From: Paul Grant (shade999@optonline.net)
Date: Mon Aug 04 2003 - 22:46:30 MDT
>Lee
>P.S. So you are not an example of what Paul was talking about
"hyperlexia"?
I'm hyperlexic, but I found discrete mathematics to be quite a pain to
pickup;
mind you I excelled at geometric proofs. Anyways, long story short, it
turned
out that discrete mathematics (as its taught generally) was too abstract
for me
(ergo too many directions to go in for a "short" proof sans need)... I
got discrete math
when I studied the subject (theory of computation) that it was intended
to
be used in. Prior to actually seeing the end results (the end use of a
theorem),
I found it difficult to divine what was the intended result of the
theorem and ergo
a particular pathway to the end result (formal proof) in the alotted
time...
I picked up discrete mathematics trivially, once I had found the key to
organize
it around (in this case turing machines/automata/grammers). I
*understand* calculus
(the foundation, thought processes) intuitively though. Same goes for
geometry and
algebra. It was very clear to both me and my professor though that I
didn't "learn"
discrete math the same way other people did... It took a fundamentally
different
approach...
Another really interesting portion is that the symbolic processing
extends into my
kinesthetic system (its got a different name now, but I don't remember
it off the
top of my head). I have extremely good sense recall when it comes to my
skeletal
muscular system, including the direction of said muscles when it comes
to acquiring
new skills. I have the equivalent of a shorthand grammer; I tell my
muscles what I
want them to do and they do it.
anyways, i think its fascinating, although to be quite honest, I wasn'
particularly
happy that they chose to classify it as a disorder... I'm a big fan of
the DSM-4;
if it doesn't bother you, it shouldn't be a disorder... They seem to
have left that portion
out of the literature.. I think because they're targeting it towards
parents coping
with their kids (and the tendency towards antisocial behavior)...
anyway,
just thought I'ld share (at least my perspective)...
omard-out
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