Learning Styles and Interests Sneak Preview!

An excerpt from Learning Styles and Interests by Christie Berry

There are many ways that learning styles are described because the term actually encompasses much more than just the mode in which a child learns. You may have heard the terms Multiple Intelligences, modality, predispositions, kinesthetic, auditory, or tactile. These terms are all pieces of the larger puzzle of Learning Styles. For children with special needs there are other pieces that also contribute to the child’s learning style that need to be considered when determining how the child learns best.

Certain parts of our child’s learning styles are unchanging, some need to be learned, while others are always changing and need to be re-evaluated regularly. We will discuss each part of the puzzle and how they fit together to create your child’s best learning opportunity.

Pieces of the Puzzle:

Unchanging:
        Disposition/Personality/Character Traits:

        Talents/Aptitude/Natural Abilities/Multiple Intelligences:

        Modality:

        Disability:
                Strengths/Weaknesses

Changing:
        Interests:

        Environment:

Self-concept:

Disability:
        Strengths/Weaknesses

Remember as you learn about your child's learning styles seek God’s face and His will for your child. He will lead you and guide you as you search for the purpose He has for your child’s life and the mission that life is created for. Everything that your child needs to accomplish God’s plan is created within your child and finding those attributes should be at the top of your list for identifying your child’s learning style.

Disposition/Personality/Character Traits:

There are many different interpretations and ideas of the different personalities in the world! None of them are perfect. Most of us have some characteristics of all of the personality types. Most of us will be stronger in one or two of them than the others. It is a great opportunity to learn the character traits or personality types of the individuals in our family. We can see how our family dynamics affect learning in our home.

Talents/Aptitude/Natural Abilities/Multiple Intelligences:

Everyone has special God-given talents or natural abilities that can help them reach their purpose and mission in their life. These natural abilities help them to understand and organize their environment and information around them.  They help them assimilate new information and store it in the long term memory. These are abilities that come with ease.

There are several theories and ideas about talents. The natural abilities, combined with the child’s interests, make up the aptitude of the child or individual. Some of the natural bents of the child will not be interesting to the child and they should not be forced to pursue that area. Allow the child to pursue areas as God leads them toward the purpose of their life and He will lead them to those areas that come naturally.

Modality: (better known as Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic)

Each child is created to be completely unique. There are no two alike in appearance, personality, or preferences. This uniqueness is apparent in how children learn. One may learn best reading a book while others learn best by trying everything they see in the book. Another child might learn best by listening to the book on tape. Most children have a combination of modalities with one of them being the most dominant.

There are many modality assessments available. Modality is often referred to as learning styles and is broken down into 3 main areas: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic/Tactile. These three are broken down into more specific areas.

Visual subsections are picture or word. Do you visualize pictures or see words in your mind?

Visual Learners love watching videos and reading books with stimulating illustrations. Providing a visual context (picture rich books like Usborne or Dorling Kindersley) helps these children to understand an idea or concept. Older students should be taught to take notes while studying or listening to reinforce visually what they hear or read.

Auditory subsections are listening or verbalizing. Do you repeat things to yourself or read out loud to yourself, or do you remember better listening to others or a tape?

Auditory learners receive and retain information best through listening, reading aloud to themselves or someone else, or listening to books on tapes. History and story tapes can be found that would enhance any home education, but will especially appeal to the auditory learner.

Kinesthetic/Tactile subsections are hands-on, whole body, sketching, or writing/note taking. Tactile includes hands-on, sketching or writing/note taking. Kinesthetic is whole body movement.

Kinesthetic learners are always doing something. They learn best through hands-on activities. They are not content with observing but would rather touch, manipulate, put together or take apart. Unit studies work well for these children to actively participate in learning the details of the subject. You can also include field trips, crafts, activities, projects, or anything that will bring the subject to life! Tactile or Kinesthetic learners also need to move while listening. You can include fidget toys or a rocking chair in your educational setting to help them move while listening. Many times they will not appear to be paying attention but can repeat back to you all that has been said because movement helps them to be more alert while they listen.

Interests:

Many parents are clueless about their children’s interests. Or, even more often, believe that they know what those interest are and are surprised to find out that the child has  a totally different idea of what is interesting! This is especially true as children mature and become independent individuals. It is important to ask your children often (monthly or as often as necessary) what they are interested in.

It is also important to understand that there is a difference between interests and talents. Many children have talents but are not interested in pursuing them. On the other hand, a child might have an interest and have no talent whatsoever in that area of interest.

Environment:

The environment has a direct effect on learning and is greatly underestimated. Many times people tell their children to ignore the things going on around them when in actuality you should try to manipulate the environment to create the best situation for learning. Many children are required to be stoic and immovable in the educational setting and when they are unable to do that they are labeled ADD/ADHD, a behavior problem or undisciplined. Each has a different need for the environment, some get cold easily, others stay warm all the time; some are distracted by noise, others by smells or movement; some need to feel full or need to be by a window. The elements of your environment are sound, body position, interaction, lighting, temperature, food, color, and time of day. Once you discover the environment most conducive to learning you will be able to create that environment for the best educational for your child.

Self-concept:

A Note  on Self-Concept:

From a worldly or humanistic standpoint, self-concept or self esteem is thinking of yourself as worthy and as good as or better than others. This point of view is a very dangerous, selfish point of view.

However, if you look at self-concept through God’s perspective then you will see that the question of self concept isn’t about the importance of who you are, but rather the security in knowing Whose you are. Understanding who you belong to and whose family you are adopted into is the key. You are adopted into God’s family if you are a Christian. You belong to the King of the Universe. You are brothers and sisters and co-heirs with the Savior of the World! With that as your self-concept you can overcome all disabilities. This is why it is so important for you to teach your child who they belong to and seek God’s will and purpose in your child’s life so they can overcome all disabilities and be successful in the mission God is preparing them for.