visual person often negotiates with | | | | with Mavericks. You can use pictures and reward |
| patterns. We refer to these visual learners as | | | | to help them identify hidden images or teach |
| "Mavericks." Mavericks often think very rapidly - | | | | them to identify contrasting images. Exercises |
| some say as much as 20,000 times faster than | | | | should focus on training visual attention skills and |
| verbal thinkers. The format of visual thought and | | | | as such you should minimize your talking while |
| the speed of processing can become antagonistic | | | | training. You can find training ideas, podcasts and |
| to the speed of verbal communication. As a | | | | videos at the ebrainlabs website. |
| result, an erratic or unreliable system develops, | | | | If you are the parent of a Maverick, there is help |
| which can lead to behavior problems, anxiety, | | | | and hope for your child! |