We began our three-part series on learning styles with the visual learner. In our previous issue, we discussed the characteristics of the visual learner. We revealed the fact that the visual learner is greatly dependent upon the sense of sight. Our current installment in this series focuses on the kinesthetic learner.

The Kinesthetic Learner
If your child learns best by doing, he may seem to have some part of his body moving constantly. He may be a wiggler, a toucher, and want to be close to another person whether that person wants it or not. He may drum his fingers, rock, switch positions in a chair often, and have a high propensity toward being inattentive. So, since you know he needs to touch, wiggle and be active, lessons he receives should provide that. He gets weary of being told to sit or stand still. Allow him to take an active part in tasks and lessons. If the teacher is giving a lesson on paper, she may want to give him a pencil or crayon to use. If the teacher is using a lesson printed on a transparency, he or she may fair better by giving this child a temporary marker to use--that's usually a different tool for him and makes him feel very special. He should be given specific directions, such as underlining vowels as you say the words, or putting whiskers onto a cat. If he needs to listen, give him something to hold and/or feel while he listens. You may want to give a girl a bracelet to wear so she can touch and/or stroke it when she feels a little wiggly. It's OK to tell the child how he best learns, so he can understand that his wiggliness may prevent him from paying good attention to his lessons. Let him know you'll try to teach him in the way he learns sometimes, but that you'll also have him practice listening without wiggling or touching, because it's a good social skill to learn. This child's learning style may actually be his distraction.

Research shows:
Most children are kinesthetic and become more tactual in or about the first grade.

Auditory skills develop near the second grade.

Visual skills develop near the third grade.

Thirty years ago, students were moved toward being peer motivated by the seventh grade. Studies show that students today move toward being peer motivated by third or fourth grade. By ninth or tenth grade, students move toward being self-motivated.

Seventy percent of children in grades five to twelve have trouble with conventional classroom design.
Younger children (K-6) need more structure than older students. Underachievers tend to remain peer motivated even into their late teens.

Time of day preference changes over time: 28 percent of K-2nd grade students are morning learners in comparison to 30 percent of middle grade students, 40 percent of high school students, and 55 percent of adults.

As parents it is very important to identify your child’s learning style. Many students are misdiagnosed with learning disabilities, such as ADHD, when in fact the child’s learning style is not being addressed. Identifying your child’s learning style allows you to effectively advocate for your child. Once identified, share this information with teachers. Better yet, ask your child’s teacher for help identifying your child’s learning style.