‘IMAGE' the Printed Word
By Martha Carey Silk

Questions to think about!

- When someone speaks to you, do the words you hear make a picture in your head?

- When you hear a joke, do you get it? Or, do you understand the punch-line?

- When you read a book, a newspaper article, a recipe or directions to a new restaurant, do the words you read make a picture in your head?

- When you look up a telephone number, do you have to write it down right away, and if you don't, do you have to go back and look up the number again in the telephone directory or do you remember the telephone number forever?

If you have answered, “Yes ”! “Boy, oh boy”, I am very happy for you!! If not, I sure know how you feel.

I did not know about picturing or imaging ‘the word' until I was 40 years old. I have a BS in mathematics and I thought I was a ‘dummy' in school. When I read a book or article, I assumed that reading was memorizing the printed word. I would literally read a page over and over again and hoped that I would remember the information until I took a test. I was the student that actually did all of my homework and did all the readings that were assigned for the evening's homework. The next day, I would go to class and the teacher would call on me about a reading comprehension question and invariably, I could not remember what I had read! The teacher would ask me if I read the assignment and I would reply that I had read it. You could hear my classmates snicker and worse, one teacher called me a liar right to my face and sent me to the principal's office! Humiliation beyond any words could ever express!!

(Continued)
[ Dyslexia Articles ] [ Dysgraphia Articles ]

At 40 years of age, I started taking some wonderful courses created by Pat, Charles and Phyllis Lindamood, Kimberly Tuley and Nanci Bell, originating in San Luis Obispo , California . These very talented, gifted and extremely concerned individuals came up with programs that help people who have dyslexia, dysgraphia, learning disabilities and comprehension difficulties. I have taken many of the courses they offer, but the one that changed my life and perspective on communication and reading comprehension is entitled, “ Visualizing and Verbalizing for Reading and Language Comprehension”. The message is , “Let the words that you read, pop out and become three dimensional, and make images in your head”.

If the sentence reads, “The little girl wore a red dress.” Then the reader should actually see in their mind's eye a little girl,(not a big boy), wearing a red dress, (not green pants). Each word in the sentence has meaning and a reason why it was written that way, (grammar). Every word should create a true picture in one's head, just like a camera takes pictures. These images create memory, which helps prevent the reader from having to read and reread a sentence over and over again.

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Martha Silk: is a tutor for learning disabilities. She holds a BS degree in Mathematics which she earned at Spring Hill College in Mobile , Alabama . She has attended training classes, seminars and courses taught by Phyllis Lindamood, Nanci Bell, Kim Tulley, Therese Kelly, Atlantic Seaboard Dyslexia Center , and Dr. William Strixrud and Associates in the past 11 years. She has been tutoring individuals who suffer with ADHD, reading comprehension weakness, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia and non-verbal LD for 10 years. The ages of her students range from 5 ½ years old through adults. She also teaches at Montgomery College , Rockville Campus for the Challenge Program and the course name is Phonemic Awareness. Her e-mail address is marthasilk@comcast.net and her web address is MarthaSilk.com.