Discover Your Child's Learning Style: Children Learn in Unique Ways - Here's the Key to Every Child's Learning Success

by Mariaemma Willis, Victoria Kindle Hodson

Help Your Child Discover the Joy of Learning
Does your child learn best in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Does his reading comprehension increase or decrease when music is played in the background? Does she prefer to study alone or with others? According to nationally respected educators Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Kindle Hodson, our children process information in a multitude of unique ways. What works best for one child is often counterproductive for others. By trying to force all children into the same learning mode we unfairly short-circuit their education as well as their intellectual development.
Discover Your Child's Learning Style shows you how to assess and nurture your child's individual learning potential based on his or her talents, interests, disposition, preferred environment, and more. Inside is a step-by-step program of self-awareness tests that guide you to a better understanding of your child's unique strengths and weaknesses, goals and interests, and inner peace. You'll discover how to create the right atmosphere for learning in the home. Most important, you'll help your child excel not only in school but in life as well.
"An excellent tool for discovering how a student learns best. Teaching children according to how they learn ensures optimum education for all; it's an approach that could help make remedial literacy programs obsolete!"— Patricia Flanigan, California State Library Literacy Task Force
"Essential for any parent or teacher who works with children."— Suzanne Lopez, psychotherapist and author of Get Smart with Your Heart
"A powerful tool for increasing your child's self-esteem. At last, there is a simple solution for every child to become a winner."— Nancy L. Chaconas, M.A., educator, author of HELP-Esteem
"Parents who understand the principles in this book will be better parents!"— Richard and Linda Eyre, authors of Teaching Your Children Values

Genres: Parenting, Education, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 1999

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't actually finish this book. Some informational writers have a knack for making content interesting and uplifting. Mariaemma is not one of those writers. The intro and first chapter were basically rants against school systems in general with public school being the root of all evil. By the time I got to the little quiz I was supposed to administer to the kids I couldn't even bear to pick up the book again. I finally got around to skimming a bit through the end chapters and found many of the techniques being used in my kids' classes were similar to what she recommends for different learning types. (and they even go to public school - weird) All methods of teaching - both home school and school systems have their pros and cons, can't we all just get along?!?

[Patrizia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having removed a struggling 2nd grader from a system that was causing major stress & frustration as well as lack of self confidence, I stumbled across an article on Learning styles and how it affects our ability to learn and retain material. I decided to make some time this year to do some more in depth study on this subject before investing in more curricula in order to help my boys reach their full potential where education is concerned. I bought this book last December, but only just made the time to read it now… In hindsight, I really should have made it my first priority before the school year started. It would have been even better had I known all this before we took on home education, then we could have saved ourselves a whole year of stress and frustration resulting from an approach that doesn't work for their learning styles…

This book is an absolute must-read for all parents and educators.

Part I motivates us to get on the child’s team.

It never ceases to amaze me that we still insist on teaching our children with a system that has failed ourselves and is still constantly proving to fail them. In a day and age where we have the world of knowledge at our fingertips teachers still persist in teaching kids with methods that don’t work for the majority of students and in the process kills their love for learning. Many students today are lost in a system, believing they are failures whereas in fact, the system has failed to acknowledge and cater for the way they learn best.
“Lifelong self images are formed by how successful we are in school. The word "failure" often echoes in a person's ear well into adulthood and undermines marriages, parent-child relationships and careers. I wish I had the space to tell my adult clients' stories about the negative consequences of having been labelled a failure in elementary school.”

Although we know much more about how the brain works and how different learning styles affect our behaviour and also how we learn, the status quo still remains rote memorization and recitation in classrooms with passive children who are sternly disciplined when they express individual needs. In spite of all the knowledge available, we still continue to bring school back into our homes and teach with a boring textbooks & worksheet wasteland approach.
We know now that “helping kids find out who they really are – what they are good at and what they love to do – is the most important way of maintaining natural curiosity and eagerness to learn. We need to stop drawing attention to what kids can’t do and start emphasizing what they can do.” I have seen with my struggling learner that removing the focus on what he can’t do, to praising that which he can do is vital in restoring the self confidence. Once the self-confidence is restored, the student can focus on the problem areas which are then very easily overcome.
“When you help your child identify and respect his own learning strengths, interests, talents and needs, you give him roots in the gifts he was born with. When you help your child discover his dreams, passions and goals, you give him the wings of motivation and purpose for becoming an eager, self-directed learner. In both cases your efforts result in a more successful learner.”

