To think that schools should be more accomodating to visual spacial learners

[kissmyassdotcom]

Both Ds 9 and Dd 5 are VSL. No matter how much their school make them copy out the same bloody spellings over and over, they still don't seem to get that it doesn't work for them.....and never will. They constantly point out how they "know what they are capable of by the way they speak" but continue to expect them to do the impossible by teaching them in ways that will never help them reach their potential.

They expect them to sit still, listen and learn with the occasional drawing on the whiteboard. I have now come to the conclusion that my DC will NEVER learn ANYTHING in a school environment which involves more of the learning styles which have absolutely no impact on them what-so-ever other than completely killing their self esteem and motivation to do well.

After 4 years of hunting (and many failed attempts with other strategies) I have finally found a way to teach both of my DC to spell and they only had to write the word once and why? because I have used their preferred learning style rather than expecting them to fit in the one size fits all category. So far this same technique has also helped my DS to learn some of his multiplication facts too, after he has spent the past 2 years trying to learn them!

AIBU to expect schools in this day and age to recognise the stronger VSL and supply them with an alternative curriculum to help them to succeed???

I suspect some of the people on this thread would do well to take some time off from concentrating on the discredited theory of personal learning styles (how many times does it need to be said?) and spend some time learning about and fully understanding :

Confirmation bias

The merits and otherwise of anecdotal evidence

Correlation vs. causation

I need a drink and a lie down.

caff2

There are people who are just as intelligent but struggle with exams - which are basically based on one form of assessment.

In schools, children are assessed not just through tests but also through questioning, open questions, observations etc.

But we then test them in a written exam (1 or 2) which can determine their qualifications.

Of course it's not possible to offer different exams for different people but I don't think our exam system caters for all children.

Are you all genuinely suggesting that all people can achieve the same (top) grades if given the right "style"

People can achieve their potential with the right learning style.

well said DancingDinosaur

People can achieve their potential with the right learning style.

My DD has always struggled with learning by listening; not sure if that was brought on by having lots of ear infections and severely impaired hearing as a small child. At school she would sit in lessons, like science, where the teacher was talking about ideas and concepts and basically just not be able to follow what was going on.

It was only really when she started revising for her GCSEs, and started making mind maps and colour coded notes, that things started to stick in her head. She said she could visualise the page when writing her answers. And then applying these new techniques throughout her A level studies meant she got much better A levels than we would have anticipated.

She's a fantastic artist, put outfits together and designs rooms like a pro and basically excels at anything visual. She is starting a Graphic Design degree in September.

I think we all learn differently, personally I can hear a song once and pretty much remember all the lyrics; I learned all my exam notes as a kind of a chant in my head and, for a long time, couldn't understand why DD wasn't the same. But it's definitely worth taking time to help your child work out the best learning style for them.

Bugger. I just wrote a long message and then cocked it up. I think my son is achieving what he can and being taught well. He's still not going to do well academically though. Why should that be seen as a failing or something he needs an excuse for? He's lovely, functionally intelligent and emotionally aware:

I think that happens a lot, morethan. Particularly as students get older and further behind where you expect them to be. There can sometimes be a chuck everything at them and hope something sticks approach.

Somehow a lot of the neuroscience about how we actually learn seems to get ignored.

caff2

I think you make a very valid point.

My son is the opposite... Very academic (not suited to school right now, as playtime lunchtime breaks are too much, plus he gets bored out of is brain) but socially and emotionally not that mature..

So very different, but the same conclusion: one style does not fit all nor should it.

My university were very hung up on learning styles. I did the learning styles questionnaire approximately 6 times throughout my degree. I got different results and none of them seemed to fit me.

Why should that be seen as a failing or something he needs an excuse for?

Whats wrong with setting a level playing field for a child so that they can do as well as they can? Whatever that might be? Its not an excuse. Should it just be the children that are able to perform in the same uniform way with a standard learning style that are the ones to succeed? Whilst anyone who learns differently just falls behind, even though they might have so much more to offer, given the chance. Whats wrong with improving childrens life chances by incorporating different styles of learning?

He's still not going to do well academically though

I am sure there are many great doctors, scientists etc who struggle with exams but who have the skills and the written side. But they know their stuff.

Caff2 Not excusing my Dc. I value my Dc's happiness. When they leave school deflated, frustrated and upset that is not on. When I see something 'click' in their mind, after they have spent a whole lesson not knowing what the CT was on about, purely because I have taken those 2 minutes to show them in a way they can grasp. They are happy and so am I. Then we all chill and get on with family life....because if they could just switch off when they walk out of the school doors that would be my idea of heaven but they can't.

Someone said up thread that the best spellers are the ones who read a lot. My Dc read all of the time, they have quite high reading levels yet it hasn't really helped with the spellings. But will keep grabbing those books for them.

GCC they say the letters to themselves as they are looking at them (words are in sections so they show the phonics used in school using 2 contrasting colours, and/or any words in the words). They then close their eyes and say each section as they see them, then say them backwards so s-d-r-a-w-k-c-a-b in order as they see them. When they open their eyes again they say the whole word for me and job done. Close their eyes and spell it 10 mins later-short term memory, same again 1 day later, 1 week later no need to close their eyes because they automatically spell it because it is now in the long term memory. No copying out over and over, no singing, no dancing, no upset. Just 2 buzzing children. DD knew all 10 of her weekly spellings (picking up a couple of extra words in them too) in 15 mins. DS is taking it a bit slower his confidence has been trashed over the years.

