Roughly 50% of the world population spell, read, and visualize words and numbers well.  Hence they take these skills for granted and are amazed that some people don’t have them. 50% of the world population do not visualize words or numbers and therefore range on a scale from small problems with spelling to big problems with literacy or numeracy. Typical problems are dyslexia and dyscalculia when letters and numbers move around when people look at a page of text.  The harder these people try to stop the movement, the more things move. Hence these people work much harder than everyone else.

We can almost eradicate poor literacy, numeracy, dyslexia, dyscalculia if:

• we teach every child at 4 years of age to see still [=not moving] letters, words, numbers and then teach phonics.  The first stage of learning phonics is to see / visualize letters.  If you can’t see them, you’re lost!
• teachers ask about children’s experiences and help them change the experiences if necessary
• we teach concrete nouns and colors first to trigger visual memory. And only when children master concrete nouns and colors, then we teach abstract nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. These words do not have pictures.
• we give children blank spaces on classroom walls for visualizing and less cluttered classrooms to help them concentrate and encourage grounding.
• we encourage children to keep looking up – out of their feelings and self talk.  Looking down at a table reinforces negative feelings.
• we prop up books and reading materials to be at a slanted angle to a table and children write on sheets of paper stuck to a wall until they get confident.  Looking up removes negative feelings and self talk and helps the brain process information visually. Spelling, reading, writing, math, and geometry are visual activities.

If you are currently studying in a classroom environment, this will help you dramatically improve learning in every lesson!

• To faster copy things from a board keep looking at the board while writing. This is like touch typing while looking at the computer screen, not at the keyboard.  After a little practice you’ll be surprised at how quickly and tidily you’ll write.  You’ll write much faster, record everything, and won’t run out of time.
• If you wish to improve your handwriting, select a font you like and copy it without looking at the paper.  When you finish, look at what you’ve written.  The results are always neater than people anticipate!  If you don’t like the result yet, practice until you do!
• Check where you’re visualizing.  Teach yourself to look up slightly to the right or left. Sides don’t matter. Experiment and find what feels comfortable. Avoid looking center front, because as you approach the center point, you change from one eye dominance to the other. This can cause losing parts of the words you’re visualizing.  Play with the sides and see where you get a clearer picture.  It’s your brain, your choice, you have total control.
• Clear your workspace and keep it tidy so that the material you’re working with is the only thing you see directly in your visual field. Tidy spaces are very grounding and encourage sharp concentration.
• Make grounding a habit.  Put your feet on the floor and feel connected to the ground. You’ll feel mentally and emotionally stable and concentrate far better.  Try it barefooted and notice the difference.  If your legs feel uncomfortable, send the uncomfortable feeling into the ground.  Especially ground yourself when sitting in classrooms / seminars / conferences, working in open-plan offices, working on computers for long periods of time, or doing paperwork that requires precision, such as documents in government offices.
• Discipline yourself to do one thing at a time. Our thoughts often distract us, especially if we think prevalently in pictures, with one picture triggering another and another in rapid succession. Keep a notebook nearby. Write down thoughts for later and return to what you’re working on.  Being grounded will help you concentrate. Make this a habit. You’ll see the difference in the long term!
• Get out of negative feelings.  When you’re working at a desk / table / flat surface prop your reading / writing materials to a slanted position – at an angle to the flat surface.  The slanted angle will take your reading / writing material closer to your visual field. Your brain will process the content of the material visually and not through feelings.  You won’t hate the task, feel overwhelm, and will feel capable of doing the task.
• Drink water throughout the day.  This may sound obvious, yet 80% of the world’s population are dehydrated.  Dehydration is sneaky, because many people don’t realize that they’re dehydrated until the feedback from the body is too strong and unpleasant. By that time the body is already severely low on water. Dehydration is also responsible for our cells falling apart because the outer layer of a cell is omega 3 and omega 3 needs water to remain elastic and resilient. Dehydration is the direct reason why people can’t hold mental pictures still [=not moving]. As a result people can’t concentrate and memorize. Most people with learning difficulties are constantly dehydrated! So now that you know, beware and drink water to prevent it!

Do you have poor literacy or numeracy and don’t know how to use NLP? What else could you do about them?  Or do you know someone who has them? How else could we help them? Let’s talk about even more NLP tips and helpful strategies to stop poor literacy and numeracy.

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The problem:

“When writing, I can’t seem to say what I’d like to… And when I go to my math class, when the teaching assistant is there, she explains all to me. But when she isn’t there, I don’t understand the teacher. Then I just start drawing and get told off.  I learn well through colors, so what I tried to do is instead of writing with black ink I used coloring pens.  It really works.  But I get really stressed in my class when my classmates shout and argue.”

The NLP solution for writing and math:

When writing you can’t seem to say what you’d like to because you don’t visualise the content of what you want to say.  Unless you see a clear picture of the story you want to write, words will be volatile and quickly escape your memory.  Visualize the content of what you want to say. Then write it.  Once you have a picture in your head, you’ll see all its details and be able to write about them well and without getting distracted.  Use your work with colors. Add color to all the places, objects, and people in your imagination that you want to write about. Your brain will get it very quickly.

Exactly the same principle applies to math:

When the teaching assistant or teacher is explaining, visualise as much of what she says as you can.  Is she talking  about numbers?  Do you know what a number 2 looks like written?  If yes, then you can visualise numbers.  Is she talking about symbols like + – x : = < > or fractions?  If no, listen to her and write as much as you can.  Writing math on paper is a prerequisite for visualizing it.

Use colors while writing on paper and mentally visualizing.  They’ll help you.  At present you’re easily distractible, because you know that you’re not getting it and so you resign every time you start drawing and go off the course of the lesson.  Learn to visualise what the teacher is explaining.  Then you’ll start understanding math better and faster.  Once you reach this stage, you will be more focused and the classmates arguing in class won’t sway your attention.

Learn to keep both feet firmly on the ground while you’re sitting in class, listening, and visualising the content of what your teachers are explaining.  Grounding is an essential skill. You can learn it very quickly and master it with patience and practice!

Could I help you or anyone you know with writing and math?  Let’s talk about it.

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