But Mom, when is it Wednesday?
How many parents have heard these questions about time again and again?
Time is a strange dimension, often difficult to understand. When a child asks the question, it is, of course, part of his life learning, and for many, the timing and the sense of time end up being established through repetition day by day with parents and teachers.
Yet some children are unreceptive and continue to stay without a sense of time, despite all the efforts around them.
Time, dyslexia and …
My learners come to me mainly for difficulties in reading or math, not for time control issues. Yet, a good proportion of them also have trouble grasping concepts of time.
The link is relatively simple to explain: it is the phenomenon of disorientation, this ability to go into the imagination to try to understand the environment or to escape or create an inner world.
Some children think strongly in pictures and can create in their imaginations sensations so realistic that they can become more interesting than reality. These children may find it difficult to connect to their environment and learn what others are doing without difficulties. The lack of connection can occur in reading and writing — we call this dyslexia. Or again in numbers and operations, and that is dyscalculia. Or finally with the sense of passing time and the notion of days of the week, months, seasons, etc.
Reverse the trend, connect …
Fortunately, thanks to the discoveries and techniques devised and developed by Ron Davis, it is possible to change this mental state of being outside of time and help a child to connect and to observe the passing of time.
In fact, I have already given a sketch of the solution above.. Since it is the imagination that generates the problem, the first skill to master is precisely this fickle imagination. This is precisely what t we do with each learner at the beginning of the program, whether it is a program to correct dyslexia, dyscalculia, or attention focus difficulties.
… discover and master
But this is not enough, we must also be aware of the time and many words that can express it, which is the object of the Davis® Symbol and Concept Mastery techniques.
At that moment, the child will be able to master the time and answer, “Wednesday is in 2 days..”
But rest assured, the good side, the gift, the ability to create and travel into his imagination will not disappear. It will simply be controlled, channeled, when the child needs it, and free to express his formidable abilities the rest of the time.
For the original French version of this article, see: https://www.infodyslexie.org/lettre-information/38
The drawings on this page are original artwork from the website www.infodyslexie.org — they are used with permission from the site owner.
