Visual-Spatial Learners Under Pressure: The Dreaded Timed Test

Visual-Spatial Learners Under Pressure:
The Dreaded Timed Test

Alexandra "Allie" Golon


Have you ever had a hard time finding the word you’re trying to say? Or one that truly matches the picture in your head? How about your children? Have you ever watched them fumble to find the word they were looking for? If they’re visual-spatial learners, as some 75% of the gifted population are, this may be a common occurrence. Visual-spatial learners think in images, not words. The process this type of learner to translate mental images into words (or numbers) is much like a computer downloading graphics. It can take considerably longer for a computer, particularly an older model, to bring up an image than it does to bring up text. The visual-spatial learner must not only “download” mental images, but convert them to words, as well. When the pressure of a time limit is imposed, the task can become unbearable, if not impossible.

I have a story for you about my very visual-spatial son, Matt: One day, we were in the car headed for some errand and as I was backing out the driveway, he started panicking saying, “No! I’m not ready, don’t go!” “What’s wrong?” I called back. “I can’t get the backward seven to work!” he hollered as the panic level in his voice continued to rise. I kept backing up while thinking, “Backward seven? What is it? How does it work? And, why does he need it?” As I started to drive forward, Matt started really getting upset and begging me to not keep driving. I looked back at him to see that he couldn’t get his seatbelt fastened, which, from his vantage point, was clearly a backward seven! Because Matt could only see the picture, and because there was an issue of time involved (he knew better than to be in a forward-moving car with no belt on), he could not translate that picture into a word. His ability to communicate to me what was wrong was reduced to an image that he was trying, but failing, to convey. He was left with a “backward seven” because he couldn’t find the word, “seatbelt.”




This happens a lot to visual-spatial kids when they are taking timed tests. They just can’t translate their pictures into words (or numbers, if it’s a math test) fast enough and they are greatly pressured knowing they have a limited amount of time in which to spit out the correct answer. Besides, if, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” how are they to find just the right word, anyway?

If your kids find this happening and there doesn’t seem to be any way they’re going to get out of taking timed tests, try these tips to help them to speed up their translation time:


Play games with that require answers within the time of a minute glass (mini hourglass). Cranium, Scattergories and Boggle are good examples.

Add a timer to their favorite game. By putting a limit on Scrabble or Upwords, you’ve simulated taking a timed spelling test. Adding a minute glass to Yahtzee may help simulate a timed math test.

Play Pictionary for “reverse” translation: words into pictures, with a time limit involved. Charades may help with this, too!

While you’re in the car, you can play games like “I’m Going on Safari” where each player thinks of what they’ll bring in alphabetical order. So, the first player says, “I’m going on safari and I’m going to bring ___ (something that starts with the letter “a”). Then the second player says, “I’m going on a safari and I’m going to bring (what the first player said) plus ___ (something that starts with the letter “b”). And so on through the alphabet. This requires them to keep words (or pictures they must translate into words) in their minds through the entire game/alphabet.

If playing games with timers makes your children too anxious—don’t do it. At least let them play a game without a timer every once in a while. Perhaps you could start with longer time limits and gradually decrease them to eliminate any anxiety. Minute glasses that have no audible ticking would also help. I would also suggest not adding a timer to games like chess, where their skills in spatial awareness really shine and can’t be rushed!

Until we can get teachers and test creators to understand the bias against visual-spatial learners in placing time constraints on these kids, we’ll need to help our children cope with the stress of taking timed tests. Hopefully, with practice in a safe environment, where your children can translate their pictures into words at home, under less pressure, they will be able to successfully make those translations at school while they take timed math or spelling tests.

Understanding the passing of time

Visual-spatial kids—and adults—are generally known for not having a very good sense of time. Most can get so lost in what they are doing, that they forget altogether about whatever else they are supposed to be doing. Does this sound like your kids? There are lots of times our children are expected to know just how much time has gone by and that it is time for them to move to another activity. Throughout the school day, subjects end and new ones begin, forcing them to stop what they are doing and move to the next activity. No sooner are they home from school than mom is hounding them about getting the homework done, right? Then, just when they’ve finished homework and chores and finally found something fun to do outside, they’re being called in to dinner. Or, so it feels to them!

