The Ten O'Clock Scholar - different learning styles

Keep your child from falling behind in school (public, private, or home). Take the simple quiz!

               Did you know that there are different learning styles? We’ve all heard of left-brained (sequential) and right-brained (spatial) learning. And we’ve all heard of auditory (hearing) or visual (seeing) learning. But there are a couple of more recent categories that link them together with more definition. Have you ever heard of auditory-sequential versus visual-spatial learning? (Highly gifted children often have both). Children, even gifted children, with visual-spatial learning may be misdiagnosed with learning disabilities. And what about late-bloomers?

                For example – as I discussed in a previous article – one of my sons skated through elementary school with no problems, other than his mouth (gifted children often think their opinion must be heard). But in middle school, with multiple teachers and classrooms constantly changing, as well as more challenging subjects, he started to struggle. His problems increased in junior high, when he was diagnosed with both ADHD and depression. (I contend that makes him bipolar, but the psychiatrist says not.) He received very high scores on the ACT test without ever cracking a study guide, then failed 5 classes that trimester. Five. Go figure.

                I now realize that my son is a visual-spatial learner. Most classrooms, lessons, and homework are geared towards audio-sequential learners. What’s the difference? According to Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman, “Visual-spatial learners are individuals who think in pictures rather than in words.  They have a different brain organization than auditory-sequential learners.  They learn better visually than audibly.  They learn all-at-once, and when the light bulb goes on, the learning is permanent.  They do not learn as well from repetition and drill.  They are whole-part learners who need to see the big picture first before they learn the details. They are non-sequential, which means that they do not learn in the step-by-step manner in which most teachers teach. They arrive at correct solutions without taking steps, so ‘show your work’ may be impossible for them.”

                Take this quiz. What kind of learner are you?

AUDITORY-SEQUENTIAL	VISUAL-SPATIAL
Thinks primarily in words	Thinks primarily in pictures
Has auditory strengths	Has visual strengths
Relates well to time	Relates well to space
Is a step-by-step learner	Is a whole-part learner
Learns by trial and error	Learns concepts all at once
Progresses sequentially from easy to difficult material	Learns complex concepts easily; struggles with easy skills
Is an analytical thinker	Is a good synthesizer
Attends will to details	Sees the big picture; may miss details
Follows oral directions well	Reads maps well
Does well at arithmetic	Is better at math reasoning than computation
Learns phonics easily	Learns whole words easily**
Can sound-out spelling words	Must visualize words to spell them
Can write quickly and neatly	Prefers keyboarding to writing
Is well-organized	Creates unique methods of organization
Can show steps of work easily	Arrives at correct solutions intuitively
Excels at rote memorization	Learns best by seeing relationships
Has good auditory short-term memory	Has good visual long-term memory
May need some repetition to reinforce learning	Learns concepts permanently; is turned off by drill and repetition
Learns well from instruction	Develops own methods of problem-solving**
Learns in spite of emotional reactions	Is very sensitive to teachers’ attitudes
Is comfortable with one right answer	Generates unusual solutions to problems
Develops fairly evenly	Develops quite asynchronously
Usually maintains high grades	May have very uneven grades
Enjoys algebra and chemistry	Enjoys geometry and physics
Learns languages in class	Masters other languages through immersion
Is academically talented or gifted	Is creatively, mechanically, emotionally, or technologically talented
Is an early bloomer	Is a late bloomer
This information is available in several publications including, Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner, by Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman, DeLeon Publishing (Denver, 2002). http://www.gifteddevelopment.com

**Here is where The Godfrey Method disagrees with Dr. Silverman. Even visual-spatial learners need phonics. More boys tend to be in the V-S category, yet they more often develop induced-dyslexia from whole-word (sight) reading methods than girls do. This is a proven scientific fact.

                Even V-S learners need to start with TGM’s unique picture-letters and system. TGM has children begin making words immediately with the first few sounds they learn, as in A Pretty Girl Was Alpha Bette and Chapters 1, 2, & 3 of this series. As they learn each new letter sound, children also sound out new words using all known letters so far. This gives your child a feeling of success in reading even before learning all 26 primary letter sounds, and gives visual-spatial learners the “bigger picture” while easily learning the details! Perhaps after having a good foundation in letter sounds, they readily leap to remembering whole words by sight, but without that underlying support, many flounder. (More to come in another article.)

• Child-led discovery does not work well in the preschool and elementary years. 
• Children shouldn’t have to ‘re-invent the wheel’ every generation. 
• Even visual-spatial learners do better with guidance from an adult. 
• Too often we are enamored by theories that don’t work well in practice. 
• And remember, ‘common sense’ is not that common. 
• Data over dogma, reason over rhetoric.

http://thegodfreymethod.com