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How Does Your Child Learn?

How to bolster learning for your child with ADHD -- whether he's a visual, auditory or tactile learner.

4 Comments: How Does Your Child Learn?

  1. Suxie22 – I don’t know about scientific research on learning styles, but I definitely learn better in some ways than others, and I know that is true for others as well. I am 100% sure that different people learn best in different ways. Regarding the NPR quiz – the answers may be true for a majority, but weren’t correct for me. I really do learn much better from text when I use a highlighter or underline things. I may highlight/underline half the text, but just sort of touching it the text helps me focus and absorb. (I could also touch it with my finger as I read, but a highlighter or writing implement works better for me. I have a hard time reading text on a screen!) I learn from reading more than any other way. Writing helps me also.

  2. In football coaching, we try to compound the message by using all three. I have players that struggle without pictures. I guess it depends on the subject matter.

    Personally, I struggle to grasp ideas that are delivered ‘just verbally’. From my own learning experience, using all three speeds up my comprehension.

    It may not be that you score better when tested, but perhaps the things you get, you get quicker by employing all methods (or a supposed preferred method).

    What I have learned in life is to keep an open mind.
    It may be that the chosen method for testing was flawed.
    After all, you can’t possibly cater for all the subjective complexities that can influence a result, can you?
    It seems awfully arrogant to bin something because tests used didn’t support the idea. A more humble stance would be to say we haven’t ‘yet’ found sufficient evidence?

    The double slit experiment suggests even our expectations can determine results.
    So whatever you believe, could be true for you.
    We should be careful about judging anything, perhaps.
    I’m going to remain ‘curious’ about this.

  3. I think you reacted rather impulsively. It may not be science, but if it gets parents more involved and lets kids have a bit of a better time learning, who cares? I wish this kind of thing was as readily available when I was growing up. I prefer to learn by listening, by the way.

  4. How dare the editors publish this nonsense?

    The myth of “Learning Styles” has been debunked by researchers for the last 30 years, and even NPR Public Radio had a podcast discussing the pervasiveness of this idiocy in education. My sources are listed below. I suggest the editors, and readers who are likely desperate parents willing to try anything, do research on this topic.

    Bottom line: This is a myth. All students learn best with direct, explicit instruction. “Whole Language” “Project Based Learning” “Discovery Learning” “Flipped Classrooms” “student-led learning” are all education fads, are all unproven at best and the antithesis of what ADD-Dyslexic children need the most.
    Debunking the myth of Learning Styles:

    https://ctl.yale.edu/LearningStylesMyth

    https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/03/22/520843457/you-probably-believe-some-learning-myths-take-our-quiz-to-find-out

    https://edexcellence.net/articles/3-reasons-most-teachers-still-believe-the-learning-styles-myth

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/13/teachers-neuromyth-learning-styles-scientists-neuroscience-education

    Recommended Reading for Direct, Explicit Instruction if your Childs’ school is enraptured with the education fads (which it likely is):

    RECOMMENDED READING
    Auguste, B., Kihn, P., & Miller, M. (2010).
    Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining the top-third graduates to careers in
    teaching
    McKinsey & Co.
    Clark, R.E., Kirschner, P.A. & Sweller, J. (2012).
    Putting students on the path to learning: The case for fully guided instruction.
    American Educator.
    Engelmann, S., Becker, W.C., Carnine, D., & Gersten, R. (1988).
    The Direct Instruction Follow Through model: Design and outcomes.
    Education and Treatment of Children, 11, 303-317.
    Education Consumers.Org (2015).
    Supplement: A summary of the results of Project Follow Through.
    Wheldall, K., Stephenson, J. & Carter, M. (2014).
    What is direct instruction?
    MUSEC Briefings, July 2014.
    Rosenshine, B. (2012).
    Principles of Instruction: Research based principles that all teachers should know.
    American Educator, Spring 2012.

    https://goodtogreatschools.org.au/our-products/effective-instruction/

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