I have been enormously blessed with a wonderful husband, four adult children, one grandchild (so far) and a bevy of nieces and nephews. My husband and I, along with our brothers and sisters, are great supporters and champions of one another’s children.

In our family, Alex is the poster child for visual learning. My brother said my book, Being Visual, could have been named “Alex’s Song” because it described his son so accurately and pinpointed the struggles he’s had to endure throughout his school years. Alex is a great kid. We all think so. The whole family knows he has enormous gifts, talents and a great personality. Yet, we were confused as to why school was such a challenge for him. He’s been quite miserable in the classroom, resisted most homework assignments, felt enormously inadequate and struggled to celebrate himself despite having such a supportive and loving family. Eventually, Alex was diagnosed with ADD and some things were put in place that helped. However, school was still a miserable experience.

When I finished writing Being Visual, I gave Alex a copy. We talked about what it meant to be a visual learner. He took the book home and READ IT (first book in a long time!). Then he asked his dad to read it, telling him, “dad I read it and it’s me. You have to read it to understand me.” Eager to understand, his dad read it and gained a whole new perspective and understanding of who Alex is and they’ve grown closer because of it.

In high school, Alex found music. Recording. Producing. Promoting. He found his passion. He loves it. He works hard at it. He has a great future. How disappointing and yet remarkable, that he had to survive feeling so badly about himself to eventually feel so good.

What is your child’s learning style?  There are three basic learning styles; visual, tactile, and auditory.  Take the test and get immediate results: Is your child a visual learner? 

Bette Fetter Founder and CEO of Young Rembrandts and Author of Being Visual [email protected] Follow Bette on Twitter