Well, here’s a trick to help your children get a feel for when certain periods of time have passed. Visual-spatial kids often get so involved in what they are doing that 15 minutes feels like less than five. Do you have a board game that comes with a small minute sandglass? Usually these come in one, two, or five minute increments. Find one and use it the next time your kids are playing computer or with their toys. Set it next to them so they can see just what five minutes of playing feels like. After awhile, they should start to get a better idea of what one minute, two minutes or five minutes really feels like. If not, remember, there are secretaries, spouses and Palm Pilots to remind them of where they need to be when!

Alexandra “Allie” Golon is Director of the Visual-Spatial Resource, a subsidiary of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development, in Denver, Colorado. As a founding member of the Visual-Spatial Resource Access Team, a former G/T teacher and homeschooling parent to two gifted visual-spatial learners, Allie brings a wealth of experience to her books, Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child, and, If You Could See the Way I Think: A Handbook for Visual-Spatial Kids. Her latest release, The Visual-Spatial Classroom: Differentiation Strategies that Engage Every Learner, is a rich source of classroom strategies. Allie has been invited to present on parenting and teaching visual-spatial learners at state, national and international venues. She has counseled dozens of families regarding harmoniously parenting visual-spatial learners as well as on various homeschooling issues, and has appeared on talk radio programs and in various print media. For more information, please visit www.visualspatial.org. Allie can be reached at alex@visualspatial.org.


©Copyright held by Alexandra Shires Golon (2004). From Golon, A.S., If You Could See the Way I Think: A Handbook for Visual-Spatial Kids, Denver (2005): Visual-Spatial Resource.

Maintaining Harmony at Home: Life with Visual-Spatial Kids!

Maintaining Harmony at Home
Alexandra “Allie” Golon

There’s no doubt about it, life with visual-spatial learners (or what I call “topsy-turvy kids”) particularly if you are an auditory-sequential parent, can be challenging. They have no sense of time, so you’re generally late getting out the door. Their organizational skills are lacking, or at best questionable, so you feel as though you are living in a giant collection of STUFF all of the time. They tend to become easily distracted, so chores and homework assignments are often not completed according to a teacher’s or parent’s time schedule, which can result in significant tension. So, how do you maintain harmony?

Housekeeping--it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure
How effectively are you communicating with your child? Imagine it’s time for the weekly (monthly?) Clean-Your-Bedroom-Or-Else Ritual. Do you typically rattle off a list of do-this, do-that chores then leave the room believing that your “picture” of a clean living space will somehow manifest itself out of the reigning chaos? And, that it will do so within a prescribed timeframe? Now think about your success rate with this approach. (Not great, I’m guessing!)

Next time, try this: work with your child to create a poster or chart of pictures (e.g., drawings you create together, clip art from the computer, photographs or clippings from magazines, etc.) of what the end product, the Never-Been-Seen-Since-We-Moved-In-Bedroom, should look like when the job is finished. The pictures might include one of a nicely made bed with all the stuffed animals aligned. Another picture could show folded clothes neatly tucked into drawers that are still within the dresser, while another picture might show matching shoes lined up nicely on the floor of the closet. Yet another image of similar toys gathered carefully into tubs … Ok, you get the picture. Now help them get the picture.

One clever mother shared with me that after she and her daughter were successful in creating a perfectly clean and orderly bedroom that both parent and child could live with, they took a photo of it to use as a reminder of the goal the next time the bedroom got out of hand.

I believe all children, not just visual-spatial learners, should be involved in helping to maintain the home from an early age. Not only because scrubbing floors and the ability to do one’s own laundry are strong life skills, but because actually participating in the dusting, vacuuming, dishwashing and so on, develops a sense of pride and ownership. I’ve seen with my children that they are more likely to keep a floor clutter-free or a kitchen table cleared if they were involved in restoring it to a cleaner state in the first place. There’s nothing like securing an image of what the table, room or floor should look like than to participate in getting it to that condition!

