Artistic talent in dyslexia-A hypothesis

The present article hints at a curious neurocognitive phenomenon of development of artistic talents in some children with dyslexia. The article also takes note of the phenomenon of creating in the midst of language disability as observed in the lives of such creative people like Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein who were most probably affected with developmental learning disorders. It has been hypothesised that a developmental delay in the dominant hemisphere most likely 'disinhibits' the non-dominant parietal lobe to unmask talents, artistic or otherwise, in some such individuals. The present hypothesis follows the phenomenon of paradoxical functional facilitation described earlier. It has been suggested that children with learning disorders be encouraged to develop such hidden talents to full capacity, rather than be subjected to overemphasising on the correction of the disturbed coded symbol operations, in remedial training. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.