tactile/kinesthetic learners

[lorihadams]

Does anyone have any tips you can share for tactile/kinesthetic learners? My son is definitely in this category. I am glad that we are homeschooling cause he would be labeled as ADHD for sure. He just has to move around and use his hands to "get stuff" even when I'm reading out loud to him he has to move around....I know he is retaining the stuff i'm reading cause he can dictate it back to me and answer questions about what we read and my daughter is showing the signs of responding to that kind of learning as well.

Workbooks are not gonna do it for us. I can get him to do math worksheets as long as I let him use counters/blocks/sticks to do the problems and I have backed off on making him write as much because it clearly frustrates him to sit still and write stuff. I'm still making him do some but I'm letting him write on a white board and use foam letters to spell words. I am also going to let them write in a container of masa flour that I have had for ages and will probably never use. It'll be like writing in sand. He can do reading exercises as long as I make it into a game...like vocabulary bingo. I wrote words on index cards and lay them on the table or the floor and call the words out to him and we play bingo....sometimes he has to get the entire board covered and sometimes just in a line.

I also let him match words to pictures. We play computer games and he likes to do anything that involves hands on type stuff. I'm looking into a bunch of science experiments for him to do. I don't know what to do for history stuff though....I hated history in school so it is hard for me to teach. Making things hands on is going to be a challenge but I'm trying to find some good living history books....even if we don't really get started on stuff for his first grade year we will read more history dedicated material next year.

Does anyone know where else I can get some resources for this learning style or have ideas to share about teaching your tactile/kinesthetic learners?

 

[moolie]

My DD14 is a tactile learner and I'm a former teacher

How old is your son?

Educationally, workbooks are the devil. Full stop. No kid learns anything from filling in the blanks.

Don't overdo the computer time, too much "screen" time is not good for tactile learners, it makes them overstimulated and cross. Not to mention that most kids get far too much screen time for their own good anyway.

For math, definitely keep on with the counting manipulatives, ALL elementary school math is related to counting (other than geometry) so just keep him thinking that way. Use Lego, marbles, ones/tens/hundreds blocks if you can get them from the educational store. Measure with different things like string/ribbon/his foot etc. and then transfer to the ruler/yardstick--kids love to measure things (give him his own tape measure and he'll be in heaven--my daughter was) and it makes them very spatially aware.. When you do geometry you can use string for so many things and also build 3-D models of each of the polyhedra--there are patterns online.

For reading, you just have to find books that engage him. When you read aloud, let him doodle. And ask LOTS of comprehension questions, tie what you are reading into things he already knows about so that he learns to make his own connections which leads to higher cognitive functions. When he is reading, subject matter is super important. Let him read "Eyewitness" and other visual books early on. Read the newspaper, read magazines (Highlights for Children, Chirp/Chickadee/Owl, and National Geographic Kids are all great!) But don't go down the "comic book" or "graphic novel" route unless you never want him to read real books, save these for when he's an older teen and reading well.

For writing/spelling, the best thing you can do is read aloud regularly and get him to read as much as possible. There is a fabulous book called If You're Trying to Teach Kids How to Write: You've Gotta Have This Book! for teaching kids to write, that really goes outside the "how to write" box, and I recommend it to all teachers and parents. Your "matching words to pictures" is excellent, also have him label everything in the house with sticky notes or similar.

For history, make it real. Go to historic sites. Live the period you are learning about by cooking the food, dressing the part etc. Build models of historic buildings, forts, towns--even Lego works for this but tactile kids will really get into models/dioramas if you give them a pile of stuff and tell them to go to it--Plasticene is excellent for this, my kids love to build Plasticene "scenes" on a paper plate or in an ice cream bucket. There is a great episode of Road to Avonlea with guest star Christopher Lloyd--he is a failing stage actor to answers an newspaper advert for a substitute teacher who spends his teaching time having the kids act out historic events, which totally speaks to the kid who always thought history was boring--a good watch (as is the entire series).

Gotta get the kids to school, but I'll add more thoughts as they come to me...

 

[moolie]

Oh, and get him a slate and chalk rather than using paper, works really well for tactile learners. If he does a bit of truly spectacular work that you want to save, just take a photo of it (him holding the slate!)

 

[miss_thenorth]

I am not a homeschooler, but Moolie's ideas are great. One thing that worked with my son... I had an exercise ball that he loved. He used that thing when sitting at the table doing written work. He could bounce and roll, which took care of his need for constant movement, but still allowed him tostay in one spot to do his work. I would read to him while he bounced on the ball. It was a lifesaver for us. dont know if that might help

 

[moolie]

More math thoughts:

-Cooking is excellent for teaching fractions (measuring cups, pies--can use plasticine for this) and is also a great life skill that every kid should learn young.

-Measure: distance/length/area, temperature throughout the day/in the fridge/freezer/oven/different rooms/indoors vs outdoors, volume of liquids/solids, weight of various items/people/pets etc.

