Is your child a ‘different learner’?

Are you concerned about your child’s progress in school? Do your child’s teachers tell you that he or she is not working at the same level of other children in class? Is your child unhappy in school, and struggling to do schoolwork? If these situations last for more than a few weeks your child needs your help.

One of the reasons children do not do well in school, never get the grades they deserve, and become increasingly unhappy and frustrated, is because they are different learners.

Everyone has a unique learning style. This learning style is made up from a unique combination of well documented learning styles. For instance, I am a mainly visual learner with strong elements of verbal and logical learning styles thrown into the mix. I like to picture things, have things described to me and to understand the ‘why’ of situations.

My husband’s learning style is somewhat different. He is primarily a verbal learner with elements of logical and a kinesthetic learning styles. He talks a lot – he is a university prof after all!- and loves to be active. He can ski and golf much better than I can.

We both did reasonably well in school and chose careers in education. Our learning styles fit the educational model that is used today where students are primarily taught by teachers who talk to them (verbal), expect them to follow set strategies (logical) and may illustrate their teaching (visual).

But what if your learning style is different? What if you are a different learner? What if you like to learn by interacting with others, yet your teachers insist that you work alone? What if your learning style is mainly kinesthetic (you learn through movement) but you are made to sit in a desk all day? Do you think you would become a good learner and do well in school?

Chances are that despite all your hard work you would never achieve your learning potential because you were not allowed to learn the way you prefer to learn. And, your performance would be judged on a learning model different from your own.

So, if your child is not doing well in school it may be because he or she is a DIFFERENT learner and the school is not, or cannot, provide the type of teaching your child needs.

A retired professor of neuropsychology has estimated that 85% of students with learning problems are ‘different learners’ whose learning is hindered when the teacher uses a mainly verbal style of teaching.

Here are some signs that your child might be a different learner.

Your child -
* is unhappy in school
* struggles to understand what he has to do for homework
* seems brighter than the grades she is getting
* did better in some grades than others
* had trouble with the move from primary to elementary class (or elementary to high school)
* good at some subjects but not others
* thinks they are ‘stupid’ because they do not ‘get it’

The good news is that of the three ‘D’s’ (see last post) this may be the easiest to compensate for once you understand the problem. The ‘trick’ is to understand how your child learns and provide the type of support that meets his or her needs. You cannot change the way teachers teach (well, not much anyway) but you can compensate by giving your child learning opportunities that help them learn.

Coming next – learning Difficulties and learning Disabilities.