**Everybody learns differently, and a few years ago we had the VAK - Visual Auditory and Kinetic model of learning.**

I like the model as it is quite simple and most students fit quite easily into one of the categories. Most people in the western world are ‘V’ which is visual. These people learn by looking. They learn through their eyes. That is probably why TV and movies are so popular or that could be the reason why Visual is so popular. Because TV has caused us to become more visually orientated.

The schooling system in most places in the world is based on a visual system. The teacher and blackboard at the front and everybody looks at the teacher. As they say ‘One picture is worth a thousand words.’ And that is very true of visual people.

Next in line is ‘A’ for auditory. These students learn predominately by listening, so they listen to the teacher as opposed to looking at her or him. Now we have a bit of a paradox here, as learning to read is a listening skill not a looking skill. Even though we are reading by looking at words we are actually reading in our ears. We have to start by hearing the words to match them with words we have heard when we speak.

One problem we have with people having trouble with reading is actually a hearing problem. The child cannot hear the words properly so she is jumbling them up. So if you suspect there is something wrong with the kid’s hearing get their ears checked. That might be the root of the problem, but it doesn’t end there.

You still have to teach them to read.

The last one is K for Kinetic, which in a nutshell means the kid likes to do things using hands or body. They love to make things so this group would love to make the book as opposed to read it. These are the people who can easily get left behind in the education system of today as they like to move around and they have lots of trouble sitting still behind desks while watching somebody writing on a blackboard.

These kids excel at kindergarten but as soon as they end up in a classroom, problems start to rise. They just don’t like to sit still. When kids that belong to this group have problems, it is usually movement problems so walk around reading the book. I think this group might learn better on a computer as they have a mouse to play with.

Get them to make their own books then teach them from their book. Have a big blackboard in their bedroom and copy a nursery rhyme onto it then let the kid walk, run or jump around while they read it.

Actually reading aloud uses all these three learning styles. For Visual you are looking at the words, for Auditory you are listening to the words and Kinetic you are doing something by speaking the words. So it doesn’t matter which style you a dominate in you are still learning according to the style that suits you.

The main reason I introduced the VAK model is because if you can work out which learning style your kid is, you can teach to it and according to the experts the kids should learn faster and retain more.

Also it is easier for the kids to learn when they are taught to their dominate learning style. If your kid is dominate in Kinetic then you should let the kid hold the book and turn the pages as well as follow the words with his or her finger, this way they are using their body and that is what Kinetic people like to do. Kinetic kids can sometimes be labeled as problem children because they cannot sit still and they keep fidgeting. I hate to say it but I would say that kinetic kids could also be labeled as LD (learning disabled) kids and then onto LDHD so kinetic kids are disadvantaged in the school system of today.

For more information about phonics courses I recommend including a Montessori course see our Teaching Reading page.