Reflection on Learning Styles

There are three primary ways of learning: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. There is no doubt in my mind that I am a kinesthetic learner. I have to be able to sit and do something with my hands. If a person is to want me to learn how to do something they would have to show me how to do it and then let me do it myself. If I don’t do it myself I won’t retain anything. If I am expected to do a math problem I need to be shown how to do it and then immediately allowed to do it on my own to make sure I understand what I am being told to do. If I am expected to know how to do something with technology I need to be shown how to do it or walked through how to do something and do it myself. It isn’t just doing it myself but I tend to do better at learning things if I can be moving. Due to having Attention Deficit Disorder I have trouble sitting still and being able to learn anything so if I can walk around while being taught or even sit on an exercise stability ball it helps me concentrate and focus on what I am learning. I have always been someone who enjoyed using their hands so it makes sense that I would be a kinesthetic learner. 

There is so much technology that is appropriate for the different learning styles and diversities. For something as simple as a child that is struggling with learning how to read a parent could get their child a Leap Frog reading device or tablet. I had a Leap Frog reader when they first came out and that was probably the coolest piece of technology back then. They are pretty cheap in comparison to buying something like an iPad. Leap Frogs are less than $100 and probably a little less destructible being that they are designed for children. If there was a child that had trouble talking an iPad could be used with software that talked for them so long as they could type it. There are also things like helping students who have trouble spelling with things like spell check and word predicting software. If a student were to have visual impairment a device would be modified to either enlarge the text or if they are completely blind the device could read the document or book to them. If a student were to be completely blind though and need an accommodation with a hard copy of something the document could be translated into braille so they could read it themselves, being that they know how to read braille. If a student were to have trouble typing there are many possibilities of adaptations that could be made for them based on their needs. The student could have an expanded keyboard, mini keyboard, one-handed keyboard, customizable keyboard, or an on-screen keyboard depending on what their need is.