[Oz-gifted] Update on L

[Deidree McMaster]

>You
> think you  know roughly what your child is like, and then
> they do something and  you think, "Whew!  He IS bright!" 
> While you are recovering, he does  something else and you
> wonder whether there is a village idiot in the  family
> tree somewhere... 

Dear Ellen,

I was like that - spent half my life (56) wondering if I was
actually insane, I felt so unbalanced.  Some 
things I 'got' straight away - other things it seemed that I
had to be held by the hand and gently 
walked through over and over until they 'stuck', but I
couldn't always anticipate what they were.

I scored at the 99th percentile on the first part of the
Mensa test (the words) but only in the 84th 
percentile on the Culture Fair (symbols).  I excused that by
saying I'd misunderstood the instructions 
(when they said if you CAN'T do a question, move on to the
next one - well, I KNEW I COULD do it, 
but forgot that time was of the essence!)

Six years ago, after having a ten-year problem with my left
arm gradually losing feeling and ability, I 
was finally diagnosed with an AVM in the right parietal.  
Now in my case it was literally that one particular section
of my brain (specifically, it seemed, to do 
with number) had never received adequate blood flow.  So (as
the Weschler test that I did both prior 
to and post-surgery showed) I had apparently taken any
number problems from the right side to the 
left, searched through the mathematical concepts part, 'saw'
the solution, then shifted back to the 
right, translated it into number (a cumbersome and slow
process) and finally gave the answer.  Which 
was usually right, but painfully slow in some instances. 
Some processes were eventually quicker, for 
example when I was a waitress - I could add up long lists of
numbers quite quickly, because I had to 
do it many times a day.

What led to me being diagnosed was my growing inability to
add small numbers - like between one 
and ten.  I really thought I was developing Alzheimer's -
early!  So I took up bridge - well what a 
farce - took so long to bid, no one wanted to play at MY
table!!  So I was almost relieved to find a 
tangible physical problem.

That said, I don't by any means suggest that it could be the
same in your child's case.  
What I AM saying is that every brain is different, and some
really do excel in specific regions. 
 
Also, just as an AVM 'steals' blood by making it easy for
the blood to flow through it - (no capillary 
bed means no need for corpuscles to be squeezed by blood
pressure), a bright mind will default to 
the quickest and most elegant method.  So the less efficient
part of the brain may remain relatively 
unused, making it seem as if it's not so bright.

With my stepson, I found a great book called 'The Gift of
Dyslexia' by Richard? Davis?, and there were 
good ideas on finding other ways to assimilate and learn
concepts and functions.

So take pride in your child's shining ability, and maybe
come up with some creative 'play' ways to 
stimulate the other bits - she says, tiring of writing
one-handed:  the surgery - so deep and so close 
to the motor cortex, has rendered my left hand almost
useless - well, not really, but it takes SO long 
to type with it that I get irritated, and risk RSI by
furiously typing with just my right hand!  

Deidree happy to be in Hobart and nowhere near the fires,
after providing a refuge for a 
Kellevie inhabitant, fleeing the fierce flames!!