It is important to acknowledge your child’s learning style & help him find his talents and strengths. “Genuine acknowledgement of how kids see themselves unlocks a treasure trove of interests, concerns, dreams, hopes and passions – which provide the real reasons and motivation to learn.” This book helps parents and educators do just that… it supplies the assessment for the learner to complete in order to determine his learning style & strengths. It also includes valuable suggestions to help parents and educators support the child in exploring their interests and strengths.
“It takes personal attention to discover and nurture the self-directed, eager learner in any child. Unfortunately, the majority of our schools do not have enough time or sufficient numbers of teachers to give children individualized attention; therefore if you want personal attention for your child, you are going to have to take charge and give it yourself. By taking time to discover your child's learning style, you can provide a foundation for your child's lifelong learning success. All children can be self-directed learners if they get the right start, and the right start begins at home.”

This personal attention takes time & effort from educators, but unfortunately teachers today are so inundated with classroom management and senseless “busywork” that they do not have the time to spend one-on-one quality time with all their students.
If you add up the amount of undivided individual attention most students get during their 12 years in school, it probably comes to about 3 to 6 school days' worth. ~ Peter Kline

Our schools and teachers are too busy identifying and sifting the “good” students from the “not-so-good” students. They follow a factory-model-education that has been designed to sort out the so-called smart students from the slow students and concentrate their limited resources on the few winners who will become the leaders of the country. The standard procedure for assessing learning is testing – intelligence testing, standardized grade-level testing, daily classroom quizzes, entrance exams etc. The 68% of students that score within the “average” range will be called “normal”. Those who score above are “gifted” and all those below end up being labelled “ADD, dyslexic, learning disabled, hyperactive, ADHD, slow, below average, unmotivated, disruptive etc.”
“While some students seem to be naturally self-motivated, what I have discovered is that ALL children can be self-directed learners if they get the right start, and the right start begins at home.”

Instead of attempting to “fix” or “direct” the children, this system celebrates each child’s natural gifts and abilities. This book provides 5 concepts (C.A.R.E.S.) to help parents become part of their children's learning teams.
Celebrate your child’s uniqueness
Accept your role as a teacher
Respond rather than react
Expand your view of where learning takes place
Stop blindly supporting the bell curve evaluations and definitions of your child
This book encourages parents and educators to treat each child as an individual and help them find out what they love to do. It helps them discover the child’s talents and use appropriate strategies to enhance learning. It teaches children to use the learning style information to learn more efficiently.
“To keep the vital motivating force for learning alive in your child, celebrate her desire to wonder, play, discover and question; celebrate his skills, interests, accomplishments and uniqueness. Young children who are recognized for who they are don’t do drugs, don’t turn to violence and crime and don’t feel the need to join gangs when they are older.”

Schools are learning-style biased. They focus on outside-in education, which means that knowledge is dispensed and the student is expected to be passive most of the time in order to receive the information. The Learning Style Profile in this book however, encourages inside-out education, which means that students are expected to be active and involved. Motivation for learning comes from having interests, strengths and coals acknowledged and from being appropriately challenged.
“It is estimated that 95% of Kindergarteners feel good about their learning potential. However, 98% of seniors at high school have lost their creative, inquisitive spirits. What happened to all but 2% of these seniors?”

Part II explains the Learning Style Profile.

