Sherri Malouf wrote:
> I had a twist in the way I was thinking last week but haven't had time
> until now to throw this into to the pot. I was talking about all of this
> stuff -- ie Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers - a simpler way -- with my husband
> as I finally read the book. The way my husband approaches things, does
> things, etc -- is very different from the way that I do. In fact his
> mother decided that she and he have Attention Defecit Disorder. So now my
> husband thinks that there is something wrong with him. It all of a sudden
> popped into my brain all of the stuff the book was saying about mess --
> here's a quote:
>
> "Life uses messes to get to well-ordered solutions. Life doesn't seem to
> share our desires for efficiency or neatness. It uses redundancy,
> fuzziness, dense webs of relationships, and unending trials and errors to
> find what works."
>
> This is a great description of my husband and how he thinks and works. He
> can solve many problems but he wrestles and thinks in his own way. So I
> had this thought -- what if all of the people we have labeled as ADD or
> other kinds of mind/thinking disorders actually are the more progressive
> thinkers? Because little kids can't sit still and don't necessarily take
> to reductionsist thinking -- they are labeled underachievers at a
> minimum... I was labeled as such -- oh -- she has a very high IQ but
> doesn't do well in school -- so there is something wrong with her... I
> read in another thread (I am sorry I can't remember which one) of others
> on this list with similar experiences in school.
Sheri, your husband isn't alone. Thoughts literally -hit- me with such
force that I will automatically stand up and begin walking as I deal with
the stuff going on in my head. There is no way I could sit still and think
at the same time. I read pacing back and forth. When I encounter difficult
problems, I just start walking and thinking. My thoughts aren't always
logical. I just kind of let them occur, and sooner or later I'll work
through the problem.
The other night a thought woke me up at 2:00 a.m. I got up and walked
around town until 6:00 a.m. just thinking.
In my evaluations, my managers have always fussed that I don't sit still.
In meetings I rock back and forth in my chair; I walk around on the floor
with a "dazed" look on my face a couple of times a day as I think through
the problems I'm wrestling with, or exploring a new idea. It's atypical
behavior, but very effective. This is why I'm known as eccentric, I think
-- but I really don't care; everyone deals with things differently. I just
get so excited by new thoughts and ideas that I can't sit still. . . a few
messages on this list have brought me out of my chair and sent me on a
long walk.
My senior year in high school I was diagnosed with learning disabilities.
The list included:
Dislogic Syndrome
Dislexia (sp?)
Organizational Dislexia
Discalcula (sp?)
I'm not sure learning disabilities are really learning disabilities; I
think it's just that people learn differently. For instance, I think in
pictures -- and it has taken me a long time to learn to describe those
pictures in ways other people understand. I'm not a logician. Sounds
strange for a former computer programmer to admit he's not a logician, but
my ability to think pictorally saved me a lot of time, as I could imagine
in my mind the interrelationship between all the procedures in a program.
I viewed programs as webs that were constantly expanding and increasing in
complexity. Somehow I could just keep all this straight in my mind.
I'd imagine your husband sees things others don't. He may see connections
and relationships that others don't notice. I like your thinking on this
issue.
-- Ben Compton The Accidental Learning Group Work: (801) 222-6178 Improving Business through Science and Art bcompton@geocities.com http://www.e-ad.com/ben/BEN.HTMLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>