Getting them out the door–with their shoes!

Getting a visual-spatial child out the door can be a daily challenge. There are so many distracting and more entertaining options available. One technique that works, at least some of the time, is to create a mental picture of the consequences of not getting to your destination on time. For example, suppose you are running late to an afternoon sports practice. You could create the following picture for your child: “If we are late for your practice, that will upset the coach and possibly interrupt the start of the practice for all the other kids who arrived on time. How do think your coach will feel? How will the other kids feel?” If they can envision the experience and understand the consequences of not arriving on time, you may actually stand a chance of getting out the door--and, possibly even with their shoes! I have actually had one of my children (who shall remain unnamed) arrive at our not-so-close-to-home destination and ask, “Where are my shoes?” to which I replied, “ON YOUR FEET, right?” They weren’t and we wound up searching for the nearest Target store!

Assure your children that whatever they were longing to do instead of getting in the car will be there for them when they return. Visualizing what will happen, or not happen, as a result of their action, or inaction, is often a successful way to get results. Nobody wants to disappoint the team or coach by being late! Also effective, although militaristic sounding, are one word commands: “Shoes-Car-Please” convey all the instructions they need. Not much decoding is required!

One parent wrote me with a great idea for helping her son to get ready on time, every morning. They sat down together and agreed on the chores that needed to be completed, and in what order. Then, they color-coded those chores: Blue (1) Eat breakfast, Red (2) Get dressed, Yellow (3) Brush teeth, and so on. Each morning, she would hand her son his set of cards, each with Velcro tabs, which he would take with him to each task and stick them to the dresser, mirror, etc., wherever the chore had taken place. He quickly learned the morning routine and was able to complete the chores, without distraction, in time for them to leave for school each day. You could play with this idea and create two sets of cards, each numbered, then place the #1 card next to what you want your child to do (perhaps, on the hairbrush, next to the bar of soap, or under the toothbrush). They search for their numbered cards, in a row, completing the obvious task as the go, then “turn in” their two sets of cards indicating they are ready to go! Perhaps a timer could be implemented and the whole thing could be a game?

Make it fun so the job gets done!

The right hemisphere enjoys absurdity and thrives on humor. So, use it everywhere! A silly, singsong voice or foreign accent engages visual-spatial children and gets them participating. In our home, we try to present chores that need doing, or some other task they dread, in a British or Australian accent. Pretty soon, the kids are mocking the accent as they complete the task. Everyone is silly about it, but the job gets done. Background music and lots of dancing work great, too! Vacuuming isn’t such toil with The Beatles blaring in the background. Make daily routines a big production! What’s big and fun and noisy can make chores and other dreaded rituals much less drudgery. Even Mary Poppins understood the importance of song and silliness to “help the medicine go down” or tidy the nursery!

Recently, my dear friend and her husband were stranded in a snowstorm and had to seek refuge in our home. We had about 45 minutes notice to clean house, make a fresh bed and scrub the bathrooms! We gobbled down the rest of our dinner and set to work. With the radio blaring, we each set to a different chore. By the time our guests had arrived, not only was the house clean, but the boys had also constructed a “check-in” desk out of a cardboard box, complete with paper computer and mouse, door keys to slide into paper “locks” on their door, a welcome basket of fruit waiting in their room and room service options available for them! We had such fun anticipating their arrival that the chore of cleaning and preparing the house in a big hurry was just another necessary step in all the fun.

There are lots of creative ways to get your kids to complete homework, chores or other things that are creating disharmonious homes. Find what works for you and your family and let the fun begin!


*Excerpted from Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child (2004) Denver: DeLeon Publishing.