5 Learning Style Dispositions

Our dispositions determine the way we work, communicate and learn. This is how the world sees us. For each of these dispositions, this book includes learning characteristics, preferred setting, contributions, areas for growth, relationship conflicts, ideal curriculum, homework helps & motivators. It also includes a quick reference chart with a helpful materials list.
Performing ~ (Move) need for spontaneity and playfulness.
Producing ~ (Organise) need order and efficiency.
Inventing ~ (Discover) need intellectual stimulation, competence and a chance to make a practical contribution.
Relating/Inspiring ~ (Interact) need to contribute to the well-being of others.
Thinking/Creating ~ (Create) need to contribute new ideas.
Safety is a basic human need that is prerequisite to academic learning. When we don’t accept and work with children’s learning styles they don’t get the acknowledgement and acceptance that is required to make them feel safe in their environment and relationships. This causes learning to suffer and many people pay a price their entire lives. Our need to be recognised for ourselves it perhaps the deepest need of all. Many people are still trying to be acknowledged for who they are even into adulthood.
12 Talents

These are our natural gifts and show up as skill and ease in learning a subject without precious instruction. A very surprising aspect of talents is that a person may be gifted in an area without having the least bit interest in it. These gifts are often mishandled or misunderstood by well-meaning adults, who may 1) force children to pursue talents they observe or 2) fail to encourage a talent that a child is interested in developing.
Music ~ skill in playing instruments, singing, humming, whistling etc.
Math-Logic Reasoning ~ catches on quickly to mathematical patterns, easily memorizes facts and formulas.
Mechanical Reasoning ~ loves to fix things.
Word-Language Reasoning ~ a proficiency with words and strong reasoning ability with language.
Spatial ~ these are the doodlers who love drawing or copying pictures or designs, painting, thinking in pictures and remember what is seen.
Body Coordination ~ they enjoy or excel at sport or have body coordination talent.
Interactive-Self ~ often enjoy being alone. They place a high priority on being independent & might even be reclusive.
Interactive-Others ~ their focus is being social, making friends, understanding people and making others feel good about themselves.
Interactive-Animals ~ (Dr, Doolittle Talent) they can generate trust in animals.
Interactive-Nature ~ they have difficulty being indoors.
Humor ~ can turn an ordinary situation into one that will make others laugh.
Daily Life Enhancement ~ people who cook, create lovely, liveable, cosy and inspiring places.
“If our schools were set up differently, children would be allowed to begin their school lives guided by their talents. In other words, each child would be absorbed in developing the particular talent areas that he is interested in and the other subjects would be integrated around these talent areas.”

Many homeschool students follow the direction that their talents lead them with great enthusiasm and commitment.
“Without once referring to reading comprehension, arithmetic, science, history or geography, a child can sleuth for information energetically, share her surprise at what she finds, make inferences, draw conclusions, and find additional springboards for collecting even more information.”

Unit Studies would be a great example of this type of learning where all these skills are taught around a theme that may be of interest to the student.
Interests

These are not necessarily the child’s talents, but something that he may interested in. A child that has a talent for music or art, may not necessarily be interested in developing those areas. We may want them to develop a talent that is obvious to us, but they have a need to pursue their interests. Pursuing interests is a a vital part of healthy living.
Modality

This refers to the modes or senses through which people take in and process information and is just one aspect of learning style.
Auditory ~ material includes noise, music, songs, lectures, verbal explanations, taped information, stories told aloud, conversations and the sound of one’s own voice.
“The traditional classroom, which is set up to teach mostly to the auditory mode, is serving only about 34% of its students.”

Visual ~ Here we have the picture and print learners who are although grouped into one category are very different.
Picture Learners think in pictures and their material includes charts, graphs, designs, forms, layouts, maps, objects, drawings, movies and dramatic performances whereas
Print Learners think in words and they need to read and write to process information. They benefit from underlining or highlighting the material as they read, taking notes in word-mapping or outline formats, writing down incoming auditory information and translating visual information into words.
“Picture Learners are often mistakenly given printed-language techniques instead of pictures to help them learn.”


