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Teaching and Relating to Your Child's
Learning Style
Dateline: 10/20/04
By Lorraine Peoples
Once you have identified
how your student learns -- by seeing (Visual), hearing (Auditory)
or by doing (Kinesthetic), discuss what you learned with your
child. If you need some checklists consult the book, You Can Teach Someone to Read. Throughout
this article, I will use the term he to indicate a male or female.
Here are some tips to help you relate:
The Visual Learner
If the child learns best by seeing (a visual learner), he
will observe every little facial expression you make to figure
out how you are responding to him. If you are a visual learner,
be very aware that you are sending messages, both positive and
negative. Your smiling eyes or smile will be recognized as approval
of what he's doing, and encourage him to continue. A frown, however
slight, will make your child look away from you, sort of like
a head-down pouty look. If that happens, acknowledge the feelings,
talk to him. By the same token, you can easily read his facial
expressions to figure out how he is responding to what you are
teaching. If you are not a visual learner, and your child is,
you will need to deliberately send visual messages through facial
expressions. You will also need to deliberately study his facial
expressions to see how he's reacting or feeling. Pictures, videos,
TV and people watching are important to him and a good way to
teach him. Visual images can distract him from concentrating.
The Auditory Learner
If the child learns best by hearing, (an auditory learner)
he will be very sensitive to your voice tone and inflections.
If your voice is too firm or you raise the pitch, he may sense
you are angry or frustrated with him. When you acknowledge his
successes, he will know how sincere you are. If you correct or
tell him what to do repeatedly, he may think you are nagging
and "turn you off." Think of this student as having
a tape recorder in his head. He will hear what you said over
and over, even after the lesson is over. Even something that
you might have thought he didn't understand, will "replay"
for him, and he'll "get it". This child doesn't have
to look at you to understand what you are saying. He even hears
you mutter or speak in the adjoining room! . If you're visual,
it may bother you that he doesn't look at you when you're speaking.
You need that; he doesn't. This may drive you nuts. It's OK to
explain to him that you know he learns best by hearing. Tell
him you know he doesn't have to look at you to understand. Share
with him that you are visual, and you do need him to look at
you so you can understand. You might tell him that more people
are visual learners than auditory learners, so it's a good social
skill for him to learn to look at people when they speak to him.
Lessons on tape recorders or other equipment that requires wearing
headphones will be especially good for him. Noises can distract
him from concentrating.
The Kinesthetic Learner
If your child learns best by doing, (a kinesthetic learner)
he will seem to have some part of his body moving constantly.
He'll be a wiggler, a toucher, and want to be close to another
person whether that person wants it or not. He'll drum his fingers,
rock, switch positions in a chair often, and have a high capability
of being inattentive. So, since you know he needs to touch, wiggle
and be active, your lessons need to provide that. He gets weary
of being told to sit or stand still. Allow him to take an active
part of your lessons. If you're giving a lesson on paper, give
him a pencil or crayon to use. . If using a lesson printed on
a transparency, give him a temporary marker to use -- that's
usually a different tool for him and feels very special. Give
him specific directions, such as underlining the vowel as you
say the words, or put the whiskers on the cat. If he needs to
listen, give him something to hold while he listens, and can
feel. If your student is a girl, give her a bracelet to wear
so she can feel it when she feels a little wiggly. It's OK to
tell your student how he best learns, so he can understand that
his wiggliness may prevent him from paying good attention to
his lessons. Let him know you'll try to teach him in the way
he learns sometimes, but that you'll also have him practice listening
without wiggling or touching, because it's a good social skill
to learn. This child's learning style is his distraction!
For more activities to use for the different learning styles,
consult the book, You Can Teach Someone to Read. Feel free
to write me at . Give me the lesson you wish to teach and tell
me the way your student best learns and his interests. I'll write
you back within a week with some ideas for that particular student.
Lorraine Peoples
Author of award-winning book,
You Can Teach
Someone to Read
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Explore Reading with Amazon.com
- You Can Teach Someone to Read: A How-To Book
for Friends, Parents, and Teachers : Step-By-Step Detailed Directions
to Provide Anyone the Necessary Tools to Easily Teach Someone
to Read
by Lorraine Peoples
- This user-friendly book with step by step directions gives
any reader the tools to teach someone else to read. With easy
to follow lesson plans, built in evaluation, and tips on how
to reach students in the way they learn best, anyone can teach
a child, teen or adult, an individual or group, a beginning or
at-risk reader.
-
- Literature
for Today's Young Adults (6th Edition)
by Alleen Pace Nilsen, Kenneth L. Donelson
- Written with the belief that students will have a better
chance of becoming life-long readers if they have choices in
what they read and if they enjoy it, renowned authors Alleen
Nilsen and Ken Donelson offer a comprehensive, reader-friendly
introduction to young adult literature framed within a rich literary,
historical, and social context.
Reading Clinic: Brain Research Applied to
Reading
by David Furr
This book teaches parents and teachers a new method of teaching
reading. This method has been proven to work with all people,
young and old. It also works very fast. Most students advance
one grade level per 15 hours of instruction. This works with
students who have never been able to read! 2000 Paperback
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
by Engelmann, Siegfried
Based on the excellent DISTAR program, my daughter learned to
read well and fast. Combines phonics with interesting reading
material for youngsters.
Why Johnny Can't Read
And What You Can Do About It
by Flesch, Rudolph
Contains complete materials and instructions on teaching children
to read at home. 1986 Paperback
How to Increase Your Child's Verbal Intelligence
by McGuinness, Carmen and Geoffrey
Parents and teachers seeking sound, research-supported advice
on ways to improve their children's reading comprehension will
find this book an essential resource. Publisher's page. 2000 Paperback
The Writing Road to Reading
The Spalding Method of Phonics for Teaching Speech, Writing
and Reading/Book and Record
by Spalding, Romalda Bishop Walter T. Spalding
A popular method for teaching reading at home, combining the
learning of reading and writing. 1990 Paperback
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