Parenting Tips - How To Increase Your Child's Ability
to Learn
In one of my other parenting articles I mentioned
the importance of understanding and communicating
with your children in their communication mode in
order to get your children to listen.
Another important area that communication modes
can come in handy is the ability to increase your
children's success in learning.
What is a communication mode? Simply put we all
learn, express love and communicate through different
communication modes or combinations of modes, often
called communication channels.
There are four main communication modes called Visual,
Auditory, Digital and Kinesthetic. As a parent if
you tap into your child's unique learning style through
their communication mode you can both teach your
children in their communication mode as well as teach
your children about their own learning style so when
they are on their own or in school they can use the
communication style technique that benefit them the
most in regards to learning.
So the following is a brief overview of the four
communication modes as well as examples of how people
learn through their communication modes. You can
be primarily one mode or a mixture of up to all four:
Visual people communicate by seeing and doing. They
like activities and they like gifts. They notice
people, places and things with just the slightest
glance. They feel and share love by doing things
with or for other people. They take things at face
value and do not look deeper into things. They learn
by seeing and doing.
For a Visual child to learn, visual aides are good
such as pictures, writing on a chalkboard or whiteboard,
watching interactions or role plays of others and/or
participating in role-plays. Reading as well as writing
out what they are learning about is also powerful
learning tools for Visuals.
A Visual child can learn through watching, just
like I explained in my last article about when my
Visual, Kinesthetic child Cameron wasn't listening
when I was telling him to pick up his toys. Once
I understood what his communication modes were, I
showed him what I wanted by putting his toys away,
he watched and not only did he understood what I
was communicating but he was learning about what
to do as well.
Auditory people communicate through talking. They
have the natural gift of the gab and are designed
to be able to talk for long periods of time. They
enjoy talking and listening to other people talk.
They feel loved when they are talked to, and like
to hear the words I love you. They learn by hearing.
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continues below
For an Auditory Child, teaching verbally, having
the child being taught to repeat back verbally what
they have learned, have music playing while they
are being taught, learning through song with the
information in the song or actually making up songs
with the answers to what they are learning it are
all excellent learning tools. Auditory children can
also use sound associations, for example a certain
sound is associated to what they are learning.
My son Cameron is not Auditory, so he would not
learn if I was teaching him something verbally without
any visual cues, whereas my oldest son Joey, who
is Auditory and Digital, would not need the Visual
cues, he could just listen to what I say or repeat
back what I am saying or teaching himself.
Digital people communicate through connection and
understanding. They find the deeper meaning in everything
they think, see and do. Understanding is very important
to them. They feel loved when they share connections
with others and are understood. They learn by understanding.
Digital
Children can learn by explaining the "what", "when", "how" and "why" of
what is being taught as well as going step by step
in a process that gets started at the beginning and
doesn't jump around but goes in order. Making connections
and explaining so they understand the purpose, concept
and origin of the topic they are learning about is
also important for a Digital child. Reading is also
perfect for Digitals, as well as writing.
If I was teaching my son Joey, who is Digital how
to load our dishwasher for example, I just wouldn't
be able to show him and leave him there. I would
have to explain where and why each dish, cup and
utensil would go where they go in a step by step
process and by explaining why it's necessary to set
the dishwasher up that way so he will understand,
he will easily learn to do it without hesitation
or confusion.
Kinesthetic people communicate through their bodies.
They move, feel and express through their bodies.
Kinesthetics love to touch, feel, physical activities
and hugging. They feel loved when they are touched.
They learn through touch and through experience.
Kinesthetic Children learn through acting out role
plays, walking through or actually doing what they
are learning as well as associating or learning things
through touch. (Like the Leap Frog learning toys
that are interactive by touching what they are learning
about on top of visual and auditory cues.)
It is possible to learn and memorize by associating
touch or certain textures to them for a Kinesthetic.
This may sound odd or hard to picture, but a Kinesthetic
person would understand. Writing something out may
also work for a Kinesthetic child.
With my son Cameron, who is Kinesthetic as well
as Visual, he learned how to put his toys away not
just by watching me, but by touching, picking up
the toys and walking through the activity of putting
the toys away in order to learn how to put his toys
away.
Each child is unique, but when they understand what
their own communication mode is and discover for
themselves what communication techniques work best
for them when they are learning, they can take these
powerful ways of learning with them and continue
using them as successful and confident adults.
by Tanis Nicole Wright
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