Visual learning techniques

[CloudSingsAloud]

I hope I'm allowed to post this here! DS has AsD and his latest assessment has shown that he has poor verbal processing and poor working memory. Visual processing, learning ability and memory are normal. Of course, school relies on verbal processing which means he is falling further and further behind and his teachers don't believe he can keep up. The psychologist on the other hand was clear he didn't need reduced materials, but the material needs to be presented in a different way, i.e. visually.

We've a meeting with the school in a few weeks and I'm trying to find ideas to suggest to them. How to present tasks, tests, how to teach times tables, vocab etc

Can I ask what methods you use to support children who, like DS, need visual explanations?

I'd be slightly wary of him being a 'visual learner'.

Presenting information visually can take many forms. Use of concrete manipulatives in maths is my preferred strategy. Visual time lines can help too.

Poor working memory means he will need scaffolds to support his work. Eg on multi step problems, be given a calculator to reduce his cog load.

How old is he? If he has normal memory then learning basics like times tables can work through the normal reading, chanting, repetition, practice. Look, cover, write, check for vocab.

I’ve got a crap working memory and I’m a maths teacher. Basically I need to write everything down - a memory dump to concentrate on the next bit. I have to show all my working out in maths because I can’t hold it all in my head. Algorithms for working stuff out are great.
I hate watching videos where the information just disappears, I would much rather read information that I can refer back to. Textbooks are great.

How old is he?

He's 10

Sorry I forgot to come back to this.

I'd loom into any strategies used for pupils with dyscalculia.

Numicon is excellent for visual teaching of maths and does go quite high. As Nobel said, learning to write each step down and visual diagrams to support is helpful.

We use a computer programme they can follow themselves called RM maths which is very visual.

Does he need visual support for reading and spelling too or is it just maths? Nessy is excellent for nemonic visual spelling stuff and lots of games. That goes to quite a high level too.

We tend to use a lot of images to support all our teaching, and symbols through communicate in print.

Things need to be broken into steps with images. Verbal instructions are often written as short visuals etc.

Colouful semantics may be useful

Nessy is a wonderful resource and you can buy it as a parent if the school do not use it .
Visual timetable
Instructions given in clear chunks if information
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