Whether it’s the beginning of the school year or well into the semester, sometimes helping a child succeed academically means understanding how he or she learns, that is, how that individual child learns best and which methods of instruction will most appropriately reach him or her.
   Experts say children’s individual learning styles are linked to one or more of their senses and can generally be classified in one of four categories: visual, auditory, kinesthetic or tactile. Knowing the learning category in which your child falls can help him or her overcome scholastic obstacles and, in many cases, move to the head of the class.
   “Successful learning happens when we make a connection between what we are attempting to learn and our personal strengths,” says Dr. Mary Mokris, an education specialist and author. “When the connection is made, learning is easy. When it isn’t, difficulty follows.” She offers these tips for identifying your child’s learning style:

Seeing Is Believing
Visual learners learn best when “shown” how to do something. They thrive on written directions. If your child is a visual learner, it could be best for her to write and rewrite the spelling list she is studying to see the letters come together on the page.

All Ears
Auditory learners retain more information from what they hear than read. Auditory learners can make an audio recording of themselves spelling out words on a spelling list so they can replay them and spell along with the tape.

Move On
Kinesthetic learners express themselves through movement and often have trouble sitting still. To learn a spelling list, a kinesthetic learner can use his body to form the letters, can put the words on objects or can recite the spelling of words while jumping rope.

Feeling Smart
Tactile learners need to feel and manipulate objects with hands-on experience in order to learn best. They can use magnetic letters to spell out spelling words on the refrigerator or form the letters in clay or sand.
   “If you know your child’s strongest learning style, share this information with the teacher,” says Dr. Mokris. “That can help them adapt certain lessons appropriately.”
   For instance, instructors can offer an oral reading component to the reading program and math manipulatives such as the number board in the math program. Adaptations such as these can make the difference between success and failure.

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