You have probably noticed that people learn better in different ways. These ways are often called learning styles. There are various ways of categorizing them but one way is this:
Visual: Learning by sight. Flashcards and pictures can be very helpful to the visual learner.
Auditory: Learning through sound. This child might enjoy listening to music while she studies. She also might need to read the instructions aloud.
Tactile: Learning through touching. A tactile learner might be a child who can’t keep her hands off of things. She will need something to fidget with when learning a new concept.
Kinesthetic: Learning through doing. A kinesthetic learner needs to be moving or doing something while he learns—bouncing a basketball while answering his math facts, for instance.
While your child might fit into a couple of different categories he probably has a primary learning style. Since it's impossible for teachers to adapt every lesson to each learning style children must learn to adapt to learning in different ways. However, whether you are her teacher at home or helping with her homework you can ignite her learning in the more difficult subjects using her primary learning style. After developing interest and confidence in the subject you can then work on strengthening the weaker areas by incorporating other learning modalities into the lesson.
Mind the Children strives to provide creative resources for making learning easier for children with various learning disabilities and styles.
Here are some books for further reading on the subject:
The Way They Learn by Cynthia Tobias
Unlocking Your Child’s Learning Potential by Cheri Fuller
Discover Your Child’s Learning Style by Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Hodson
Taking the Mystery Out of Learning Styles by Carolyn Morrison and Jennifer Morrison Leonard
The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles: A Fresh and Demystifying Approach by Carol Barnier
