Auditory, visual or kinesthetic: identify your child’s learning mode

In the classroom, the teacher talks, explains, gives examples and your little one doesn’t understand? Calm down, he’s suddenly the type who learns more by playing than by listening… Whether it’s reading, writing, practicing physical exercise, participating in a game, or performing unusual work, when we learn something we use a personal strategy to register the novelty . And this happens from childhood to adulthood. For some people, listening carefully is enough (auditory learning); for others, it is necessary to visualize images (visual learning); and there are still those who need to put into practice everything they have seen and heard (kinesthetic learning).

Psychopedagogue Sirlei Bernardes, from Campinas (SP), specializing in learning difficulties, explains that everyone has these three systems, however, one of them is predominant. “Regardless of how they are absorbed, children and adolescents also learn by imitation, which is why family habits act as important examples and, therefore, must be healthy”, emphasizes professor Onaide Schwartz Correa de Mendonça, from the Pedagogy course at the University Paulista State (Unesp), Presidente Prudente (SP).

Auditory: It’s better to listen

The child identifies a lot with sounds and likes to listen attentively and in silence to what other people are saying. When processing the information she is hearing, she tends to keep her eyes fixed and it is clear to see that her thoughts do not stop.

Do: use didactic songs, talk about something you want to teach and read stories so that your child learns new vocabulary, for example. It is also worth dictating texts for him to write or putting educational CDs for him to listen to and then repeat. At home, read with the child about the duties and rights of each one. A good technique is to have your child read aloud what should be memorized or talk to friends about classroom content.

Avoid: ambient noise, which interferes with listening, and quick auditory stimuli, which are not converted into learning by this profile.

Visual: image is everything

Does your child have a habit of observing and identifying colors, drawings, images? So he has a photographic memory. This type of student prefers to learn by reading texts and seeing graphs, diagrams, formulas…, as they easily remember situations or information from images. He tends to recall information better when he reads it silently.

Knife: help your child by looking for visual aids about the subjects studied. Encourage him to build mental images of the content he is studying – or suggest that he draw what he just learned. Always leave books and magazines at hand and recommend reading to facilitate learning.

Avoid: the exaggeration of visual stimuli, as a large amount of information received can end up causing distraction.

Kinesthetic: hands-on

The important thing for him is to use body language. Kinesthetics prefer practical activities when learning, they like to move, play… While listening to an explanation, it is common to look down, as if distracted. He likes sports, dancing, construction or destruction (yes, if your child takes toys or gadgets apart to see how they work, he has that profile).

Knife: suggest an experience related to what was taught, such as planting a seed to understand the insemination process. As motor experience is essential, make your child change positions when reading (laying on the bed, sitting on a chair or on the floor…) and recommend books with task orientation.

Avoid: conflicting visual and auditory stimuli, as they are distracting. If the child feels “tied”, he will be limited and will lose the desire to assimilate the taught content.