My colleague’s son’s teacher told her she needs to pay attention to her son’s learning style if she really wants to help him study. It is almost like a herculean task getting her son to study and understand and she decided to explain the situation to his teacher. Personally, I believe parents must have a complete understanding of their child’s learning pattern. Deciphering the style of learning of a child be it by touching, looking, or listening will help you develop the child’s study habit. A good plus to this is that it also informs your choices of suitable learning materials for him as well as after-school activities, and extracurricular classes.
Aren’t you wondering how you would go about performing this magic? Do not sweat it because it is easy. There are quite several quizzes to figure out where your child belongs. However, if you have been incredibly involved in your child’s learning over time, you would understand the learning pattern just by considering what he/she already likes or by observing the activities they naturally gravitate towards.
Educators have grouped Kids learning styles in three categories. We have the Visual learners, Auditory and Kinaesthetic.
- VISUAL
If your child is a visual learner, it means that for learning to make sense, he/she needs to be able to see, visualise and illustrate his knowledge, skills, and concepts. Visual learners are quite observant of everything around them, pay keen attention to arts and illustrations in books. A major cue for you to know is if your child remembers names easily or is skilled in cognitive mapping (recognises places you have visited together easily).
- AUDITORY
Auditory unlike visual learners can easily learn by merely hearing. If your child falls in this category, it means they learn through listening to what others have to say and talking about what they are learning. They are often drawn to sounds. I see myself as an auditory learner because I am especially musical, and the sound sticks to my brain easily. If your child exhibits something related, it suffices to say he/she is auditory. They may naturally be inclined to playing instruments or singing. Kids like this, by merely hearing their teacher talking on the radio, they will still grasp what the teacher is talking about. Does your child better understand when she reads aloud to herself? Now that is an auditory learner.
- KINAESTHETIC
Kinaesthetic learners are the hands-on type of learners. For lessons to make sense to them, they have to be actively involved in the process. They like to touch things to learn about them and tend to remember events by recalling who did what rather than who said what. For example, if your child tends to use a lot of gestures or likes to count her fingers or even clap while counting or reciting, then you have a kinaesthetic learner.
You should have noticed your child’s specific strengths from the explanations above. It is also possible that your child’s exhibits more than one of these learning styles, it’s not uncommon albeit there will be one that he/she is better at. So, tailor your child’s study especially during this period of lockdown to support the strengths you have noticed.
