Lindsay Pulsipher

I can draw without visual recall. It's easier with things that I have developed a sort of muscle memory for, but in general artist get better the more they practice.

I'm an English teacher (high school) with Aphantasia. I love reading, especially sci-fi & fantasy. My husband is a hyperpahnt who doesn't enjoy reading most of the time and prefers history/biographies when he does read. I have always tested high in my reading ability. Here's my experience both as a student and as a teacher - If you quiz students about irrelevant details to be sure they read something, it can be more difficult. This seems to be true for most students, but especially those of us with Aphantasia. Some Aphants memorize the facts about charaters or places, but not all. Focus on the meaning of the book, the emotions of the characters, the order of events and why that is important. Discuss passages with students. Students accross the spectrum of visual ability do and don't enjoy reading. For me, it's about finding what things interest a student. What shows do they like to watch? What hobbies do they like? Do they get exhausted trying to read long passages. It's all the same things we (teachers) learn when it comes to teaching students. If a student doesn't like to read, find out why. If it's because they can't visualize it, maybe let them watch a movie version if it's available and ask them to pick out some of the differences. Or ask them to draw or make a video of a passage. If someone doesn't enjoy reading (and many of my students don't) ask what they don't like. It turns out, many of my students don't like reading because they don't think of magazines, graphic novels, and video game text as reading. Once they realize they like one (or more) of these things, sometimes I can bulid on that - aphantasia or not.