Confessions of a Non-Visual-Spatial Learner (continued)

I travel a great deal in my work and stay in lots of hotel rooms. No matter how many times I leave my hotel room, I invariably turn in the direction opposite of the elevator. You can bank on it. I have to laugh when some unsuspecting host or hostess who invites me to speak asks me if I'd like to rent a car when I get off the plane. I always respond, "Would you like to see me again?" I have to be taken to the Ladies' Room like a 5 year old, because if I have to turn any corners, I won't be able to find my way back. I tell my audiences that I should be wearing a handicap sign: "Don't follow me. I'm lost."

Now, you want to hear something really funny? I have just published a book about visual-spatial learners. Isn't that a riot?! How could someone with so little spatial intelligence have possibly written a book on the topic! It's probably because I have so little spatial ability that I have so much admiration for people who see in a way that I can't. The book also addresses introversion, because visual-spatial learners tend to be introverted. I'm a rabid extravert. I had to look at this learning style from the outside in, as I definitely had no personal experience to look at it from the inside out.

I have another story about my incredible non-visual-spatial abilities in the
Introduction of the book.

Let me tell you just how non-visual-spatial I really am. Last summer I went into a grocery store in Gravenhurst, Ontario, and saw a box that contained what looked like the perfect chair for me to use to work on this book while I was visiting my husband's family. My husband, Hilton, had created a makeshift desk for me at the cottage by placing a loose closet door on top of a dresser, securing it with a cinder block. I needed a chair that would adjust to sufficient height for me to reach the top of the dresser. I noticed that the box with the chair had been opened and taped shut, so I thought it would be a simple matter for Customer Service to reopen it for me. I asked the woman at Customer Service to please bring a pair of scissors and follow me. When we reached the box, I told her that I wanted to see if the chair would raise to the proper height for me. She looked at me, looked at the box, looked at me again, completely puzzled, and said, "But, Ma'am, this chair is unassembled." It took me until I went to sleep that night to realize the utter stupidity of my question. Did I really think she could open a flat box and out would pop a three-dimensional chair that I could sit on and adjust the height? (Well, actually, yes!)

So now you know that everyone cannot picture things in their heads the way you do. My book is loaded with anecdotes from visual-spatial learners that were sent to our website. Here's one of them:

My husband is an electronic engineer. He read your list and said he was definitely a visual-spatial learner. (In fact, he was quite astounded that anyone would think in "words." I believe "Whoa, that's weird" was his exact comment.)

You've read all those "You know your kid is gifted when..."
How about sending me some, "You know you're visual-spatial when..."
And how about some: "You know your kid is visual-spatial when..."
Or how about some: "You know you aren't visual-spatial when..."

Oh, if you're wondering about my book, it's called Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner now available through the Gifted Development Center online catalog at www.gifteddevelopment.com.

Fondly,
The Queen of Non-Visual-Spatials