How to know if you are predominantly a visual learner? How do you approach new things? If you have a new bookshelf to put together, what do you do first? If you read the directions before you build, you are visual. You’d rather see a map than have someone tell you the directions. When in school, and taking a test, you could see in your mind the page of text with the answer. Your handwriting is likely very neat. You like things tidy and put away. You make lists. You look well put together and color-coordinated. You’ll likely want to watch when in a new situation to see how things are going before you join in. You’re good at reading facial expressions.

How to tell if your child is visual? When you read a picture book, do they want to see the pictures? I do. I’m visual, and while I’m checking out interesting illustrations, my daughter impatiently says, “Turn the page, Mom.”

How else can you tell? Your child will frequently say, “Show me” or “Let me see.” They’ll be good at learning sight words. Puzzles will be easy to complete. They’ll arrange their things, just so. They’ll have neat handwriting. They’ll be good at finding misprints. When you’re mad, they’ll say, “You look mad.”

How can you work with a visual learner? Be sure to provide them with visuals. If they have chores to do each day, have a list for them to see. If you’re training them, give them a list of steps to follow. Provide them with ways to store and sort their belongings. Be patient as they make their work look neat.

Reminds me of my teen years and putting on my makeup. My parents always wanted me to be ready to go, and I needed the time to feel I looked my best, or I felt all day that I didn’t look right.

If a child is struggling with a certain skill, they will need to practice in a visual way. If it’s math, flash cards and workbooks would be appropriate. Math problems in picture form will help them ’see’ the math function being carried out. In spelling, they’ll want to look at the words many times. For science and social studies, it may be enough to read things and create charts to make sense of the material.

When you really need them to listen to you, they might need to be looking at you. They might need to read your message in a letter or note. If it’s not written down, it might not get done.

Sound familiar, you’re likely a visual learner. If not, read the upcoming posts on auditory and kinesthetic learners. And remember that we all have a bit of each style.

There are three common learning styles. You might be auditory, and prefer to listen to gain information. Could you be visual, preferring to read or see information? Or are you kinesthetic, needing to touch and manipulate something to learn? Likely, we each have a bit of all three learning styles.  Although we likely have a dominant style for  processing information.

In my house, I’m visual. My husband is auditory. And my daughter is mostly auditory, with some of the other two styles. She’s still young enough that I’m not sure she has one preference yet.

In future posts, I’ll share more descriptions so that you’ll have a really good idea of which style you prefer. You’ll also be able to apply the styles to your children.

Why is that important? Future posts will also share ways to connect with the other styles so that your message is clear. It will also help you to work with your children on learning activities.

And if you’re working outside the home, and provide training for others, the suggestions will help you too.

Stay tuned.

A study from UCLA has found that activities that get children, aged 2 months to 4 years, talking are most helpful to language acquisition. Even more than exposure to one-on-one reading, adult-child conversations have more of an impact on language development. The study was published in the July issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

This fits a tip I shared earlier. Children will practice conversation turn-taking as well as build their vocabulary through conversations. By giving them the chance to have a conversation, with a give and take, they’ll make mistakes, learn correct words and sentence structure, and use language purposefully.

Thanks to Parenthood.com for sharing this study with the rest of us.

I recently wrote about ways to encourage children to sit still for a story or book reading. And today I read a discussion on LinkedIn about the vocabulary author’s use when writing children’s books. Both reminded me that I’ve been told my daughter’s vocabulary, especially when she was 2 and 3 years old, seemed older than her age. I attribute it to two practices. First, we never talked down to her using baby-talk words. We had conversations with her, and used synonyms for new words if she didn’t understand.

Second, we’ve read a large variety of books to her and with her. We’ve followed certain characters, authors, illustrators, and series. Whenever we’ve come upon a new word, we used several techniques. We might automatically provide a synonym in the same sentence. If we could recall something from her past experiences that would help her learn the word, we would stop and help her recall that experience and make the connection. It could have been another book, somewhere we’d visited, a television show, or a conversation. Another technique we used was to stop and ask if she knew what the word meant. If she said no, we explained. And now, as we read nonfiction science books, we can use word parts to determine the word’s meaning. She wouldn’t be able to do that herself right now, yet I know it will give her a headstart on that skill when she encounters it in her schooling.

Doing these things that frequently, helped her learn that it was okay not to know all of the words she read, and that there were ways to figure them out. She frequently stops us now to ask what a word means.

The same techniques can be done with a class of children. Some of the chapter books that I loved to read to my students dealt with situations with which they had no experience. I’m thinking of The Indian in the Cupboard and knowledge of cowboys and indians. I stopped when needed to explain, to enable them to follow the story.

