Visual-Spatial Learners Under Pressure: The Dreaded Timed Test
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 visual-spatial children? Have you ever watched them
fumble to find the word they were looking for? The process for a
visual-spatial learner to translate mental images into words (or
numbers) is much like a computer downloading graphics. It takes
considerably longer for a computer 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 hol