IS THE WAY WE LEARN “PRE-WIRED”?How Understanding Your Child’s Learning StyleCan Help Improve Achievement
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Learning styles difference versus learning disability “A learning disability can be identified at any stage along the continuum of education,” Schwartz says. There are some things we don’t know about children when they get to middle school, for example. A child might have done OK when he had just one teacher, but now he has six, “and things are breaking down.” It could be a transition issue, or it could be something else. Testing can reveal whether it’s a learning disability rather than simply a learning style difference, facilitating appropriate intervention, Schwartz explains. “If a child has been tested and you find there is not a learning disability, you have still delineated a profile of strengths and weaknesses, and you can make determinations about how that child learns, so it’s not a mystery.” Learning styles assessment can also prevent misdiagnosis of a learning disability. Take, for example, a child diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), says Cynthia Ulrich Tobias, author of more than a dozen books, including The Way They Learn. A number of environmental factors could contribute to the child’s inability to pay attention, Tobias says. Perhaps her legs are too short to reach the ground when she sits at her desk, and she develops pins and needles in her feet. She starts to squirm because she’s uncomfortable. Adjusting the environment — such as simply placing a box beneath her feet — can reduce her discomfort, enabling her to focus more on learning. “If we start teaching children as early as possible about their learning style, it shifts the responsibility to the learner,” Tobias says.
Parents play a vital role Learning experts agree that parents need to take a proactive stance in ensuring their children are taught in ways that optimize their learning. Schwartz suggests involvement on three levels:
Global level: Lobby for your school district to implement a “learning styles committee made up of parents, teachers and the superintendent,” delivering the message that since “all kids learn in different ways, the material can’t be presented year after year in the same old way, because every child doesn’t get it,” Schwartz says.
Local level: Meet with your child’s current teacher to understand their methods, as well as ensure that he or she considers your child’s particular learning style when making recommendations for next year’s placement. “You can say, ‘My kid learns best by…’ and delineate what those strengths and weaknesses are,” Schwartz advises. Hopefully the teacher will have noticed these same strengths and weaknesses and contemplate which teacher — or core of teachers in older grades — will be an appropriate match for your child.
Personal level: Share your observations with your children, Schwartz says. “Tell them what you notice about how they learn best, and ask them what they notice about themselves and how they learn best.”
Dr. Dunn concurs, and urges parents to also do some reading on their own and “not just listen to what other people say.” There is a great deal of information available about how differently every child learns. But unfortunately, many school administrators don’t know, Dr. Dunn says. “And many of the teachers don’t know.” But if parents do their homework, they can have a powerful voice. If they really understood the scope of learning styles, “parents would demand this in the schools.”
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LEARNING STYLES? Parents and/or PTA groups can contact: —Learning-Styles Network at the Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching Styles, St. John’s University, www.learningstyles.net, (718) 990-6335/6.
—Institute for Learning and Academic Achievement, at New York University Child Study Center, www.aboutourkids.org, (212) 263-6622.
Recommended Reading: • The Way They Learn, by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias, (Focus on the Family Pub., 1998)
• Discover Your Child’s Learning Style, by Mariaemma Willis, (Prima Lifestyles, 1999)
• So Each May Learn: Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences, by Harvey F. Silver, (Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development; 2000)
• Learning Styles, by Barbara K. Given, (Learning Forum; Rev. edition (2000)
WHAT ‘STYLE’ IS YOUR CHILD? Tobias’ book discusses five learning style models: Mind Styles, Environmental Preferences, Modalities, Analytic/Global Information Processing and Multiple Intelligences. Tobias explains that an auditory child learns not just by hearing, but completes the cycle by hearing herself talk about what she has recently learned. The auditory child is a firecracker who talks nonstop, interrupts constantly and asks a million questions, exhausting her parents in the process. The visual child immediately starts putting a picture together in his head about information he is taking in, which could be completely different from what you see in your mind. The kinesthetic child is one who is born to move. He or she gets into trouble in school often and learning is interrupted because of his or her inability to stay seated at a desk for any length of time. Teaching this type of child at home is a challenge because you’re constantly having to say, “Sit still, don’t touch that, listen to me when I talk to you.” The solution is to combine learning and motion together. Let the kinesthetic child sit in a rocking chair while she listens to you, and allow her to satisfy her desire for movement by keeping her lessons on a clipboard, and work for short periods of time. Tobias says that these simple modalities make a tremendous difference in how a child remembers what it is he or she is supposed to learn.
