Parenting
Here you will find tips and tricks of using learning styles at home with your children. Includes homework, nutrition, discipline and how to create an optimal learnign environment.
How often has your teacher told you to plan your writing assignment? It may have been a Pie Chart tool, or a List tool, or a fancy Head-And-Legs tool, but whatever it's called, whatever its shape, its purpose is clear: a story plan. The trouble is, some people don't get inspiration from story plans. If your Learning Style is Holistic, you're not a planner. Asking you to plan your story before you put pen to paper (or fingers on keyboard) is as productive as asking you to squeeze a piece of coal in your fist until you get a diamond.
"Start at...
Choosing a pet may be as easy as going to an animal shelter and letting your heart decide, or it may be a long, thought-out process of analysing the pros and the cons of every non-shedding dog breed versus a goldfish.
And here's something else to throw into the mixture: your child's learning style.
Are your child's responsibility and persistence levels high enough to cope with looking after a pet? If you're thinking of choosing a dog, particularly one that needs exercise, is your child mobile and kinesthetic enough to enjoy the daily walks without complaining? Does their learning style need a quiet...
Online Social Networking is a name for Internet sites such as Facebook or MySpace, where you create a profile about yourself and chat with people. Children use social networking to feel part of the group as much as to exchange information. A visible web presence is a status symbol: display a cool photo, say cool things, link to cool friends.
Some teens take to Facebook like the proverbial ducks to water, others play with it for a few weeks before growing bored. Whether your child gets sucked into computer UNreality or chooses to interact face to face with real friends will depend...
This Christmas, give the gift that will last more than the lifespan of a battery. Give something that costs as much as a takeaway dinner. Give self-knowledge and peace of mind. Give the future.
Khan Academy is an educational website. Its tagline promises to help you “learn almost anything—for free.” You can choose from over 2,400 videos explaining the principles of maths, science, and economics. Between 7 and 14 minutes long, the videos consist of a voice-over by the website's creator, Salman Khan. All you see is hand-scribbled formulas and diagrams as they appear on your screen. There are no fancy graphics and the videos are not interactive.
And yet, many teachers and homeschooling parents turn to the Khan Academy videos to aid with homework and exam preparation. The advantages, they say, are that the students can move at their own pace and rewind...
Difficulties pronouncing sounds and stuttering are examples of speech disorders. Mild cases can be sorted by a Speech Clinic, elocution lessons, drama classes or Young Toastmasters Club.
Trouble understanding others and trouble sharing ideas are examples of language disorders. Contact your local speech and language therapist for assessment and treatment.
Difficulty sustaining attention when somebody else is talking may be a sign of ADHD, or a mild hearing loss, or a non-preference in the auditory sensory modality of your Learning Style. Please contact us if we can help you make sense out of your learning strengths.
Sometimes your child's learning problems will not be caused by their learning style, although they may be made be co-related. For example, if your child's learning style is auditory and they have a hearing issue, the learning problem will be magnified.
Vision Problems
Your child’s learning issues may be due to poor vision, easily corrected by a behavioural optometrist with eyeglasses or special eye muscle exercises.
Eye teaming: the brain can't combine input from both eyes, resulting in double vision. Largely undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as dyslexia. Children with tracking problems can't control their eye movements to follow the line of...
Is your child's handwriting messy? Does your child find excuses not to do written work? It could be that their learning style doesn't lend itself to writing, but it could also signify a learning disability.
A specific learning disability that affects written language, impaired letter writing by hand and spelling, usually characterised by extremely poor handwriting. It sometimes combines strong verbal but particularly poor writing skills. Copying will be slow and difficult, even if the end result is neat (which it often isn’t). Although children with dysgraphia do not have motor control problems, they may have difficulty touching the thumb...
With exams around the corner, most students' minds turn to the process of studying. Do you know your particular method for assimilating information? Do you know what works best for you? Here are a few general tips:
Get your attitude right. Positive thinking won't make you pass the test if you haven't studied, but negative thinking can make you fail even when you know the work. It's the magic of our brain, the "mind over matter" phenomenon. So tell yourself you'll do well in the exams. Tell yourself you love to study. Once you've studied hard, tell...
Barbara Prashnig explains the importance of understanding the role of learning styles in studying and exam preparation:
"Thousands of students will soon be preparing themselves for the next round of exams in schools all over the world. Many will suffer from anxiety, frustration and despair because they know they are fighting a losing battle.
Considering learning styles in the context of information intake (learnining) and output (sitting exams), our research over the last twenty years shows that the points of difference are this:
a) During the presentation of new and/or difficult information in class, learning styles need to be accommodated to...
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