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to Strategies for Success in School
School Success
What's worked for us (What works for you?)
After a long day at school, homework is the last
thing most children (or parents) want to do. Parents of children
with Tourette Syndrome will often be told by teachers that
their child displays very little evidence of a tic disorder
at school (as children often suppress tics at school) however,
once at home, the child may tic all afternoon and evening,
making it especially difficult to complete homework. Ease
the burden of homework, for you and your child, by discovering
how your child learns best and following these basic tips
for successful studying.
Learning Styles... Teachers are gaining awareness
about students' Learning Styles and many are adjusting
their teaching style to meet all students' needs at
some point in each lesson, thanks to educational research
by Rita Dunn, Bernice McCarthy and others. Teachers have been
taught to verbalize directions while the students read
them, and then have students demonstrate the task
as well, meeting the needs of the auditory, visual and tactile
learners. At home, parents can be even more effective as they
focus only on their child's learning style preference for
homework and study methods and can help their child to help
himself. Here's an example: Your son, an auditory learner,
needs to get started on his homework assignment. How could
you best help him get going? Would you (A) Point to the directions
on the page and ask him to read them to himself twice before
he begins the assignment? or (B) Slowly read aloud
to him the directions at the top of the assignment while he
follows along, wait a moment, and then repeat them? As an
auditory learner, your son would benefit most by hearing the
directions read to him.
How does your child learn best? ... Discover together!
Read the following descriptions and try to decide which learning
style preference most applies to your child. Review them again
with your child to get his input.
Is your child a Visual Learner?
Is your son the first person in the family to notice your
new haircut? Is your daughter a strong, fast reader and an
excellent speller of words she has seen before? Visual Learners
need to see the whole picture and are very detail oriented.
They notice details and changes, (like a new outfit or changes
in a room), and tend to be able to find things that others
have lost, as they have a strong memory for where they last
saw something. Visual learners like things to be orderly and
neat and they can organize themselves. Handwriting comes easy
and they assign importance to the appearance of their work.
When being spoken to they usually pay keen attention to the
speaker's face. They like to read on their own, rather than
being read to. Mastering puzzles is a strength. Visual learners
are typically not very talkative, they would rather observe.
Noise is not usually a distracter. They can read directions,
find pages in a book, and begin working before others.
Is your child an Auditory Learner?
Is your son a talker who loves to tell a story in a sequential
way~and just has to finish the story once he has started?
Is he funny too? Does your daughter love music and can she
memorize the words to a song after hearing it only a few times?
Auditory learners learn by hearing. They spell phonetically,
often have poor handwriting, but enjoy reading aloud and have
good word attack skills. They are easily distracted and often
talk to themselves, or need to talk themselves through a task.
Auditory learners tend to score lower than expected on intelligence
tests. Ability is almost always higher than test results indicate.
Math and writing may be difficult to learn, as is the perception
of time and spatial relationships.
Is your child a Tactile/Kinesthetic Learner?
Does she have to touch everything that she passes in a store?
Does he stack the salt and pepper shakers, fold his napkin
into an airplane and ride his toys across his plate while
he waits a minute for you to serve dinner? Tactile/ Kinesthetic
learners need to experience their environment through touch.
They learn by doing. They need to use concrete objects to
count and grasp an understanding of how something works. They
are able to take mechanical objects apart and put them back
together. You may often find yourself asking them to keep
their hands to themselves. Children may tap on each piece
of furniture as they pass and run their hands along hallway
walls. Tactile learners are often good at sports and enjoy
physical activities. They may be considered hyperactive, as
they often have trouble sitting still for long periods of
time and a recommendation for medication is often made by
school personnel.
How to help children with TS learn -- their way
Does your child fit exactly into one of the categories
above? Probably not. Research shows that most people can learn
through a variety of methods, although they usually prefer
and actually learn new material best by one or sometimes two
modes. (Categories and descriptions of learning modalities
vary slightly depending on researchers.)
Learning Style vs. Learning Disability
It is estimated that 30-40% of children with Tourette Syndrome
have associated learning disabilities. The bases of learning
styles is different than learning disabilities though there
may be some connections. Because many children with TS display
weak visual-motor skills and better verbal skills, it is not
likely that they, as a group, would be strongest in visual
learning. When reviewing the common traits of the various
types of learners, take into account your child's cognitive
strengths and weaknesses, as well as tics or associated disorders
such as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) or ADHD (Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) that may interfere with suggested
learning strategies and try to adapt the recommendations as
necessary.
Getting started
Help your child select a comfortable place that to study
that can be used regularly. Some children prefer a desk and
chair, but many find these too confining and prefer either
working at a large table where they can spread out, or lying
on their bed or the floor. If your child chooses the floor
or a bed, allow this for a while and see if it works. A bean
bag chair on the floor may be a good compromise. Here, your
child may actually work best while able to move freely. Fill
a bin with school supplies; paper (lined and unlined), pens,
pencils, highlighters, markers, scissors, ruler, calculator,
dictionary, thesaurus. Have your child chose a location to
store the bin when not in use.
