What is your child's learning style?

In her book "Bright Kids Who Can't Learn," author Laurie Steding says that "knowing on which channel your child tunes in will help you know how he learns best, and you can adapt a lot of information to fit the strongest style of learning." She goes on to say that there are three types of learning styles (channels): visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. It is also possible to have a combination of two or even all three styles. She offers a little more information on each style as follows:

• Visual (seeing): recognizes faces, likes to draw, doodles, notices changes in a room, memorized by "seeing" words in their head, and follows written directions.
• Auditory (hearing): listens to and remembers music, sings or hums, prefers oral directions, remembers names, easily distracted by noises, and loves to hear stories.
• Kinesthetic (doing): likes to act out stories, fidgets, likes to play sports, likes puzzles and building things, gestures with hands, and takes things apart.

Once you have determined your child's unique learning style, she offers ways to take advantage of his or her style.

• Visual learners learn by: using visual metaphors (as big as a school bus), using color (highlight things to remember), drawing pictures to remember facts, and taking notes while listening.
• Auditory learners learn by: making up songs to memorize things, repeating spelling words or math facts out loud, putting information into a rhythm, and reading out loud or into a tape recorder.
• Kinesthetic learners learn by: walking around while studying, role-playing, writing in large strokes in the air or on a large sheet of paper, and spelling words in the palm of their hands.

Combining all three types are especially strong for children with LD. She offers this as an example... spelling activities become multisensory when your child sees the word (visual), says the word (auditory), and writes the word (kinesthetic). Once your child becomes familiar with his strengths, teach him to figure out a different way to look at material that he considered difficult. This will encourage your child to realize that learning is his responsibility and open the path to all sorts of inventive and creative options.

For more on this subject you can visit these web pages.....

• The Wild study
• Learning styles chart
• Learning styles questionnaire
• Beginner's guide
• The expert answers