Tactile-Kinaesthetic ~ These children learn most effectively when they are able to touch things (tactile) and move around(kinaesthetic) in the learning environment. Movement in the learning environment is usually interpreted as disruptive rather than intelligent, hence these learners often get in trouble for seemingly “not paying attention”. Most of these children end up labelled hyperactive instead of having their legitimate learning needs responded to. My youngest falls into this group & applying the learning tools & methods mentioned in this book have made a huge difference to his progress.
The 4 basic types of tactile-kinaesthetic learners are

Hands-on learners ~ hands-on activities like construction or assembling
Whole-Body learners ~ act, walk, play and use whole-body movements
Sketching learners ~ drawing, colouring and doodling
Writing learners ~ need to write things out in order to process and understand.
“You were born to learn with your whole body and all your senses. You were not born to sit in a chair eight hours a day and listen to someone talk, or pore over books year in in and year out… Until recently (only minutes on the evolutionary scale) there were no books, no classrooms and no lectures… If we pay attention to the learning of babies and young children, we can see how similar it is to the way our ancestors learned throughout their lives. ~ Peter Kline.

Environment

This refers to the environment in which the student is studies most effectively.
Sound ~ note whether the student needs silence or noise e.g. music whilst studying.
Body Position ~ does he work best sitting at a desk, reclining on a couch, standing at an easel.
Interaction ~ does the student learn best interacting with others or on its own.
Lighting ~ note whether the child performs better in bright light or low-to-moderate light. Some children may even prefer the indirect natural sunlight.
Temperature ~ take note how your child is affected by room temperature when studying.
Food ~ For children who need to snack regularly throughout the day, healthy food and drinks need to be made readily available.
Colour ~ when surrounded by their favourite colours students think more positively and feel more motivated.
Time of Day ~ For most children academic learning is probably done best in the late morning or early afternoon. For some however, it is best in the evening. Be flexible enough to rearrange their schedule of activities to accommodate the child’s preference to better suit their learning needs.
Part III equips us to Coach for Success

Use the stay F.I.T.T. technique to coach your child into learning success.
Focus on solutions ~ When a child is taught to focus on solutions rather than blame, they will be more likely to feel capable instead of fearful, withdrawn and / or rebellious. These children are more aware that problems can be handled and develop an ability to handle setbacks.
“Kids who are raised with solution-focused problem solving instead of consequences or punishment develop the ability to keep going in the face of setbacks.”

Identify goals ~ Kids who have goals can see their future and are more eager to learn since the goals will give them a sense of purpose.
“Without goals of their own, kids are often passive participants in the goals that other people have for them.”

Track successes ~ People are more likely to remember the pain of their failures. When students start receiving frowning faces and red marks on their papers, the emphasis changes to “tracking of failures”. Children receive these reports of failure year after year leaving them with a negative impact on their self-esteem.
“Success tracking helps conscientious learners take pleasure in their accomplishments rather than fear failure.”

Take the pressure off ~ kids are under so much pressure today. It is good to allow them to “do nothing” from time to time. They don’t need continual reminding of their inadequacies. This can cause insecurities and negatively impact their progress.
“At times we have to say “What you are doing is ‘good enough.’”

Our role as coach is to assist, support and nurture your child whilst keeping him fully involved in his learning process. This book also covers learning disability, dyslexia, reversals, ADD and Hyperactivity, Scotopic Sensitivity, Neurological Problems, as well as Biochemical Imbalances.

For those parents who are not able to remove their children from the system, by means of home education, this book will help you discover and support your children’s dispositions, talents, interests and environmental needs at home. In doing this the child learns that her ideas, best ways of learning, contributions to a group and learning needs are important even though the school may not be set up to recognise them. The child will learn that she can have a vital live in spite of school definitions and preferences. This involvement in a life separate from school will develop confidence that will eventually affect school studies as well. Parents can also find advise on how to talk to their child’s teacher in order to have the child’s learning style acknowledged in order to improve their performance.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was helpful in understanding my child's learning style. It also helped her to understand as well.

[Elizabeth Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely want to get this one to keep on the shelf for our homeschool years!

