Does your child have a learning problem?
The current education system is quick to label kids with a garden variety of learning disabilities. Some of them are serious. However in my opinion most of them are communication problems, not learning problems. In our program we
have seen a wide variety of kids with all sorts of Learning problems.
However on working closely with them we realized that kids may have more of a communication problem. We have found that for learning to happen the teacher’s teaching strategy and the child’s learning strategy has to match. Many kids may have a different learning strategy which may not match the teacher’s teaching strategy. Its like your child could be speaking French and the teacher might be speaking Chinese. And you wonder why your child doesnt learn anything. Your child doesnt learn anything because there is no communication.
So before we label kids as dumb or slow learners, we need to determine if we understand our kid’s learning strategy. How do we do that?
Firstly we need to understand what our child’s primary sense is?
All of us have 5 primary senses.
They are:
Now we all use all of the senses to process information just as we use both our hands. But there is one hand that is the dominant hand. Therefore we call ourselves either right-handed or left-handed. It’s the same with our senses. One of our senses is a dominant sense. So we learn most effectively through our primary sense or when more than one senses involved. The more the better.
Our school programs are not designed to be multisensory. Our teachers and parents are not trained to recognize child’s primary sense. At Math Genie our program is multisensory. We aim to recognize every child’s primary sense. We then tailor our teaching strategy for every student. So initially the child learns in their primary sense Then we train their non-dominant senses so that our Math Genie’s become multisensory.
So how do you recognize your child’s primary sense. You need to get into detective mode. Pay attention to the words they use.
Visual learners
See the world as pictures
Learn and process information by creating pictures their mind.
Are great spellers.
They use the following Words.
Focus
Imagine
Look
See
Auditory Learners
Learn and process information based on the sounds they hear
If they hear something they never forget.
They can remember conversations word by word.
They use the following words
Listen to me
Did you hear that
Say
Tell me more
I hear you
So good to talk to
Kinesthetic Learners.
Learn and process information based touch.
They learn best by doing and touching.
They use the following words.
Feel
Firm
Together
Touch
Connect
Press
Soft
Our experience is that most kids with learning challenges are Strategy Challenged. For example, A teacher may teach a concept by writing something on the board or describing it to the students. So a Kinesthetic child may get frustrated because they learn by touching. So if the teacher makes an effort to learn the child’s learning strategy, she could teach a kinesthetic child by allowing him/her to touch or feel.
So the best learning strategy is to teach a child based on their primary sense and then teach them to use their other senses as well.
However on working closely with them we realized that kids may have more of a communication problem. We have found that for learning to happen the teacher’s teaching strategy and the child’s learning strategy has to match. Many kids may have a different learning strategy which may not match the teacher’s teaching strategy. Its like your child could be speaking French and the teacher might be speaking Chinese. And you wonder why your child doesnt learn anything. Your child doesnt learn anything because there is no communication.
So before we label kids as dumb or slow learners, we need to determine if we understand our kid’s learning strategy. How do we do that?
Firstly we need to understand what our child’s primary sense is?
All of us have 5 primary senses.
They are:
- Visual – Eyes, Pictures.
- Auditory – Ears, Sounds.
- Kinesthetic – Touch, feelings
- Gustatory – Taste, Sweet, Sour, Pungent etc
- Olfactory – Smell,
Now we all use all of the senses to process information just as we use both our hands. But there is one hand that is the dominant hand. Therefore we call ourselves either right-handed or left-handed. It’s the same with our senses. One of our senses is a dominant sense. So we learn most effectively through our primary sense or when more than one senses involved. The more the better.
Our school programs are not designed to be multisensory. Our teachers and parents are not trained to recognize child’s primary sense. At Math Genie our program is multisensory. We aim to recognize every child’s primary sense. We then tailor our teaching strategy for every student. So initially the child learns in their primary sense Then we train their non-dominant senses so that our Math Genie’s become multisensory.
So how do you recognize your child’s primary sense. You need to get into detective mode. Pay attention to the words they use.
Visual learners
See the world as pictures
Learn and process information by creating pictures their mind.
Are great spellers.
They use the following Words.
Focus
Imagine
Look
See
Auditory Learners
Learn and process information based on the sounds they hear
If they hear something they never forget.
They can remember conversations word by word.
They use the following words
Listen to me
Did you hear that
Say
Tell me more
I hear you
So good to talk to
Kinesthetic Learners.
Learn and process information based touch.
They learn best by doing and touching.
They use the following words.
Feel
Firm
Together
Touch
Connect
Press
Soft
Our experience is that most kids with learning challenges are Strategy Challenged. For example, A teacher may teach a concept by writing something on the board or describing it to the students. So a Kinesthetic child may get frustrated because they learn by touching. So if the teacher makes an effort to learn the child’s learning strategy, she could teach a kinesthetic child by allowing him/her to touch or feel.
So the best learning strategy is to teach a child based on their primary sense and then teach them to use their other senses as well.
