I was talking to a friend about the HBO movie, Rethinking Dyslexia . We had both been very impressed by the movie. I have researched and written about dyslexia in relation to being a visual learner, but my friend has first hand experience with a son who is dyslexic. As we talked about Brandon and his learning experiences, I was enormously impressed by the success he’s found in his career because of his perseverance and the ways he learned to make things more visual for himself.

Brandon’s Story as told by Mom:
Brandon really struggled in school, was often teased for being ‘slow’ or ‘dumb’ and struggled with depression at an early age. We later found out he was dyslexic and a visual learner, but few solutions to his problems were offered. And yet with his challenges in the classroom, Brandon possessed an uncanny ability to memorize information, but not by reading. He used flash cards, audio recordings, and other visual aids.

Brandon found school very challenging and was relieved to finally graduate and get out into the world. He is 26 now, a Department Manager at a major food retailer and I’m still impressed with the ways he finds to process information that are unique to him. As a manager he attends business meetings. These can be conversational or full of facts and figures. Knowing he tends to get lost in the sea of words and may ‘tune out’, he records the facts and figure meetings. Later, when he’s on his own, he listens to the recordings as many times as he needs to, while doodling, making notes, and drawing images to help process the information. Instinctively, he’s learned those images, doodles and the use of color all help him understand and remember.

As a mother I am so proud of his determination and perseverance. He still struggles with the things that were said to him when he was in school, but he hasn’t let it hold him back. He has a tremendous drive to be successful and continues to find ways to make that happen.

No one wants a child to struggle or be teased because of the way they learn. There is so much we can do now. It’s all about understanding and making a few adjustments along the way.

Do you have a story to share about your child?

What is your child’s learning style?  There are three basic learning styles; visual, tactile, and auditory.  Take the test and get immediate results: Is your child a visual learner? 

Bette Fetter Founder and CEO of Young Rembrandts and Author of Being Visual [email protected] Follow Bette on Twitter