LIFESTYLE: UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING STYLE

The way we learn can be categorised into three main styles: visual, kinaesthetic and auditory. Understanding your child’s learning style and adapting your teaching methods to complement this can be the key to academic success as you will be able to help them reach their full potential. The following advice from an independent school in Surrey will help you decipher your child's learning style and provide tips on how to tailor your teaching style to suit them best. It is possible for children to adopt more than one learning style, so remember to keep this in mind. 


Visual 

If your child is a visual learner they will need to see or visualise things to fully grasp a concept or to retain information. These children often excel in visual activities such as art, crafts or jigsaw puzzles. They tend to be more engaged with books that contain a lot of illustrations or diagrams as they find it easier to process information this way. Visual learners will benefit from flash cards and mind maps, especially ones made up of bright colours as this will help them retain information more successfully. 


Kinaesthetic 

Kinaesthetic learners are usually quite easy to spot. They tend to be highly active children who struggle to sit still for too long. They are often very hands-on and excel at physical activities such as sport or performing arts. It is important to remember that these children will often fidget and move around whilst learning something new, but this could actually be helping them to focus, so try not to discourage it. These children respond better to applied teaching methods, you will find that they will engage more if they can physically get involved with an experiment or project. 


Auditory 

Auditory learners respond to sound. They are good at following verbal instructions and commonly pick up and copy words or phrases used by others. Auditory learners are particularly drawn to music and may be heard singing or humming whilst focusing on a task. Young children who show the signs of being auditory learners may respond well to educational songs and rhymes. Older auditory learners should practice reading study notes aloud, or even recording information and listening to it back in order to solidify their knowledge


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