We want our children to read books that they can experience success when reading. Yet we also want them to continue growing in their language and knowledge. We can help by purposefully making connections for them.

How long can a little one sit to listen to a story? I have this discussion pretty frequently when I’m talking with parents about skills they’re working on with their child. Usually it’s a parent that really wants to enjoy reading books with their child, yet the child just won’t sit still for a book.

For children, their attention span is about twice their age. A three year old should be able to sit about 6 minutes to talk about and hear a book read. If you keep that in mind when selecting books, it will make story time more rewarding.

Another tip is to select a story that you’ll really enjoy reading. Why? Because you’re more likely to use different voices, or at least vary your speech as you read. That makes for more interest and variety, and it could increase the length of books read.

Does the child like music? If so, pick books that are song lyrics with pictures. Those were always favorites with my daughter, as she got mommy singing and a book at the same time. Those types of books are also good for building knowledge of how books work and later word recognition.

Books with favorite characters or favorite types of characters will be more interesting. My daughter was in love with ducks for about 2 years. I searched the library shelves for any books that had ducks on the cover. Then I’d check the story inside to see if it was a good length for her.

If you have other tips for selecting books for preschool children, please share. I know others will appreciate the input.

Today I took my daughter to a classmate’s home for an end-of-school/summer fun party with all of the class. Since school has already been out for two weeks, they were starting to miss each other. They definitely had loads of fun, and they all played really well together.

It reminded me that when we visit a friend’s house, I always remind my daughter of some social rules. It’s a chance for her to use what she’s been taught. That’s what all field trips are for - learning and using new skills.

Here’s what I want her to learn from visiting a friend’s house:

1. RSVP if invited, or wait to be asked over. If you knock on the door to play, wait to be asked inside.

2. Greet the friend and host.

3. Go where directed rather than wandering anywhere. They’ll decide where you’ll play.

4. Wait to be served or asked if you’d like a snack. And then follow their rules for where to eat.

5. Don’t do something you’re not allowed to do at your own home. No dressing up in the mom’s clothes, from her closet, if your own mom doesn’t allow that. (And should you even be in the parent’s closet?)

6. Clean up your mess.

7. Don’t overstay your welcome. If everyone else is leaving, you should too. If you’re tired and getting grouchy, it’s time to head home for quiet time.

What social rules do you teach your children about visiting at a friend’s?

As babies grow into toddlers, it helps to have another form of communication, rather than us doing all the talking for them like when they are infants. We found Baby Signs to be a great method. We focused on the signs for Eat, Drink, More, All Done, Thank you, You’re Welcome, Sorry, and Again. We’d sign and say the word at the same time. Eventually, we’d take our daughter’s hands and help her to make the sign. We found that she made some of them her own way. All Done is both palms up, and then turned over. Instead, she’d do that repeatedly, kind of twinkling them. But we understood. And that was the point. Communicating her needs and desires to us before she had the words to do so.

I know others that have used Baby Signs, learning and teaching even more of the words, and with the same success. It’s an effective way to prevent or lessen the tantrums that children have when they are frustrated and don’t know what else to do.

You can find certified instructors at www.babysigns.com. There is also www.weehands.com.

And I can’t forget the most important sign, that we used multiple times throughout the day, still - I Love You. From across the room, it’s a silent way to give them your support and reassurance.

Ever seen a child have a meltdown because they didn’t want to stop what they were doing?  Ever get totally annoyed when you are interrupted while intensely involved in an activity?

Children are the same. They just don’t always have the words to express their frustration. So they use a ‘language’ we understand - crying and screaming.

Follow these steps to help children keep a figurative eye on the clock.

1. Tell them in the morning what the plan is for the day. For example, “We’ll have breakfast, get dressed, go to the library, have lunch at home, go to your gym class, and then go home for dinner. You should be able to play with the neighbors today too.”

2. If the day’s plans change, let them know in simple terms.

3. Remind them of what’s next. “We’re done with breakfast. Now let’s get dressed and go to the library.”

4. When they are really engrossed in an activity, or really enjoying where they are, give them advance warning that the time is almost up. I’ve found that just saying they have another 5 minutes lets them know to start finding a good ending for their play or activity. At a library, maybe it’s when they select one more book.

5. Give them another reminder, perhaps at about 2 minutes of time left.

6. When time is up, and you need to transition to another part of the day, remind them also of what’s next. “It’s time to clean up now. When things are all cleaned up, we’ll go for a walk.” (Cleaning up - that’s another post.)

7. If they show frustration, give voice to that for them. “I know you are frustrated. Maybe next time you can work on the same thing.”

This is helpful for little ones as well as school-age children in classrooms. After all, we could all use help with time and self management.