It is a very well-known fact that Just like snowflakes, no two people are alike, even if they’re identical twins. Likewise, the learning styles of children also differ. By learning styles, I mean the WAY children learn. Have you ever noticed your child zoning out while listening to long narratives? That’s probably because your child is not an auditory learner. Providing visual clues might help in grabbing your child’s attention and keeping them engaged for longer. Most parents get so caught up in ‘WHAT TO TEACH’ their children, that they forget to pay attention to WHAT KIND OF LEARNER their child really is.
In order for successful teaching, and more importantly SUSTAINABLE LEARNING to take place; the child needs to understand the lessons. While some children may understand the lesson just by reading it, others may need more practical experiments and reasoning.
By PAYING ATTENTION to how your child learns, you may be able to pique his interest and explain tough topics by drawing pictures together, creating charts, building models, singing songs and even making up rhymes.
It is crucial to play to the child’s strengths to make up for their learning weaknesses. Remember: stay away from labels. Don’t accept the jargon ‘slow learner’ so easily, maybe we just haven’t applied an approach that interests the child.
Before setting unrealistic goals for the children, and getting stuck up with what you want your child to learn, try and find out a little about their interests and talents. A brilliant scientist (Albert Einstein) once said: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
So tune into your child’ learning style and help them take charge of their learning!!