[Charity · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Part I, did the assessment in Part II with my daughter, and then skimmed over the pertinent sections in Part III, which has all of the suggestions to use with each learning style. I got a couple of new angles on information I already knew, but nothing totally new to me. I think the most valuable thing was doing the assessment itself with my daughter and seeing just how in tune she really is with her needs and preferences (and how confident she is in her abilities).

I disagree with the authors' take on talent (there's a fair amount of evidence that talent is created rather than being inborn. Read Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin). I also found some of their arguments unconvincing. For example, they state that in some classrooms that have implemented these techniques, teachers find that all of the students received A's on the assessments for knowledge on topics taught to their learning styles. The schools with these results discounted them because they don't follow a bell curve and therefore must be inaccurate. The argument the authors make is basically, well, it doesn't matter. I think a better argument is that if you plotted the results within the A range, they may well follow a bell curve. An A grade is a range, not a point. Perhaps one just needs to zoom in a little closer to see the variation.

I think that a little more intellectually rigorous style might have appealed to me more.

[Joselle173 · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a refresher course for me on learning styles, modalities, et al. The author does a good job of presenting the information in an easy to understand way. Book also includes pages you can photocopy to give yourself or your children the profile "test" (not in the typical sense, since there are no wrong answers. My son hates school and homework, but he had no problem working on this profile over a couple of days.) You will learn their (and your) disposition, talents, interests, modality, and environment preferences. As parents we can project our own style onto our children thinking we understand them, and certainly in many ways we do, but by letting kids take the test themselves it could reveal a surprise or two. Great book for any teacher, homeschooling parent, or a parent who is trying to help their child succeed in public/private school.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really wonderful book. The philosophy fits perfectly with a Leadership Education such as TJED and any child centred approach. It helps parents to understand their children, how they learn and how to mentor, coach and advocate for them, putting the child's individuality at the centre of the process.

There are a number of diagnostic tools that provided a full picture of a child's personality and learning styles, and discussion on how the information can be used to help children learn more effectively.

I would recommend this book to anyone involved with the education of children, or educating themselves.

[Aneesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't really finished this book yet. I'm still working on it as I walk on the treadmill. But I LOVE IT! It is very well organized, fun to read, and has been extremely helpful. I'm still working on implementation, but this book has really helped me understand my children better and be able to help them be more excited about learning. It's also helped me incorporate their learning into my life in a smoother way. This would be a good book to own if you are wondering why your kids do what they do!! (And who isn't?)

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read. I learned quite a bit about the different learning styles and practical applications for helping individual children learn more effectively. There were numerous tips and suggestions for helping children to retain information and enjoy schooling. My only issue with this book was the implication that we not expect children to do difficult things or grow in their weaker ares. Ultimately I want my children to do well in many different situations and to feel accomplished under different scenarios.

[Allyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a homeschooling parent, and I find this book particularly useful in gearing lessons and learning toward how my children will best receive them.

I also found it very helpful in understanding what really makes me tick, myself, and how I can set aside those methods that work best for me in favor of those that work best for my children to learn, when I'm working to help them learn - regardless of how natural or not those learning styles feel to me.

Excellent book.

[Marcia]

I'm going to implement some ideas of making our home learning environment better for each child. One child announced "I'm moving my table to a better location" yesterday. Also I have implemented "math gum" again for during math lessons as well as music. These auditory learners need more stimulation for their ears!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped me better understand how my children learn best, personal intersts, and the environment in which they learn best. It had a questionnaire that I did with Spencer and Genevieve and I found some surprising results that they told me were true. I think it will help us in the coming school year.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was very insightful written from a teacher's perspective. Eye opening about how damaging any type of label good or bad can be. Scary to think we put so much trust into the school system and how much change is needed for every child to Succeed.
Love the assessments!

[Lisa Copen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent assessment of learning styles for even the youngest child. Hoping it will make a difference --creating a better environment for a child the school system labeled because he did not fit the mold.

[Tiffiny · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I've read so far is great! I plan to finish sooner or later. = )

[Deleana · Rating 5 out of 5]

gave me a fresh perspective on parenting children and finding what works for dif children.

[Julie Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to own this book- and soon!