Kids with an ADD diagnosis can benefit so much from the strategies we use with visual learners because most are visual, right brain thinkers struggling to focus their big picture thinking enough to get their work done at school. ADDitude magazine agrees with me and I got published in their spring edition!
As parents and grandparents, we want to provide our children the best start to their lives as possible. When your child is struggling at school, you want to find an answer to how to help them succeed. In my book, Being Visual, I talk about the importance of understanding each child’s learning style and how it affects the school experience.
In an effort to better understand why visual kids struggle in the language heavy classrooms, I have complied a list that compares – How Visual Learners Think and The Way Schools Teach.
Right brain, visual-spatial individuals are conceptual, non-linear thinkers and they often miss details, struggle with memorization and prefer images over words. We need to help our visual kids adapt school to their own learning style to improve academic outcomes. Here are 12 simple ways to adapt learning for your visual child:
Is your creative, intelligent, vibrant child struggling in school? Did you have a similar experience when you were in school? You or your child may be visual learners.
What are you doing to prepare your child for this new year and the new challenges that come with it? You’re helping your child get ready for a new classroom and a new teacher, you may be wondering what else you can do to prepare him or her for a successful school year.
Our grandson went to first grade in a very ‘desirable’ school. Unlike some other schools in the area, they still had art, music, library and gym class. Turns out the school and the district were very test score, worksheet, drill, drill, drill focused and, it was a hard year for everyone involved. When he moved the next year, I prayed he’d get a teacher that understood him. A teacher with a heart to help him feel safe and teach him in ways he could learn. Thankfully, we got that teacher and so much more.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a solution to every child’s learning struggles? Sadly, there isn’t but, there is something that can help the majority of children in schools.
First and second grade is the time that most children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. But many of the same characteristics of visual learners are the same traits that point to an attention deficit. If you are in this situation, be open to all the possibilities for helping them be more successful in the classroom.
In the 21st century, the importance lies with being an independent multi-tasker who can think on her feet, deal with change, and devise multiple solutions to a problem that hasn’t yet happened.
