Strategies and Learning Styles
Remember that the development of social relationships is as important as any learning activity. Much of the social skills and language development that children learn comes from peer interaction.
Ways to Avoid Harming a Child’s Self-Concept:
Take care not to embarrass your child by commenting on his or her lack of ability or repeatedly saying he or she is too smart to be making such mistakes.
Try not to show favoritism; never compare your child to his or her sibling(s).
Guard yourself against being more ready to criticize than to praise.
Never make fun of a child’s ideas.
Remember that children will recognize insincere praise. Before offering a complimentary or congratulatory remark, think through what you really want to say.
Ways to Show Approval
Your body language - a nod of the head, warm smile, a thumbs-up sign – assures children that you approve of them and their efforts. You can encourage children with words, too.
Here are examples of comments you can make that will show a your support and approval:
“That’s the way!”
“Terrific!”
“You’re really working hard today.”
“That’s the best you’ve ever done.”
“That’s great!”
“Way to go!”
“Couldn’t have done it better myself.”
“Exactly right.”
“Keep it up!”
“I’m happy to see you working like that.”
“That’s better.”
“I knew you could do it.”
“You make it look easy.”
“Good thinking.”
“You figured that out fast.”
“You must feel good about the job you’ve done.”
“You’re doing beautifully.”
“You’re really good at this.”
“Now you have the hang of it.”
“Awesome!” (or any other expression in style at the time)
Learning Styles
We all interpret information and experiences in unique and different ways. The successful manner in which some individuals process information may not always work for
another individual. Researchers often refer to the different ways that people process information as Learning Styles. Those in the teaching field should be able to identify these differences in their students and modify their teaching style in order to address these unique difference in individual learners. This is particularly true of those instructing fully included disabled youth.
Some children with disabilities learn best through the visual mode (through sight), others may be verbal learners (through hearing), other through kinesthetic/tactical (through touching), some may be concrete learners (right brain versus left brain), others may be more abstract thinkers, still many students learn most successfully when presented with information using multiple learning styles (using many modalities and senses). Research shows that most children learn best through multiple modalities.
How Children Learn
Determining your child’s learning style preference can assist in finding successful alternative instructional techniques which will be fundamental to academic success. Below are some of the questions that can be used to assist in identifying learning style preference. You should determine your own before attempting to analyze your child’ss. Place a check by those items that are most like you.
I learn information best in the following way:
Hear it (auditory strength)
See it (i.e. pictures)
Try it (project learning)
Reading the printed page
Restate it verbally
Restate it in written form
Demonstration
I am most alert for learning new information in the:
morning
late afternoon
early afternoon
evening
I am most successful learning new information while:
being individually tutored
in small group settings
in large group settings
doing hands on projects
working in a quiet environment
working in a noisy environment
using learning games
Much can be learned about a students’ style of learning by observing a student in a variety of educational settings. Below are a few examples:
When with other students, is the student mostly a listener or does the student engages in a lot of conversation? (may indicate auditory learner)
During reading, is a student recognizing words by sight (indicator of a more visual learner) or does the student sound out the words? (indicator of a more verbal learner)
Does the student readily remember names? (verbal learner)
Does the student readily remember faces but not names? (more visual learner)
Is the student always taking things apart? (may be more of a tactical learner)
Is the student easily distracted by sound? (may indicate more of an auditory learner)
Is the student easily distracted by movement? (may indicate more of a visual learner)
Resources
Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning
Area Special Education Cooperative (ASEC)
Council For Exceptional Children
ParaLink
The Role of Paraprofessionals in Special Education
What Is a Paraprofessional? By Terri Mauro
Centre for the Improvement of Caring Children