The Visual Learner at work.
Younger children can be given lots of visual cues to begin
work, written directions and a demonstration of the task to
be completed. Beginning readers can be shown written words
and then asked to try to find them in magazines or books.
This can be done with spelling lists as a way to practice
"seeing" the words. Typical flash cards work well for a visual
learner, as do flash cards with prefixes, suffixes, root words,
and blends that can be interchanged. Color coded study materials,
notebooks, divider tabs, and book covers are very helpful.
When studying material for a test, teach your child to organize
information into charts, tables or graphic organizers. Separate
notes on a page into sections by using a thick marker line
to divide the sections. Number items in each section. Color
code notes when helpful. For math concepts teach child to
use a number line, ruler and objects to count, add, subtract,
multiply and divide.
The Auditory Learner at Work.
Auditory learners need a quiet place to study. Soft, instrumental
background music is often helpful to help keep a child on
task. Some children benefit by covering their ears to concentrate
on something that is not being done orally, i.e. silent reading.
Teach young children rhyming games, songs, books. Play oral
games with prefixes, suffixes, roots words and blends. For
math concepts encourage child to talk himself through the
steps of a task. If you must use flash cards for basic math
concepts, i.e.. multiplication tables, have child read aloud
the problem on the card and then answer.
Tape record...Tape record...Tape record. Organize a special
"homework tape case" by purchasing several inexpensive audio
tapes and labeling them by class subject. For younger children,
tape record their spelling words by first telling them what
the words have in common, if anything. Often spelling lists
are made up of say "compound words", "words that have a silent
letter", or "words with a double consonant". Say the word,
spell the word and then say the word again. At the end of
the list ask your child to tell you what the words have in
common. Don't require children to write the words while listening
but have them read along and point to each letter as it is
spoken. As a way of studying a little each night, have your
child sit with you while you read and tape his notes from
that day in as few words as possible. Some children may prefer
to draw or doodle while they listen to their lessons ~ allow
this, as it may help them "take in" what they are hearing.
Pause occasionally and ask questions for him to respond to
orally. In doing so, your child has just heard his notes again
and can replay them as needed for test studying when the time
comes to review material. This is extremely beneficial and
much more effective for him then re-reading mass quantities
of text and notes.
The Tactile/Kinesthetic Learner at work.
Your child needs a break after school (as if you hadn't noticed)!
Don't require that homework be done immediately. Also, your
child needs a cooling down period between physical activity
and quiet study time. This is a great time for a nutritious
snack and a talk about his day and yours. Next? Time to study!
Small productive time periods will work best. Start by requiring
a set amount of study time and providing a clock so that your
child knows when he will get a break. Increase or decrease
the time to meet your child's needs. Study one subject at
a session. For young tactile learners, rote counting and singing
the alphabet have little meaning. Your child needs to have
objects to count and letters to hold in order to gain meaning
for these abstract symbols. Using 3-D wooden letters from
an alphabet puzzle or drawing letters in sand while they sing
the alphabet will be more meaningful, as will physically counting
large wooden beads or stones or tracing sandpaper letters.
Use as may "manipulatives" as possible for learning. Hands-on
science kits and experiments with household items are great.
Allow them to "walk" with their fingers on a number line,
or jump on a number line on the floor, to help understand
fact concepts. Have your child "act out words" as he spells
them. Allow him to touch the first letter of each word as
he reads along, or even follow with his finger, this is okay
and helpful for him! (You can tell his teacher I said so.)
Also, if your child's knee is shaking or finger is tapping,
(not in the form of a tic- just for movement) ignore it.
Students who need to move and are allowed to move when learning,
learn better. If you can't ignore it, encourage your child
to chew gum while studying. This might just be enough movement
to keep him on task.
Tactile/Kinesthetic learners have a difficult transition
from elementary to middle and high school as learning becomes
less "hand-on" and more lecture and note taking. You can help
them greatly by making sure that their daily schedule alternates
between physically active and passive courses i.e. ( English,
Art, Math, Gym, Lunch, Science Lab. History, etc.) Try to
schedule gym class before lunch or an active class, as your
child may have trouble going right from gym to a quiet lecture
class.
Is it really best to focus on our what comes easiest for
your child, instead of trying to strengthen his weaknesses?
I believe it is, for homework and study needs. Children have
experiences all day at school that utilize both their strengths
and weaknesses. All children, especially those with special
needs, must know their strengths and learn to use them to
compensate for areas in which they are weak. They need to
know how they learn best and how to adapt their study habits.
Many students learn this in college, when they spend endless
hours of studying their freshman year only to receive average
grades. As they discover how to study, they find that
they can spend less time studying and actually know the material
more thoroughly. Why wait when you can help your child now,
discover how to learn...his way. Give it a try! And let
us know ~ "What works for you?"
Julie L. Swenson, M.Ed (send
email to this author)
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This page was last updated
January 29, 2007
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