Child Learning Style: Do You Know Your Child’s Type?

Understanding your child’s learning style is crucial for their academic success and personal growth. Just as every child is unique, so is their approach to learning. By identifying their learning style, whether it’s visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or a combination of these, you can tailor their educational experience to better suit their needs.

What Type Of Learner Is Your Child?

It’s important to note that a child’s learning style is not determined by their IQ test results but rather by their preferred methods of acquiring and processing information. By recognizing and accommodating their learning style, you can help your child thrive in their educational journey.

What Is A Learning Style

A learning style refers to how information is received, processed, comprehended, and stored. Kinesthetic, visual, auditory, and reading/writing are the four main learning styles identified and discussed by experts.

Most children will favor one of these above the rest, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only learning style to focus on. The best learning technique is often a blend of multiple—or all—of these learning styles.

Kinesthetic Learning

This one might have you looking for the largest selection of children’s jigsaw puzzles. These learners are practical and learn by doing rather than by observing. One might say that some kinesthetic learners seem to observe by doing. 

Your child could be a kinesthetic learner if

• They struggle with remaining still while learning.
• They enjoy physical activities (sports, board games, science experiments, puzzles, etc.).
• They tend to jump straight into doing a task.
• They prefer hands-on, active tasks.

Help a kinesthetic learner by

• Creating plenty of practice exercises to use while studying.
• Coming up with study games that involve physical engagement.
• Expecting to fidget and providing a fidget toy or stress ball.
• Incorporating full-body movement into studying.

Visual Learning

These types of learners benefit from seeing information represented visually. Graphs, charts, diagrams, demonstrations, and other visual aids help them grasp new concepts. They excel when they can, in some way, see the task at hand. This could be to see and conceptualize the process, the result, or something relevant to comprehending the new topic.

Your child could be a visual learner if

• They enjoy visually stimulating activities (painting, drawing, etc.).
• They’re good at recalling places and people they’ve encountered before.
• Their explanations or recollections of memories include descriptions of visually observed information.
• They respond well to examples of tasks or activities being completed.

You can help them by

• Using flashcards when studying.
• Conceptualizing or consolidating information by creating diagrams, charts, and mind maps.
• Color-coding or indexing notes.

Auditory Learning

This type of learner learns through listening to explanations or engaging in dialogue. They find it easier to engage with the topic when an auditory aid accompanies learning. This could be an instructional audio, a verbal explanation, or an opportunity to converse with someone who can answer questions.

Your child could be an auditory learner if

• They have an aptitude for activities that engage their hearing, like music.
• They tend to ask questions on a topic or task.
• They enjoy talking, asking questions, and having conversations.
• They like listening to all instructions before doing something.
• They sing, hum, or talk while learning or doing any regular activity.
• They’re good at recalling information, words, and phrases they have heard before.

You can help them by

• Encouraging the creation of verbal narratives to help remember things.
• Using rhymes or other entertaining verbal recollections of study work.
• Reading things aloud (the student or the teacher).
• Conversing about sections of work the child struggles with.

Reading/Writing Learning

These learners find it easier to remember and understand new information by writing it down or reading it from a book. Reading and writing learners might find it more helpful to learn from books, articles, textbooks, and other literary learning aids.

Your child may be a reading and writing learner if

• They enjoy reading books.
• They like writing stories.
• They’re good at remembering what they’ve written or read.
• They take notes when learning about something.
• They like writing down given instructions before starting something.

You can help a reading/writing learner by

• Using a structured format to write notes (headings, subheadings, different sections, etc.)
• Encouraging them to take notes by hand (sometimes rewriting things to solidify the memory).
• Writing entertaining stories that contain keys to help remember things.
• Writing checklists of tasks or topics that must be studied.

What To Consider As A Parent

You might be able to quickly figure out what learning style is predominant for your child. But it could also take some time. It might even require consistent observation as it may change over time.

Find out your child’s strengths by giving them activities and asking questions that relate to each learning style. Then, take note of what works best and what doesn’t. Remember that your child may learn best by incorporating multiple learning styles into one solid method.

When you know their learning style, you can use the knowledge to help them by making the learning process easier and more engaging. But school isn’t the only place it’s applicable. You can consider their learning style when thinking of your parenting style or helping them learn to handle everyday life.

Child Learning Style: Final Thought

Learning styles significantly affect how your child develops and engages with the world around them. As a parent, knowing your child’s dominant learning styles enables you to help them learn to their fullest potential. 

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References

• What Type Of Learner Is Your Child? | GradePower Learning
• How to Identify Your Child’s Learning Style (noodle.com)
• What Type of Learner Is Your Child? – The Joy of Teaching (evan-moor.com)
• How to Determine Your Child’s Learning Style: 10 Steps (wikihow.com)
• Children’s Learning Styles – AbilityPath
• How to Identify Your Child’s Learning Style | Scholars Education Centres
• What Type of Learner Is Your Child? – FamilyEducation