Question and Answer: Adult with
Directional Disorientation

I have extreme difficulty with directions. I get lost ALL THE TIME, especially when I am stressed. People laugh, and I laugh too, but the truth is I think I am dyslexic. I learned to tie my shoes when I was 2-and-a-half, and I have always been considered smart. Sometimes I see pages like they are upside down even when I know they are right-side up. I always mistype the little words. I get really sick reading in the car. I wonder if I am a dyslectic, and if so, the degree to which I am considered dyslexic, and what part of my brain is affected. If I am, maybe my coping mechanism is good and that is why I have been considered a good student and maybe my coping mechanisms can help other people, or perhaps they can help me with my directional disorientation.

You clearly lack certain cognitive skills, especially position in space. I suggest you look into buying Compublox 2008, the new software equivalent of Audiblox. Compublox is a system of cognitive exercises, aimed at enhancing and automatizing cognitive skills, of which position in space is a very important one.

The advantage of Compublox is that you can help yourself – you won't need a tutor, like you would when you do Audiblox. I recommend that you do the loop for 20 minutes per day, and then change to the "free play" mode and do the "Arrows exercise" for another 5 minutes.

Once a cognitive skill has been automatized, it can no longer cause a problem. Driving is a good example to understand automaticity. Try to remember your first few driving lessons. How hard you had to concentrate on what to do when to prevent the car from wrapping itself around the nearest tree! You had to think about when to use the mirror, where the indicator is, how to coordinate your feet with your hands when changing gear, what's happening on the road and so on. But the more you practiced, the more automatic your driving became, until you could eventually drive without thinking about it. In fact, while driving, your mind is now probably on something else most of the time, like talking to the other people in the car, or listening to the radio, or looking at the scenery outside.

> and what part of my brain is affected.

It is important to note that differences in brain structures and functions do not necessarily equal brain disorders. Such differences are not necessarily the cause of a learning difficulty – they can well be the effect of a learning difficulty.

Latest neurological findings show that the brain is plastic throughout life – it is constantly changing. Changes associated with learning occur mostly at the level of the connections between neurons – new connections can form and the internal structure of the existing synapses can change. New neurons are constantly being born, particularly in the learning and memory centers. When you become an expert in a specific domain, the areas in your brain that deal with this type of skill will grow.

An interesting study in London, for example, has found that an area of the brain associated with navigation was larger in London's famed taxi drivers than in other people. The drivers' brains have adapted to help them store a detailed mental map of the city, shrinking in one area to allow growth in another.