When Your Brain Isn’t Seeing What Your Eyes Are Seeing
- Anri Louwrens
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Have you ever zoned out while someone was talking...only to realise you heard the words but didn’t actually take them in?
Or read a whole page of a book and suddenly think, “Wait… what did I just read?”
That moment — that little mental drift — is something every brain can do.
Now imagine if that happened more often. More intensely. More automatically.
That’s what many dyslexic individuals experience.
Dyslexic Brains Aren’t Broken
Back in the 1980s, an experiment using nothing more than a spinning spiral showed something powerful:
Anyone’s brain can temporarily distort perception.
Vision. Balance. Time. Even awareness of where your body is in space.
The difference?
For some people (especially those with dyslexia) that shift can happen more easily and more frequently.
It’s not brain damage. It’s not laziness. It’s not lack of effort.
It’s a brain that processes the world in a slightly different way.
“But They’re So Bright…”
Parents often say:
“They’re so clever when we talk.”
“They understand big ideas.”
“They can build, create, imagine…”
“But when it comes to reading, spelling or focusing — everything feels harder.”
What if it’s not about intelligence at all?
What if it’s about perception?
If your mind briefly stops seeing what your eyes are seeing, letters can flip, blur, or seem to shift. Words can feel unstable. Instructions can disappear mid-sentence.
That’s not defiance. That’s not daydreaming on purpose.
It’s a brain doing what it naturally does.
Different Wiring = Different Strengths
The same kind of brain that can drift, imagine, and picture things vividly is often the brain that:
• Thinks in images• Sees patterns others miss• Solves problems creatively• Builds, designs, invents• Connects ideas in original ways
The challenge is that schools were largely designed for one very specific learning style.
And not every brilliant brain fits neatly into that mould.
If This Resonates…
If you’re reading this and thinking, “That sounds exactly like my child…
”or“
That was me at school…”
You’re not alone.
This is exactly why we’re hosting two special screenings of Who Knew? inside NeuroNavigators — a documentary that explores dyslexia not as a flaw, but as a different way of thinking.
If you’d like to join us, you can find the screening dates and details here:
No pressure.
No jargon.
Just understanding.
Come sit in the conversation. 💜
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