Of course I cannot replicate any kind of smells here on my tablet for you to breathe in as you're reading this on your device at home or in your office like I can reproduce a picture or a statement, but---- I can tell you some stories about them. So, here goes!
Scents, aromas, odors, smells...they are not part of the usual things people want to be corrected from. Correcting reading problems, improving focus, or increasing understanding of dyslexia are some of the typical things people ask me to help them with, but scents...not so much! Why is smell so important though, I find myself asking.
To show the power of the brain and the power we have within us alone as humans, let's look at the ability to smell. I'd venture to say when you are feeling great, full of energy and in good spirits odors round you might have no effect on how you feel, but on a day when you're weary, tired, etc, it can be a different story! For instance, cigarette smoke is one thing that can affect me.
In allergy season the odor from a cigarette can cause me to have an allergic reaction, when in non-allergy seasons I don't notice any effect from that same whiff of smoke!
Brain Science
Here are some facts from an article in Lions Talk Science out of Penn State College of Medicine (link below):
"Incoming smells are first processed by the olfactory bulb, which starts inside the nose and runs along the bottom of the brain. The olfactory bulb has direct connections to two main areas that are strongly implicated in emotion and memory: the amygdala and hippocampus."
Penn State "Smells"
Perfume
The article goes on to say that 'visual, auditory (sound), and tactile (touch) information do not pass through these brain areas. This may be why olfaction, more than any other sense, is so successful at triggering emotions and memories.'
Emotions and memories, these are right up our alley as dyslexic learners. But what happens with scents? Let's talk about perfume for a minute.
White Linen perfume was created in 1978 for Estee Lauder. According to Estee Lauder it's an "intense fragrance built on the harmony of aldehydes, flowers, wood, amber and musk' and with tones of Bulgarina rose, jasmine, orris, violet, vetiver and oakmoss.
To my daughter Amanda, White Linen isn't the harmony of flowers blended together, it is the memory of her grandmother, my mom Linda Henkle, whom she loved dearly. My daughter to this day (who happens to be celebrating her birthday!) when she catches even a lingering smell of White Linen perfume instantly remembers her loving grandmother.
Even though it's been over a quarter of a century since my mom was here on earth the simple essence of White Linen perfume still lives on in eternity in my daughter's brain.
World Prematurity Day
Here's another aspect: tomorrow has been labeled as World Prematurity Day. This day is important to me, because soon it'll be my son's 37th birthday. After my son Tim was born more than six weeks prematurely, he required life-saving surgery and was transferred to a large area hospital with a neonatal unit. The surgery that saved his life was intense and it required a period of hospitalization. I instantly flashback to that neonatal care unit when I get a whiff of a disinfectant smell like the one they used in that hospital! The cleaner, as you can imagine, was used frequently to maintain the cleanliness of the intensive care unit. But one whiff of this disinfectant and my brain is flooded with memories from that time.
Superpower
Why is this important? Dyslexia, it's not about smelling, no, but it is like a super power, intensifying the barrage of information that our senses send to us as we navigate through each and every day of our life.
To those of us on the visual-spatial spectrum, if we are not in charge of our focusing ability and emotions, confusion can quickly disorient and cause us to make mistakes.
Even when it might smell a little!
#worldprematurityday
#givethemtomorrow
#happybirthdayAmanda
#happybirthdayTim
#dyslexia #davisdyslexia #onpointlearning #cathycook #columbiamo #como #emotions #learning