Alexandra “Allie” Golon is Director of the Visual-Spatial Resource, a subsidiary of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development, in Denver, Colorado. As a founding member of the Visual-Spatial Resource Access Team, a former G/T teacher and homeschooling parent to two gifted visual-spatial learners, Allie brings a wealth of experience to her books, Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child, and, If You Could See the Way I Think: A Handbook for Visual-Spatial Kids. Her latest release, The Visual-Spatial Classroom: Differentiation Strategies that Engage Every Learner, is a rich source of classroom strategies. Allie has been invited to present on parenting and teaching visual-spatial learners at state, national and international venues. She has counseled dozens of families regarding harmoniously parenting visual-spatial learners as well as on various homeschooling issues, and has appeared on talk radio programs and in various print media.

©Copyright held by Alexandra Shires Golon (2004). From Golon, A.S., Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child (2004) Denver: DeLeon Publishing.

Getting Your Kids Out the Door -- With Their Shoes!!

Illustrated by Buck Jones. Copyright held by Linda Kreger Silverman. (2002) Silverman. L.K. Upside-Down Brilliance. Denver: DeLeon.

If you’ve got children like mine, getting them out the door—on time and with all their belongings, especially their shoes—can be a daily challenge. My kids are visual-spatial. They’ve got a wonderful sense of space and direction; they’re the kids who can tell you exactly where within that five-level, very dark parking garage you’ve parked your car. But when it comes to any sense of time, forget it! So, it seems we’re always running late. Running late equates to leaving without everything they need, probably nine times out of ten!

After an extensive run of homeschooling, my youngest son, Matt, returned to a very carefully chosen school that just happened to be 52 miles away—one direction. We actually had to leave the house at 6:30 am for an 8:10 start to his day. Matt started mid-year, which meant January, and we live in Colorado. You can see where I’m going with this, right? There’s a saying in Colorado: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait another 15 minutes.” And another: “Shorts and a parka and you’re ready for anything.” There were days when the weather between home and school was from entirely different seasons! So being prepared and ready to go was an extra challenge in our household and meant having clothing and gear—and shoes—for nearly any weather event.

One day, about half way on our route, Matt calls out to me, “Mom. Where are my shoes?!” Scowling, both hands gripping the wheel, I respond, “On your feet—right?!” Nope. A quick dash through a Target store that opened 10 minutes before class started and he was barely even late. Guess where Matt keeps his shoes these days? Yup. One pair in the car and one pair in the house. And today, we’re only a mile away from the school.

So, I’ve been working on some tips, and soliciting some from other parents, to help kids like mine get out the door, on time and fully prepared. I hope one or two work for you and your “timeless” children.

Here’s one a mom from New Zealand sent me: She and her son sat down together and agreed on the chores that needed to be completed each morning, and in what order. Then, they color-coded those chores: Blue (1) Eat breakfast, Red (2) Get dressed, Yellow (3) Brush teeth, and so on. Each morning, she would hand her son his set of cards, each with Velcro tabs, which he would take with him to each task and stick them to the dresser, mirror, etc., wherever the chore had taken place. He quickly learned the morning routine and was able to complete the chores, without distraction, in time for them to leave for school each day.

You could play with this idea and create two sets of cards, each numbered, then place the #1 card next to what you want your child to do (perhaps, on the hairbrush, next to the bar of soap, or under the toothbrush). Then your child would search for the numbered cards, in a row, completing the obvious task in order, then “turn in” the two sets of cards indicating all the chores were complete! Perhaps a timer could be implemented and the whole thing could be a game? Assure your children that whatever they were longing to do instead of getting in the car will be there for them when they return.

Also effective, although militaristic sounding, are one word commands: “Shoes-Car-Please” convey all the instructions they need. Not much decoding is required! One mom wrote, as quoted in Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner, by Dr. Linda Silverman, that she condensed her bedtime instructions to: JamBruWash for pajamas, brush your teeth and wash your face! There are certainly a number of daily routines that could be made more fun if they were given in silly codes or clues. Remember, humor engages the right hemisphere! Get your kids into the act thinking up clever ways to make their own requests.

Illustrated by Buck Jones. Copyright held by Linda Kreger Silverman. (2002) Silverman. L.K. Upside-Down Brilliance. Denver: DeLeon.

