People Learn Differently

Being a person who struggled in elementary school myself, I really believe that people learn differently. Based on my own experiences and what I have learned in over thirty-six years of tutoring children, I  agree that most children are not disabled learners, but simply people who learn in a different way.

Some of us can not learn merely by hearing something. We need to see and experience to learn. Visual aids such as pictures, time lines, graphs, demonstrations, and DVD’s really help me follow a lesson, but they don’t always have to be things you can touch. Stories, parables, examples, and analogies also enable me to “see” the ideas. I have found  Teaching No Greater Call to be a invaluable resource of teaching ideas.

Resources for Asperger Syndrome

I just read a great book for teens with Asperger Syndrome. It is called:

The Asperkid's Secret Book of Social Rules by Jennifer Cook O'Toole

She calls her book, "The handbook of Not-So-Obvious Social Guidelines for Tweens and Teens with Asperger Syndrome".

Jennifer really knows about Asperger Syndrome. Not only is she a person with Asperger Syndrome, she is married to a man with Asperger Syndrome and has three Asperger children.

She gives straight forward social rules presented with humor and a positive attitude. I think her book would be a great help for extremely logical people in helping them feel more confident around people and function more easily in society.

Learning Disabilities

Learning Disabilities is defined as

1. a condition giving rise to difficulties in acquiring knowledge and skills to the level expected of those of the same age, especially when not associated with a physical handicap.

ADHD, ADD, and Autism, though not strictly included, could also be considered  learning disabilities since they affect learning.

I have written many articles about what is called "Learning Disabilities". (See categories "Learning Disabilities) These are posts about coping with weaknesses, and appreciating and developing our strengths. We are all human. We are all "disabled" in some way and gifted in some way.

Helping Autistic People

I've seen parents come in to talk to the teacher about their autistic son. The mother forcefully wants her son "fixed",  made "normal", while the father just sits there in quiet blankness. Why? Because he recognizes that his son is very like him.

So how do you help an autistic child? What can you do to make it easier for someone who lives in a world of pure logic? I think of the old Star Trek 1 movie, V'ger, where a machine created a world in it's own image; completely logical and predictable. Of course the "biological infestations" of the machines had to be eliminated.

Symptoms of Autism

What is autism?  No one knows really.  It does seem to run in families and there are four times more male than female. (I will therefore use "He" when referring to these people) These are my personal thoughts about what is called autism. I have known six highly functioning autistic people and their families. They look like everyone else and have needs and talents like every one does. They just have trouble relating to people; seeing behavioral patterns. They also find any abstract thought very difficult.  I wonder if we might be talking with extremely "left brained" people (Sensing, Thinking). I also wonder if this this why there are more males than females; girls have more nerve fibers connecting the two halves of their brain (Corpus Callosum).

Auditory Learning

Perceptual Mode-  AUDITORY Learning
The different ways that Left Hemispheric Dominate, Mixed Dominate, and Right Hemispheric Dominate people learn from listening and speaking.

Left Hemispheric Dominate - Primary Learning Channel 
likes to read aloud even when should be reading silently
makes up rhymes
monopolizes conversations
verbalizes all activities

Determining Brain Dominance

How Children Learn - Determining Brain Hemispheric Dominance

Dominate Side of Body - uses opposite side of brain

Left H. Dominate Mixed Dominate Right H. Dominate
right handed ambidextrous                      left handed
uses right foot uses mixed uses left eye, foot, hand
looks through right eye combinations (note some left handers
reverse hemispheres)