Three-year-old Sarah waits in line at the toy store with her mother . A 3-D puzzle is displayed nearby and draws her attention. Within five minutes she has assembled the puzzle which has been labeled ‘expert level for children 10 and up.’

Four-year-old Samuel watched a show on architecture and 30 minutes later returned from his bedroom with a 3-D replica of his family’s two-story home, made from string and Popsicle sticks, including doorways and tiny nooks. When asked how he did this, he replied, “I just copied the picture in my head.”

There are two major ways of learning:

Auditory-sequential, which is more left-brained and visual-spatial, which is more right-brained. Auditory-sequential learners are good listeners, they learn best in step-by-step outline, tend to process information rapidly, and express themselves quite well verbally. They can separate reasoning ability from emotional components.

Visual-spatial learners, by contrast, are excellent observers, comprehend holistically (yet they may not understand the tiny steps that got them to the big picture), they think in images, need more time to process and put ideas into words, and may have word-retrieval problems. Their thinking and emotions run hand in hand and are very much interwoven.

Linda Silverman, in her book Upside-Down Brilliance (DeLeon Publishing, 2002), presents a quiz to determine if a person is a visual-spatial Learner. With her permission, here it is:

• Do you think mainly in pictures instead of words?
• Do you know things without being able to explain how or why?
• Do you solve problems in unusual ways?
• Do you have a vivid imagination?
• Do you remember what you see and forget what you hear?
• Are you terrible at spelling?
• Can you visualize objects from different perspectives?
• Are you organizationally impaired?
• Do you often lose track of time?
• Would you rather read a map than ask for a verbal direction?
• Do you remember how to get to places you only visited once?
• Is your handwriting slow and is it difficult for others to read?
• Can you feel what others are feeling?
• Are you musically, artistically or mechanically inclined?
• Do you know more than others think you know?
• Do you hate speaking in front of groups?
• Did you feel smarter as you got older?
• Are you addicted to your computer?

Answering yes to 10 of the above questions means the person is likely to be a visual-spatial learner.

So what does this mean for the child who is a visual-spatial, non-auditory-sequential learner?

It sounds like being a visual-spatial (VS) learner might be a cool thing, huh? These kids read maps well, learn complex concepts all at once, can easily design and build in 3-D, and geometry and physics are their friends. This would be cool in many ways, but being a VS learner can also be a detriment. School and its academic subjects are almost always auditory-sequential and VS kids can often fail in this situation. They don’t relate well to time, organization and little details. They are sloppy, sensitive about the feedback on their messiness, and often have very poor handwriting. They dread doing things like long division, showing their work, rote memorization tasks and following any instruction that’s step-by-step. (They would prefer to jump right ahead to seeing the finished product. “Please, don’t make me listen; let me visualize!”)

A recent study conducted by The Gifted Development Center in Denver suggests that one-third of children are VS learners, yet only 15 percent of the school day is taught visually. This leaves a lot of kids headed for an underachievement label, when in fact, they would succeed if taught differently.

Teachers need to be made aware that your child is a VS learner before they understand what they need to change in their classroom. Once they understand how their auditory teaching style affects a VS learner, there are several accommodations or modifications that they can do to ensure your child is thriving along with the other children.

First of all, a teacher can get a good idea of how many in her class learn visually and how many learn auditorily by just asking them a few questions about how they like to learn things. This is important for all of the children but most beneficial to the VS learners who don’t feel ‘as smart’ as the kids who deftly sling around words while they sit quietly by, seeing the answers but unable to express them as well.

Some helpful suggestions are:

• Start by showing your child the ‘big picture’ or the finished product and then let him go back and complete the steps needed to get there.
• Use a Franklin Speller to help with spelling.
• Allow keyboarding or typed papers instead of handwritten assignments.
• Allow graph paper to help with writing for math and spelling tests so that the squares give him the structure to be neater.
• Use more overhead projector talks, movies and videotapes.
• Bring in photographs, atlases, graphs, maps and diagrams.
• Perform dramatizations, experiments or play games.
• Use color coding to create organizational linkage in a text.
• Use manipulatives and three-dimensional forms to show understanding.
• Teach ‘mapping’ or ‘webbing,’ where a main idea is written in the middle of a page and from there ideas flows out into other ideas and these create the pieces needed to see the whole.
• Allow drawing and art work in place of a written story.
• Take away timed tests and allow more time for in-class assignments.
• Allow respect for a child’s reading ability: VS learners either seem to read early (about age 3), or they learn to read a few years later than their peers.
• Teach more of a whole-reading approach since phonics (once again, the tiny details they have a hard time mastering) are often lost on VS learners. Teach memory building for whole words by teaching ‘memory snapshots.’ Build a large sight vocabulary by labeling objects in the classroom and at home.
• Use clay, pipe cleaners or a sand tray to practice making/writing letters. This method gives them the tactile and visual stimulation needed to recall the letters.
• VS learners respond well to poetry, so use poems and rhyme to teach the enjoyment of reading.
• Use a line frame to read. This is a sheet of card stock with a space cut out that allows one sentence to be read at a time.)
• Use bright colors to write, then visualize spelling words that are consistently hard to remember.
• Give oral tests or grade on content rather than on handwriting.
• Do not always require that they show their work. They are very intuitive and can solve the problems without knowing the steps.
• Find bigger meaning in all subjects; VS learner’s get bored with ‘tiny thoughts’ and want to see the big picture or important reason to learn the subject.

While being a visual-spatial learner has its ‘gifts,’ it also can be frustrating in a world that is highly auditory, sequential and organized in its day-to-day activities. Once you identify the correct way in which your child learns, the learning style can be incorporated into his school and home, guaranteeing a successful experience for your child who sees vividly inside of his mind.