A learning style is a way that a person approaches learning. If you know your child’s learning style, you can help him learn more effectively. There are three basic styles: visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic. If you understand your child’s learning style, you will be able to teach him, help with his homework, and explain your child to his teacher in a more effective way. You don’t need to take your child to a psychologist to have a young child’s learning style assessment done; it can be easy to determine your child’s learning style by simple observation and answering a few questions.

3 Types of Young Child Learning Styles Assessment

• Firstly, is the Visual learners learn through seeing. They think in pictures and may visualize in their mind the information they want to learn.

Does your child:

– prefer books with pictures?
– enjoy drawing and coloring?
– like to do jigsaw puzzles?
– notice details?
– remember people’s faces more easily than their names?
– like brightly colored pictures, maps, graphs, and charts?

If you answered yes to some of the above questions, you probably have a visual learner on your hands. When you teach your visual learner, use lots of visual teaching aids. Pictures, diagrams, charts, and maps are tools that will help your child to grasp the information being taught. Flashcards will work well for learning math facts.

Visual learners may have difficulty paying attention when you are reading aloud a book that has no pictures. Encourage your visual learner to imagine the story as it is being read. This will help your child to “see” and remember what you are reading.

• Secondly, we have auditory learners, who learn through listening and hearing information.

Does your child:

– hum and/or sing while performing a task or concentrating?
– easily memorize song lyrics and rhymes or poetry?
– remember people’s faces more easily than their names?
– enjoy listening to a book read aloud?
– have a good sense of rhythm?
– talk a lot?

The above characteristics indicate an auditory learner. When teaching your auditory learner, reading aloud is a great tool. When your voice gives out, use books on tape. Information that your child needs to remember, such as your home phone number and address, spelling words, and math facts, can be put to a rhythm or rhyme and then repeated aloud.

• Thirdly, is tactile/kinesthetic learning style. These learners learn by touching, moving, and doing.

Does your child:

– have trouble keeping her hands to herself?
– like pop-up books and books with textured pages?
– enjoy building and crafting with clay and building toys?
– like to take things apart to see how they work?
– get impatient while listening to directions, wanting to jump right in?
– fidget?
– need to get up and move when sitting for a long time?

These are all characteristics of tactile/kinesthetic learners. These learners will need frequent breaks from any work that requires sitting in one place. They are easily distracted by other children or toys nearby and may need a clear space in order to concentrate. Try giving your kinesthetic child a rock to rub or pencil to hold while he is listening. Use manipulatives like counters for math, letters cut out of sandpaper or other textured material, and play dough. Most of all, don’t expect a child who learns in this way to sit still.

Remember, there is no right or wrong style for learning. Most people have one style that is dominant, but will use the other styles at times. Some people have a combination of two styles that work best for them. When children are taught in a way that uses as many of the learning styles as possible, they are more likely to understand and remember.