How to help kids memorize using all modalities of learning

There are four types of learning: visual, auditory, reading / writing, and kinesthetic. Different students have strengths in different styles.

There are children with auditory processing issues, who have weaker auditory learning. Similarly, OTs and PTs often see kids who don’t want to do kinesthetic activities, probably because of weakness in motor skills. Other children can’t remember anything without writing it down.

The variety in learning styles is beautiful and interesting. It's unfortunate, however, when children get stuck in trying to learn in a certain way because “that’s how things are done.”

“HOW THINGS ARE DONE”

This happens especially during higher grades (maybe around grade 3 and up), when children start studying on their own for the first time. Maybe they have to memorize some dates for a quiz, or they have to memorize a presentation for English class.

They try to learn how their friend, or their sibling, or their parent, does, not with what strategy is best for them.

WHAT WE CAN DO

How can we support a child who may be weaker in one modality, and stronger in the other? How do we continue to develop weaker modalities, while also using the advantages of stronger modalities?

What if we were to target every single type of learning in one go?

VIDITEKI

Here's a simple technique made by yours truly which can be used when working with children with poor auditory memory and processing. It can be used with many kinds of learners Let's call it the viditeki: Visual + Auditory + Text + Kinesthetic.

Here the process, step by step, with picture examples, as well as a comments on which modality of learning is being targeted.

STEP 1: WRITE

Write out the fact(s) to memorize. For younger children, there will be less than a page of facts. For older children, the facts might be arranged in a kind of “outline.” Here is a sample fact, from the water cycle.

“Water evaporates from lakes and rivers, condenses in the clouds, falls as rain, then collects into lakes / rivers again.”

Your child can write this three times - thus integrating “reading and writing” learning.

STEP 2: READ OUT LOUD

Your child can then read out what was written, 3- 4 times.

By doing this over and over, they are seeing the words on the paper – and incorporating "visual" learning. They are also hearing the words over and over, incorporating "auditory learning ."

STEP 3: BREAK THE TEXT INTO BLOCKS

I then have the child use a favorite color to break the text into manageable “chunks” of information, like…

This is incorporating visual learning (seeing the chunks) as well as kinesthetic learning (drawing the chunks).

STEP 4: COLOR CODE THE CHUNKS

Another bonus visual and kinesthetic skill. The chunks stand out as different from each other, and each is assigned a color so the child can “see” the text and paper in his / her mind’s eye with more clarity.

STEP 5: MAKE A PICTURE TO REPRESENT EACH CHUNK

Again, visual cues and kinesthetic learning to make the visual cues. Again, the child can “see” the paper in his / her mind’s eye with more clarity. You can use the same colors you used when coding the chunks, to make things easier to remember.

STEP 6: READ OUT LOUD 3 TIMES AGAIN

This is revisiting auditory learning and reading /writing learning. But now, when reading, the child has the additional support of the visual cues, and the memory of making the cues with kinesthetic learning.

In the final step, every single learning style is targeted for maximum understanding and memory.

So there you have it! The 6 Steps in VIDITEKI will take extra time. But it’s more fun. And it might help your child learn the material better.

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Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.