Hollie Glover

Hi Riley,  I do understand what you are saying and it is very frustrating when you can't explain to yourself how you came to an answer. I'm also dyslexic I have no idea if there is a connection or if I'm unlucky, but as I've only found out about Aphantasia in the last few days I can give you a few hints to what works for me. Not knowing you have something doesn't mean it doesn't effect you it, just means you don't think about it and that, I think  can be good in many ways.  My first, biggest and most important tip is notes, notebooks (yes plural) and colours, pens, pencils, highlighters you will find what you like best. Ive always liked coloured ink pens and highlighters. If you think about a maths problem in class you are always told to show you're working out. This is simply the same method across everything, make notes to remind you of the steps you took to get to an answer. It sounds like a lot of work but you'll soon learn a way to make it quick, the notes are for you so only you have to understand them. Some of mine are now single words or a group of numbers, especially the school based ones (I'm doing a phd). My phone has so many notes in it I don't know what most of them mean, until I need them again and suddenly they make sense because my brain is thinking about that thing again. Which brings me to my second thing. Memory Tags. A first you might need help with this, I kind of did but it built up more accidentally than as a planned idea so maybe not. I have begun to realise that not everything lost in memories is actually lost, it just isn't remembered. Which is where the tags come in, if you have forgotten when you put great aunt daisy's favourite hat, you can stand there all day long and you won't remember, it simply isn't happening and we have to accept that. But that stupid question grandparents ask (I am now a grandparent) "where were you when you last had it?" Isn't far wrong, yes I know if you knew that you'd know where it is, but you only have to be reminded or remember a small thing about the time not the thing. So why did you have great aunt daisy's hat and why isn't it in the usual place?  Simple, it was raining, so you stuffed it full of newspaper and put it in the airing cupboard to stop it shrinking.  I know that's an extreme example,  but it shows how to look outside the box to find the information you want/need.  I hope this helps if only a little