-Teach your kids to tell time when they are YOUNG, and also to deal with cash and to make change. Lots of kids can't do these things to save their lives. Put real "face" clocks in their rooms, and have specific times each day for certain activities--rely on your kids to tell you when it's time. Get a set of play money, or make a set, with bills and coins and play store. Get your kids to count the change you get back when you are out shopping to ensure it's correct.

DO ART. (I'm an Art Teacher and therefore have a bias in this department ) Encourage your kids to draw, paint, sculpt, carve, make prints, make rubbings, let your kids take photographs--let them make their mark. Provide lots of different media (crayons, pencils, markers, paint, natural objects, a pocketknife and the sticks in the yard...) Don't let your kids get hung up on whether any of their art looks "right". Let them paint blue trees and purple cows, green birds and orange people if they want. Teach your kids calligraphy (borrow a book from the library, use calligraphy markers rather than pen and ink while your kids are young)--they may not like learning to print/write, but if calligraphy is introduced as ART, they'll get into it and do well, and it will improve their overall penmanship. Inspire them with library books about illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells--which is full of amazing illustrations and beautiful lettering.

DO MUSIC. Listen, sing, play. Explore various musical genres, your kids will surprise you with what they like, my DD14 enjoyed country and rap when she was small and heard them on the radio/at the mall. Enroll in lessons if your kids are interested, I recommend piano lessons to any family who has a piano or access to one--music helps with spatial organization and math, and it's just plain good for the soul.

BE ACTIVE. Make sure your kids have frequent breaks to get up and stretch, play a game, ride their bikes, play on the playground at the park, kick a soccer ball around the yard, play in the sandbox. Go to your local used bookstore/college bookstore and ask if they have any old PE teacher textbooks--tons of ideas of active stuff (throwing bean bags back and forth/into hoops for hand-eye coordination etc.)

And something I recommend for every child is to join Scouting (boys and girls). It teaches SO many life skills, leadership skills, and preparedness, plus it is SO fun. Another great thing to get involved with if you have a local club is 4-H.

 

[moolie]

I am not a homeschooler, but Moolie's ideas are great. One thing that worked with my son... I had an exercise ball that he loved. He used that thing when sitting at the table doing written work. He could bounce and roll, which took care of his need for constant movement, but still allowed him tostay in one spot to do his work. I would read to him while he bounced on the ball. It was a lifesaver for us. dont know if that might help

GREAT idea, a good one for adults who do desk jobs as well. Good for balance and core strength.

 

[abifae]

I am a kinetic learner. I have to pace while reading or I don't learn.

Great ideas Moolie. I do poorly with pen and paper too. Something big to write on!! Lots of different sizes and shapes and colors of markers...

Math is VERY easy to keep physical. All the math I never figured out was because they thought we were advanced enough to not keep it physical. Other than not learning to subtract because the teacher told me we were NOT adding negatives, so I got very confused for 5 years.

I had issues with fractions til we got out a lot of water, all the measuring cups and poured fractions into bigger containers and measured.

 

[lorihadams]

Thanks you guys! Those are all great tips...it's just hard when people want to see what you did all day long and there's nothing to show them cause we didn't do anything written all dang day long. Right now my son is making paper airplanes with his daddy and they are both (son and daughter) drawing jack o lanterns cause we have on "Challenge: outrageous pumpkins" on the food network channel and they are amazed at the pumpkins these people are carving.

My son also made a dream catcher after I made them one tonight...he made his out of a piece of paper and drew the web on it, then used a ball in the center for the spider and covered the whole thing with double sided sticky tape....LOTS of double sided sticky tape so that the bad dreams would DEFINITELY get caught in it.

i went and bought them a pack of about 20 different paint brushes yesterday of all different sizes and types and some new paints. They love art so I try to incorporate art into lots of lessons....I just have to figure out what to do with it all when they are done.....

 

[doxie56]

I am ADHD, but learned over the years to control it as best I could. However, my eldest son is ADHD and had a terrible time in school until I took him out to home school him and his younger brother when they were in 3rd and 1st grade. When Michael was in 2nd grade he HATED having to write his spelling words 10 times each and write a sentence with each word. Having just read Thomas Armstrong, Phd's book, "In Their Own Way", about different learning styles, I came up with an idea for my kinesthetic learner. I contacted his teacher and asked if he could type his words and sentences on our DOS computer with a Sesame Street word processing program. She agreed; and within a week his spelling grade went from "F" to "A+". He even got the bonus words right! (I highly recommend that book!)

I also used tactile and other kinesthetic items. We had Roddles (I wish I knew what happened to those as they were very expensive; and I have a special needs child now who could really benefit from their use). The Roddles helped with math... adding, subtracting, fractions... I even taught my boys to add and subtract when money was tight by writing numbers on a piece of adding machine tape and using a penny to count ahead and backwards to get the answers. It worked so well and cost almost nil! Of course, when I was able I made trips to the teacher supply stores and found some awesome tactile educational games. Once they had addition and subtraction down I got out some old checks from a previous account and a couple of registers (they have this stuff at teacher supply stores; but mine was free); and I then taught my boys how to write checks and balance a checkbook.

