Children are such a joy to interact with and observe. It is such an interesting experience to see how their personalities develop and change during the first few developmental years. After paying close attention to a child, the way they prefer to learn will shine through as well. Even though there are distinct learning styles, researchers at DUKE Tip found that there is more of a learning preference. They place strong emphasis on the fact that a child doesn’t necessarily have one learning style. There might be a mix of styles. However, there is still a dominant preference. There are three different learning styles that help to point teachers and parents in the right direction for effective instruction. The three styles are visual, auditory and tactile/kinesthetic. Within these three learning styles, there are lots of cues and traits that can point to which style suits a child best.
1. Visual Learners
According to a study done through the SEVA Council of Gifted Administrators within the Hampton Public School System, visual learners “visualize words to spell them out“. Children who are visual can often be seen as very artistic or tech-savvy. Pay attention to whether or not a child is very detail-oriented. Strong attention to detail and perfectionism are traits of visual learners. Pay attention to the choice of toys at playtime. A visual child will often lean toward playing with jigsaw puzzles. Going back to the artistic theme, visual children respond really well to beautiful, bright colors and usually have a knack for drawing.
Upon knowing a child is a visual learner, start incorporating diagrams, pictures and charts around the home to help teach concepts. A visual child thrives best in an environment with lots of color and attention-grabbing graphical cues.
2. Auditory Learners
When a child loves to sing along to music and can remember lyrics very quickly, there is a auditory learner in the midst! Auditory learners love music and are very good with catching the rhythm or beat to music. Auditory children are the more talkative ones in the bunch. They also live for story time as it allows them to hear someone sharing information out loud. Children who are auditory can also be found talking to themselves. Don’t be alarmed. This is just a way for them to get their ideas and concepts out. This is also a technique that helps them retain the information. With this understanding, know that an auditory child will need audio cues to get them to retain information. In addition, when it is time to get work done, auditory children thrive when music plays in the background or any type of white noise. The voice tone can really change a message and auditory learners can truly pick up on that. The inflections and pitch are also cues they pay close attention to. Be aware of the fact that for auditory learners to understand something, it may require a lot of talking. This is the best way for them to get the point.
3. Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners
Tactile children are the hands-on ones in the crowd. They love interactive games and pop-up books to help them learn. They are the ones who will take the TV remote control apart and put it right back together, just because they can. Anything that is highly textured is a dream come true for them to play with. Building blocks and clay are the toys these learners naturally gravitate toward. Tactile kids have a strong urge to be up and about. According to LearningRx Reviews, “When teaching tactile children, an experience must be incorporated. Along with touching and interacting with materials, children must be able to have a full experience. They will be able to retain and recall information best when they can link it back to an experience they had.”
A child’s hobbies, actions, likes and dislikes can all point to how they will retain information and how their minds will develop. Knowing a child’s dominant learning preference can have such a powerful impact on how they grasp educational concepts and how they perform in the classroom. Knowing this, it is incredibly important to pay close attention to how a child functions in order to give them the best educational experience possible!