Getting a visual-spatial child out the door can be a daily challenge. There are so many distracting and more entertaining options available. One technique that works, at least some of the time, is to create a mental picture of the consequences of not getting to your destination on time. For example, suppose you are running late to an afternoon sports practice. You could create the following picture for your child: “If we are late for your practice, that will upset the coach and possibly delay or interrupt the start of practice for all the other kids who arrived on time. How do think your coach will feel? How will the other kids feel?” If they can envision the experience and understand the consequences of not arriving on time, you may actually stand a chance of getting out the door--and, possibly even with their shoes!

Alexandra “Allie” Golon is Director of the Visual-Spatial Resource, a subsidiary of the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development, in Denver, Colorado. As a founding member of the Visual-Spatial Resource Access Team, a former G/T teacher and homeschooling parent to two gifted visual-spatial learners, Allie brings a wealth of experience to her books, Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child, and, If You Could See the Way I Think: A Handbook for Visual-Spatial Kids. Her upcoming release, The Visual-Spatial Classroom: Differentiation Strategies that Engage Every Learner, is a rich source of classroom strategies. Allie has been invited to present on parenting and teaching visual-spatial learners at state, national and international venues. She has counseled dozens of families regarding harmoniously parenting visual-spatial learners as well as on various homeschooling issues, and has appeared on talk radio programs and in various print media.

For more information, please visit http://www.visualspatial.org/. Allie can be reached at alex@visualspatial.org.

Welcome to the Visual-Spatial Resource Blog!

Hi!

I'm Allie, Director of the Visual-Spatial Resource in Denver, Colorado.

Whatever path led you here, I'm glad you found us! If you're curious about the preferred learning style of your child or student, or even yourself, you're in the right place.

I'll be posting various articles and information on one specific learning style: visual-spatial. Why not any others? Well, the model we follow has only two distinct learning styles: visual-spatial and auditory-sequential. Two learning styles following the two hemispheres of the brain.

What others have termed, "right-brained," we refer to as visual-spatial. (We hate the right-brain, left-brain terminology because it makes people sound like half-wits! You need both sides of your brain to accomplish nearly every cognitive task.)

Illustrated by Buck Jones. Copyright held by Linda Kreger Silverman. Silverman, L.K. (2002) Upside-down brilliance: The visual-spatial learner. Used with permission.

Those who prefer a visual-spatial learning style are those who think in pictures, not in words. The prefer to approach subjects with the big picture, not the smallest detail. The best teaching methods include those that allow for hands-on learning, incorporate music and humor, use color liberally, and employ the student to make connections by using metaphors.

You won't find me talking much about the other learning style: auditory-sequential. Teachers and schools already do a fantastic job meeting the needs of this type of learner. We teach in words, they think in words. We talk fast, they process fast (because they're not translating words into pictures or mental images into words), our curricula is designed to present material step-by-step, they learn from the details to the big picture. We've got education down pat for this type of student.

As you learn more about the visual-spatial learner construct, keep in mind that an individual's learning style lies somewhere on a continuum of preference. Much like prefered handedness, many of us are strongly right- or left-hemispheric. However, also like handedness, one can learn to compensate and get by using the non-dominant hemisphere. I liken this to breaking an arm. If you are right-handed, and you break your right arm, you can learn -- with practice -- to write with your left hand. Your writing will eventually become legible and you can get by. BUT, it will never be your best work, nor the most efficient means for you to write.

This is what our traditional education has done to visual-spatial learners for decades. By excluding the gifts of the right hemisphere and focusing solely on phonetic reading, rote memorization of math facts and quick recall of data, we have excluded the right hemisphere in favor of the left. Many of our brightest students have compensated and compensated well. But there has been a cost.

Students with strong right hemispheres are needed as architects, surgeons, artists, musicians, inventors, playwrights, designers, and in so many other capacities. It took amazing visual-spatial ability to construct an International Space Station and these gifts will only continue to be called upon in the 21st century.

If this has piqued your interest, I hope you'll visit my website, Visual-Spatial Resource at http://www.visualspatial.org. You'll find articles and books filled with techniques for teaching and living with the visual-spatial learners in your life!

Allie