Learning Styles in Children – How Does your Child Learn?

Education for kids can never be a one-size-fits-all. Each child has different learning needs that must be fulfilled for him to have a holistic academic experience. When you have identified your child’s learning style, you can help him learn more effectively. It will also help you identify your own learning style, because most of us tend to use the same style to teach our kids. Experts have grouped these learning styles into three major categories, though your child’s learning style could be a combination on two or more of these. Read on to understand more about the kind of learner you and your child are.

Children at School by Lucelia Ribiero

Types of Learning Styles

 1.  Auditory learners 

These learners learn through language – listening to others speak and talking about what they are learning. Auditory learners tend to retain information by talking aloud. They also need teachers and parents to explain things orally and may have trouble comprehending written information. Many auditory learners talk to themselves during the process of learning and greatly prefer to work with others over working by themselves. If your child is an auditory learner, you could be forgiven for thinking he is not paying attention when you talk but don’t be fooled - their listening skills are as good as anybody else’s.

Tip – Have him play online learning games that incorporate multimedia applications that involve music, sound or speech.

2.  Visual learners

If your child is a visual learner, he learns best through watching. This also happens to be one of the most dominant learning styles among children and many classrooms across the country are designed for visual learners. A visual learner needs to be able to see, visualize and illustrate the concepts he is learning in order for them to make sense to him.  As the name suggests, a visual learner remembers visual details vividly and therefore prefers to see what he is learning and write down the instructions before following them. If your child likes to doodle while you teach, let him. He can probably concentrate better that way.

Tip – Online Educational games offer plenty of interesting visual material in different formats in order to appeal to visual learners.

3.  Kinesthetic learners

If your child is a kinesthetic learner, he needs to actively participate in the learning process through hands-on activities and physical movement. Kinesthetic learners often feel a strong urge to do whatever is being learned or talked about. Even past events may owe their recall value to who did what rather than who said what. Moving around while listening or talking is a common characteristic with kinesthetic learners; it is difficult for them to stay still most of the time. In fact, some kinesthetic learners are misdiagnosed with ADHD because this learning style isn’t as common as auditory or visual learning. Your child may get ‘touchy-feely’ with things when he is learning about them. Do not try to make him stay still, that’s just his learning style.

Tip – Incorporate multimedia resources such as online learning games, video cameras, digital cameras, etc. into your child’s academic program.

First published on Kids Education.