Hyperlexia and the Maverick Mind
Unlike most Mavericks, children with hyperlexia learn to read at a precocious age. So, what do they have in common with Mavericks?
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Greetings! Hyperlexia is the precocious ability to read words, typically before the age of 5, without prior training. Hyperlexic children are fascinated by letters and numbers. Mavericks, on the other hand, think in images -- movies, photos, pictures. So what do these two groups with extraordinary brains have in common? They Read ... But Do They Really Read?
Some hyperlexic children learn to spell long words (such as elephant) before they are two years old and learn to read whole sentences before they turn three. But many hyperlexic children have trouble understanding speech. In short, hyperlexic children excel at word decoding but often have poor reading comprehension abilities. Some experts believe that most children with hyperlexia lie on the autism spectrum of disorders. And of course, most of the Mavericks I work with have many of these same symptoms.
February Webinar: Hyperlexia and the Maverick Mind
My webinar course this month -- Hyperlexia and the Maverick Mind -- will focus on the similarities and differences between the two types of thinking systems. This class will be offered twice: Tuesday, Feb 26 at 7pm EST and Wednesday, Feb 27 at 12 noon EST.
To register for this webinar, click HERE.
Please note that this class is only for new parents and adults who have not yet been involved in Brain Engingeering Labs training programs. Dr. Cheri L. Florance
Brain Engineering Labs www.cheriflorance.com |
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DR. FLORANCE INTERVIEWED ON
"COFFEE KLATCH" RADIO SHOW
I was recently interviewed by Marianne Russo on her Talk Radio show called "Coffee Klatch." Marianne created her radio show to give parents of special needs children a forum to find and share the best resources and information available.
As she says on her web site, "Empowering parents of children with disabilities has been my goal ... I have been in your shoes spending the past fourteen years researching the organic basis of anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents. I am presently working on a book for special needs parenting, a survival guide for the difficult journey." Marianne is also very much focused on making parents aware that they are their child's best advocate.
We were joined in this interview by Angela Eaton, whose daughter Meredith experienced great success with Brain Engineering Labs training programs. Ange has become something of an advocate herself for our programs, and is now a regular interviewer on Coffee Klatch.
You can listen to the interview by clicking HERE.
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MAGICAL MAVERICK MOMENTS
I wish you could sit in on my conversations with parents when they tell me what's working for them. These "Maverick Moments" are magical, because the parent seems to suddenly have discovered a new hope that they will be able to help their child.
They thought he just wasn't "motivated" enough
Tony, a 20-year-old college student, was sad, sleeping all the time, missing classes, truly down in the dumps. In high school, he struggled with school, but played sports and had nice friends. He went to see a psychologist because of his grades, and was told that he scored within the normal range. The psychologist told him, "You have a motivational problem and need to try harder. Put forth more effort!"
He had very strong visual skills and very weak auditory / verbal skills
In fact, Tony's scores were in the 99th percentile visually, and the 16th percentile verbally - extreme ends of the scales, as is typical for Mavericks. And yet those two very disparate percentile numbers were then "averaged" for his overall academic records. The resulting number had absolutely nothing to do with respect to Tony's visual and verbal thinking systems.
The psychologist, and then Tony's parents, assumed his problem was "a lack of motivation." But in reality, Tony was a typical Maverick - a super genius visually, but with underdeveloped skills in his auditory-verbal processing.
Not surprisingly, the "Maverick" brain ran in the family
Does this trait run in Tony's family? It sure does! His mom is a veterinarian, his dad is an emergency room doctor, his great-uncle was a research engineer at the famous Sandia national laboratories, and his grandfather was an aeronautical engineer.
I wasn't surprised at all at this strong visual-brained lineage. In my 30-plus years of working with Mavericks, one of the first questions I always ask is about the visual family tree - what occupations and hobbies are associated with the parents, the grandparents, aunts and uncles?
I have found that there is always at least one super-highly visual family member. In fact, there is always an abundance of strong visual thinkers in the family of a Maverick.
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FREE 30-MIN CONSULTATION
The purpose of this free initial consultation is for Dr. Florance to review a child's symptoms and family history with the parents in order to make an initial determination of whether the child has an over-working visual brain.
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Dr. Florance also works with adults, as well as with families of children and teen-agers.
If you are an adult with a language, learning or communication problem, or a parent with concerns about your child, schedule an appointment to speak to Dr. Florance about what can be done. This free initial consultation is done by phone or Skype and takes about 30 minutes.
To schedule an appointment:
Call: 866-865-9820, ext 2
Email: [email protected]
OR schedule the appointment yourself using our online calendar.
Click on the button below and choose "Free Telephone Screening." Select a day and time that's convenient, and Dr. Florance will call you then.
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About Dr. Florance
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Dr. Cheri L. Florance
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Dr. Cheri Florance pioneered the scientific basis for Brain Engineering to address language and communication problems originating in a strong visual brain interfering with the development of the auditory-verbal brain, sometimes mimicking the symptoms of Autism Spectrum, ADD, PDD, Aspergers and other disorders. She named this visual brain syndrome the "Maverick Mind," and wrote the book Maverick Mind based on her findings and her personal experience with her third child who was diagnosed as autistic, but who is now a college graduate and engineer, and completely symptom-free.
Dr. Florance now has an international practice, working with Mavericks all over North America and Europe, as well as Greece, Cyprus, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, and South Korea.
More about Dr. Florance:
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QUICK LINKS
Free 30-Min Consultation
Does your child have a Maverick Mind? Schedule a free half-hour consultation by phone with Dr. Florance to find out, using our online calendar. Choose "Free Telephone Screening."
ARTICLE: Dr. Florance's latest article in Brain World magazine
AUDIO:
New! Dr. Florance inter-
viewed on Talk Radio's
Coffee Klatch Show
Dr. Florance's interview
on Brand Lab Radio
SOCIAL MEDIA: Join us on Facebook!
FAQS: Frequently asked questions
NEWSLETTER: Missed a mailing? See our archives
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CONTACT
for additional information & questions:
866-865-9820, ext 2
[email protected]
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BOOKS by
DR. CHERI FLORANCE
Maverick Mind: A Mother's Story of Solving the Mystery of Her Unreachable, Unteachable, Silent Son, available at:
Amazon.com
BarnesandNoble.com
Autism: A New Hope, available at:
Amazon.com
AMP Up With The Animals: AMPlify Attention, Memory & Processing, available at:
Amazon.com
BarnesandNoble.com
Stutter-Free Speech:
A Goal for Therapy, with George H. Shames, available at:
Amazon.com
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