Cupar woman becomes grandmaster

A WOMAN made history yesterday when she became the first Scot to become an International Grand Master of mind games-despite being dyslexic.

Elaine Colliar overcame her handicap to win a coveted gold medal in "mind mapping" for the second year running at the annual Mind Sports Olympiad in London.

Mind mapping, a method of using pictures to put thoughts down on paper, is one of the most effective tools used by educationalists to help teach dyslexic people.

The competition focused on three different elements of the technique-creating a mind map from knowledge gleaned from memory, from the written word and translating the spoken word in real time.

The 30-year-old's win comes 16 years after she was practically written off by school teachers as a non- achiever because of her condition.

Now she is one of six grand mind masters in the world and travels the globe teaching other people with learning problems how to use their brains to their maximum potential.

Ms Colliar, who has an IQ of 157 and is a member of Mensa, said she was "absolutely ecstatic" when she found out she had won.

"I was shocked that people judged my mind map to be the best in the world," she said. "It was an amazing feeling, I was punching the air and just wanted to scream from the rooftops. It took a whole day for it to properly sink in."

She said her achievement illustrates that being dyslexic should not stop people from learning.

"It is all about finding the enthusiasm for learning again and finding alternative ways of doing it.

"Many people don't feel confident because.. they don't conform and learn the same way teachers want them to.

"It is very important to teach them first to think about thinking and then find the most effective way of doing it."

Ms Colliar, who is from Cupar, said she first realised she was dyslexic after discovering she had a problem reading and writing.

"Although I could answer questions verbally perfectly I was very clumsy and couldn't even catch a bouncing ball."

She added, "Dyslexia is something that can be easily dealt with if it is identified in time. Everybody has a brain and the ability to learn. The trick is finding the right techniques to help use it to its full potential."