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...let me tell you a little about myself... Although I was born in Escanaba, Michigan, I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. Where I currently reside with my wife and son in an area called Chester Park. Work for me includes teaching, research, and antiques. With a Ph.D. in Ed Tech / Ed Psych, I am a lecturer of Computer Science and Education at the College of St. Scholastica. I am also conducting an on-going research project on learning styles and distance learning. In addition, as a part-time conservator for a regional art museum, I do preservation and restoration work on antique Japanese art objects. One of my primary interest, apart from my son, Samuel, and Andrea, my wife, is old Japanese swords, which I have been studying and collecting since 1975. Among other things, Andrea, Sam and I enjoy reading to each other, cycling the Munger Trail, cross-country skiing in Hartley Field, traveling, chaperoning Marshall's prom, and learning Hebrew. |
Early in my college career I faced a severe illness and surgery (click here see x-ray photo). Not only did it jeopardize my life, but it also directly affected my memory and speech centers. I was diagnosed with specific autism spectrum conditions (ASC), and, paradoxically, I was later categorized as an aquired savant by researchers at the University of Wisconsin. There was even a textbook chapter written that included my case study (Treffert, 2011)... Go Figue. Regardless, during my recovery, I had to literally relearn how to learn and communicate through speech therapy, adopting new cognitive strategies, and adapting to meet new challenges. I've been told one of the more interesting aspects of my condition is how, because of the damage, I process language using visual areas of the brain, I literally think in pictures, not in words. Thoughts play like a projector in my mind, showing images or movies of whatever it is Im thinking about or remembering, this is called visual/spatial learning (not to be confused with the VARK model of learning styles - audio, visual, kinesthetic, etc.). Usually I don't have any problems navigating through my daily tasks and interactions, whether social or professional, but when asked challenging questions that require deep thought or reflection, I'm told these conditions manifest themselves in longer pauses or momentary delays before I answer, where my mind has to translate or describe my "visual thoughts" into actual speech. More rarely, I experience a kind of "il'esprit d'escalier", where the question or comment doesn't even seem to register, but the complete dialogues will unexpectedly pop into my head hours or days later, and I'll be ready to share my response with anyone willing to listen. Other manifestations include hyperfocus, or regularly having long periods of highly focused attention. When given a task that interests me, I become totally absorbed in the project, allowing me to finish large tasks in a relatively short amount of time, and learning everything I can about the subject until I'm almost an expert. And, although it has been many years since my "recovery," I am still occasionally frustrated by haunting remnants of these "restrictions." For example, I'm sensitive to bright lights and noisy environments, and sudden changes can cause sensory overload and anxiety. When I am tired or stressed, I become more divergent in my thought process, as well as impatient with or easily distracted by visual disorder, and at times it becomes more difficult to remember or associate names with ideas, places or people... It's not that the knowledge is absent, there just seems to be a temporary disconnect. Sadly, at times I've tried to explain this to people, usually returned with blank stares of disbelief. I've found that most people are not aware of the complex ways in which people with challenging conditions like mine experience the world, and they're not adequately prepared for interacting or working with them, so over the years I come to avoid discussing it at all. Mine is a hidden disability, with no external physical signs, but it encompasses a huge range of my behaviors, abilities and challenges which, for most people, take too long to appreciate or understand. Anyway, as part of my cognitive recovery, I needed to adopt several learning compensation strategies. I was also given a fascinating battery of learning style and cognitive ability exams, assessments and inventories (these included: the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -R; the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; the Gregorc Style Delineator; the Oltman, Raskin and Witkin's Embedded Figures Test; and, the Swassing/Barbe Modality Index). In fact, the greatest challenge for me was a shift from being a mixed Audio/Kinesthetic leaner to primarily a Visual learner. When I read the SBMI Visual Modality description it's like looking at a mental Polaroid of my psyche. I have posted the above listed assessment and inventory results below. |
Learning Compensation Strategies* |
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Strategy |
Components |
Study and Performance Strategies |
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Cognitive/Learning Strategies |
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Compensation Supports |
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*These were adopted in part from "Whitmore, J.
(1980). Giftedness, conflict, and underachievement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon."
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R)*
*This exam was taken in 1982,
since then there have been significant changes and reversions
of the WAIS, including the creation of the WAIS-R IN (Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised as a Neuropsychological Instrument),
which may have been more appropriate considering my condition.
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On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I was type cast as an The characteristics frequently associated with INTJ are:
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On the Gregorc Style Delineator I was type
cast as The characteristics frequently associated with CR are: |
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Dominant CR learners are able to:
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Dominant CR learners dislike:
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Dominant CR learners expect:
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Dominant CR learners fear:
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Dominant CR learners want:
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Dominant CR learners prefer
the following media:
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Adapted from: http://www.smuhsd.k12.ca.us/chs/instructionaltoolkit/learning_styles/learning_modalitiesgregorc_mind_styles2.html |
On the Oltman, Raskin and Witkin's Embedded Figures
Test (EFT) I was type cast as The characteristics frequently associated with FI are:
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On the Swassing/Barbe Modality Index (SBMI)
I was type cast with The characteristics frequently associated with VM are:
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