And before anyone chips in. Please do me a favor and don't tell me that what my Dc see in their own minds is utter rubbish too.

I'm not suggesting that every child that struggles has a learning disability but I find it so sad that many people can get to 16+ and not have reached their true potential or indeed have learning disabilities that have been overlooked.
Part of my job when I was teaching was to have the entry level students take a diagnostic assessment to indicate any areas for concern.
Then if necessary the test suggested they contacted inclusive learning.
I knew i struggled and had always been called thick at school (long story) and was a bit apprehensive at taking the test alongside my students, but my mentor (My training year) suggested it would be good for the students.

Well, alongside a high percentage of my students I had strong indicators towards dyslexia and went with my students for assessment.
About 6 weeks later I had the diagnosis I should have had at school, conducted by a qualified practising ed psych, my report made good reading.
Along with my students we all finally passed our maths and English level 2.
The maths meant more than my PgCE, degree and post grad credits.
I came out of college and cried, not only out of joy but the thought that so many children have to wait until college to get a diagnosis and/or the support that comes from struggling a bit/ lot and/or having learning disabilities.

All children should be supported, helped, encouraged and assessed where appropriate, not have to wait years or even until they have left school.

In school, my DS would def. be the class clown. The one in detention more often than not. Actually, he'd probably bet he kids you read about that got kicked out for setting the gym on fire aged 5 or something,

Out of school, he is looking to take his first GCSEs in the next 2 years.

So, if you think learnings type doesn't matter, you are deluded.

Ds got chucked outs of4 nurseries. 5th nursery... He broke their security system 6 times. He can memorise a pin code in a nanosecond.

He got rejected from every private school in the area. He walked out of the state school and walked home - alone - aged 4.

I don't think I'm making this up :-)

I don't think my son is "falling behind", that's my point. He is differently capable than an academically talented child. His skills lie in different areas. I just don't regard it as a "failing" or something that needs to be "fixed". I also don't think that teaching him in a different way than the myriad ways we've all tried will make him top of the class if only they understood him better! Any more than my Oxford graduate brother will ever have my son's social awareness.

Its true morethanpotato. My dc got her ed psych diagnosis at age 7, because I work in the field, and also because I knew what to look out for, I've been there myself. It is bloody sad that so many kids get to 16, end up leaving school with little or no qualifications and thinking they are thick. Which wrecks their self confidence in going back to try again. Not everyone is the same and they aren't all going to achieve in the same way. But they need to be supported to achieve as well as they can. They might not choose to do this, but the opportunity should at least be there.

In school, my DS would def. be the class clown

In my experience the class clown is generally the one who chooses this route for attention because they are getting nothing from their school work. So its slotting into another role to get attention instead. My dd was the same until the school finally started working with her with a different learning style.

dancing Thank you, my point exactly.

Well I'm willing to accept I might be deluded, but it's clear from what the OP is posting that she has no idea about learning styles. If learning styles were true, then her DC wouldn't be visual learners, since they are struggling with the things that visual learners should do well on.

I'd be willing to bet that breaking the words down into phonic chunks/word chunks and some spaced repetition have caused the change. These are things we know work for almost all children. It's not that they weren't being taught to their learning style, it's that they were being taught an ineffective method for teaching spelling.

Thank you morethan

I can see how I have come across as one of 'those parents' I really can but I just want to see my Dc happy. It really does break my heart when everyone tells me about their potential and then tell me that they just don't want too...but I see the other side, the upset, the frustration, I have seen my DS try to rip his own hair out and punch himself in the head because he wanted to enter a story competition and he sobbed that he just couldn't do it...he was 7 at the time. But now I know why, now I know how to help him and his sister too.

That would depend on whether they are a picture learner or a print learner Raf I personally am a picture learner. My DSis is a print learner. She can look at a word and then spell it without having to think too much about it.

The thing I find shocking is that some schools still use this stuff and I even know of one school who still splits children up into different groups so that they can be taught according to their learning style.

I completed my masters between 2002 and 2006 and even back then did a few modules on the psychology of learning, and it was being discredited back then.

Someone asked earlier for the research. One of my lecturers Prof Geake wrote this, and it is very good:

amyalexander.wiki.westga.edu/file/view/neuromythologies-p.pdf

You're not a picture learner. Your sister is not a print learner.

It is all bollocks.

Maybe your sister has developed a greater vocabulary than you and hence a better-developed reference system in her head for making educated guesses as to how a word is spelled, or she understands the origin/meanings of the components of words better than you do, so it sticks immediately upon seeing the word.

I can also look at a word and then spell it without having to think about it, in most cases. My sister would never be able to do that. It's entirely coincidental, of course, that I had read more books by the age of about 10 than she's managed so far at the age of 19. Yep. Must just be different 'learning styles'...

My dd reads a huge amount. As do I. Reading a lot might help some to spell well, others need to learn different strategies and develop a different learning style to be able to do the same.