Learning Styles and Your Child


© Heather Goldsmith

How children learn to read, or learn anything, is of great interest to parents and educators everywhere. Theories abound on exactly how children receive information and instruction, in turn applying it to their lives. A common result of the study of this learning process has resulted in what is often known as a learning style. It appears each child has a style, a manner, a method, or way of learning which makes perfect sense to them. This style is not essentially unique, but can categorize your child along with others of similar disposition. This is meant to help you, and the many teachers they'll encounter throughout their lives, understand the way your child perceives information and learns.

The purpose of this article is to apply these learning styles to learning to read, which I believe suits the topic and your interest. Many of the articles on this topic site cover ways to motivate your child in reading as a pleasurable pursuit, but perhaps you are looking for methods. You may even be frustrated with the results, or lack of them, so far in achieving the goal of teaching your child to read. As a way of offering the best help available, here is a quick summary of a couple of methods I've come across in recent research of the topic of learning styles.

The Gardener Model - Multiple Intelligences
After many years of research into how children learn Howard Gardener developed his theory of multiple intelligences. He concludes there are seven frames of mind in which a child, or adult, learns. We each hold the ability to learn in all seven, but we tend to excel in only one or two of these types or styles of intelligence. The seven intelligences are often easy to identify. Here's what to look for:-
Verbal/Linguistics:
child shows a natural love for reading books, writing and storytelling, easy recall of names, places, dates and other trivia.
Mathematical/Logical: child shows a natural flair for mathematics, problem-solving, logic and reasoning, approaches problems logically.
Visual/Spatial: child needs a mental or visual picture for grasping new information, ease with maps, charts and diagrams, loves mazes, puzzles, designing, drawing and creating. Imaginative and often daydreams.
Bodily/Kinesthetic: child shows easy skill at physical activities, loves to move around, wants to touch new objects and often gestures during conversation, especially explanations.
Musical/Rhythmic: child responds to music and sounds in an exceptional way, recalls melodies, takes notice of pitch, rhythm, and surrounding sounds others might consider inaudible.

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

4.   Sep 22, 2001 4:59 AM
In response to message posted by BeckySAHM:

Hi Becky,
Thanks for reading the article. I also found the info so interesting and ...

-- posted by bwheather


3.   Sep 21, 2001 7:28 PM
Interesting...I've found the appreciation of multiple intelligences and learning styles to be very useful in our homeschooling. I was reading about this in Linda Dobson's new homeschooling book and fo ...

-- posted by BeckySAHM


2.   Jul 22, 2001 1:35 AM
In response to message posted by Lrapp:

Hi Lrapp,
I appreciate you taking the time to point out the discrepancy. I'll fix it ...


-- posted by bwheather


1.   Jul 20, 2001 5:19 PM
Heather-
Great article full of information helpful to parents and educators; however, are you sure Kinesthetic and Musical descriptions shouldn't be reversed? It would seem to me that kinesthetics ha ...

-- posted by Lrapp





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