Actually, Armstrong's book contains a letter from a teacher who was having issues with a boy in her class who kept getting out of his seat and disturbing the class while she was teaching. The boy was failing and couldn't recall anything she'd taught. She decided finally to allow him to roam about while she taught, so long as he didn't disturb anyone. She asked him questions about the lesson afterward and was delighted to discover that he recalled virtually everything in the lesson. (I used this method often when substitute teaching in junior high BD/LD (behavior & learning disabilities) classes. I let the kids move around, lie on the floor, whatever was comfortable for them... so long as they were doing their lessons... and it worked great!)

Finally, my son was soooo hyper in the mornings when it was time to begin lessons that it was a constant struggle to get anything done. I didn't want him on meds; so about 30 minutes before school each morning I gave him a cup of cappucino (we had the mocha flavored instant WITH caffeine). By the time 30 minutes had passed he was much more relaxed and able to focus. The small amount of caffeine in one pkg. of that mix was way more preferable than giving my son oftentimes harmful drugs.

Kathy

 

[BirdBrain]

Lori, get ahold of a copy of the book "Disconnected Kids" and give it a read through. Our three kids were on mess for ADHD for years and they were getting worse. We stopped meds and started looking for alternative treatment. The naturopath did some food allergy testing for delayed food intolerances and found the kids were gluten intolerant (called antigliadin test). We went gluten free and that helped a lot but we still had huge issues.

A year later my husband read this book and told me it sounded like our kids. I read it and together we decided to have our kids evaluated. What they found was startling. It turns out that not only do all my kids have food issues with eggs and milk, but my oldest has a significant visual processing delay that causes him to be in flight or fight mode from the minute he opens his eyes in the morning. We have been in therapy for this for three weeks now and are seeing improvement that we have. Of seen using other methods of treatment. In addition to the therapy sessions at a Brain Balance center the kids have daily physical and visual exercises at home and a fairly restrictive diet. The are now on a gluten free, egg free, dairy free diet in addition to following Feingold recommendations. Two of my kids are teenagers and I asked them yesterday how they felt things are going. They replied that they felt much more "put together" and less edgy. I have noticed the most change in my oldest who is less volatile and happier.

If you don't feel you can afford to go to a BB center, the book explains what you can do at home. The diet is as big a piece as the exercises. And frankly, the diet is the hardest part for us. They found (Through blood and urine testing) that our kids were very malnourished despite eating gluten free no processed foods. They showed signs of leaky gut syndrome. So, in addition to withholding foods their bodies are having trouble dealing with, they are starting to take probiotics (GF/CF) as well as fish oils and vitamins. GettInc them treated is my full time job this summer.

One thing I found very interesting about our discussion of the kids testing prior to starting treatment. They told us that if we wanted to be part of their program there were three things we as a family had to agree to. They told us:
1-No eating fast food period.
2-No sodas from here on out
3-No video games (both handheld and on TV or computer or IPhone). I had to get rid of Angry Birds...aaargh. They said to get rid of these as they were no longer going to be part of our lives--they said to give them away or destroy them because they have the capacity to undo everything they are going to do for our kids. They also told us to limit screen time (tv and computers etc) to 1.5 hours per day on weekdays and 2 hours on weekends. This included school work on computer.

None of the above was really a big deal for us as that is not our life style. However they did tell us the kids could have a Wii if they played only games that replicated physical activity in real life...so we got a Wii Fit board and the kids have been doing balancing and rhythm type games which are very good for proprioception--something they struggle with.

Wow, this post turned out to be way longer than I intended. I guess when you find help somewhere it is natural to want to share. I had read some reviews of Brain Balance on line that were negative but it appeared that they were written by people who had not actually completed the program and were also objecting to the cost. When we made the decision to give it a try we were desperate. 8 years and nothing was working.

We HS also. But HS couldn't fix everything. Prayer and desperation have led us to where we are now. The funny part about my DH reading Disconnected Kids is that in the almost 18 years we have been married he has only read 1 book that I have ever bought him about anything to do with the kids. That had to be a God thing.

I would encourage you to read the book, study up on the Feingold diet and look at a trial period of Gluten Free/dairy free eating. Get the kids those big exercise balls to sit on and begin doing old fashioned physical exercises like sit ups, push ups and jumping jacks. Do an Internet search for Brain Gym exercises. There are 21 in the book but you can find 10 of them free online. Many of these are cross body activities that help both sides of the brain communicate with each other. Even if you never go to a BB center, there are tons of things you can do at home and the books explains a lot of that to you. We opted to go to a BB center because we felt we were running out of time and we had certainly run out of ideas. The center we are going to is in Austin which is within driving distance of my parents so we are spending the summer with grandparents. The folks who own the BB center in Austin also HS their kids and have bent over backwards to help us.

I know this is an old post and I don't know if any of this will be of help to you, but I hope some of it may.