Narration with someone who is not an auditory learner

Hugs to you Kimberly, first of all. 

For my daughter who has auditory processing disorder, I often will give her the memory card, have her copy it, read it aloud and listen to it.  The combination helps considerably.  It is time consuming and “less” gets done, but I just have to relax and remember that over the course of a year, much is accomplished, in baby steps.

Another thing I do is try to find a coloring page that has something connected to what we are readintg, this is easier for science than other subjects.  Something about moving their hands and looking at a picture helps as well.  Even a blank page to doodle seems be helpful.

HTH

Kimberly,

My dd is an auditory learner, however with sensory processing disorder in all areas. In the Scritpure memory arena, I use the the box recommended here. We all take turns looking at it and reading aloud; that way you get the visual and auditory involved. If you have to make it part of copywork for the tactile, that’s ok, too.

Dover has excellent coloring book(and cheap, too) for all sorts of subjects. There are also some creation science coloring books called the G-d Created… Series. I’d have to check on who the publisher is if you want.

I think one of the main things I did to strengthen my dd’s listening skills is to drastically increase her exposure to audiobooks; listening daily, sometimes more than once. When I think back to how she was when we adopted her at 3 and I started that right away and then began to see the fruit this past year, age 8 and now 9, I definitely attribute some of her auditory strengthening to her exposure ot audiobooks of high calibur, including poetry. The majority of these are unabridged, those that aren’t are from Jim Weiss or Focus on the Family radio theatre and Our Story Hour tapes/CD’s (best price on these last two at Library and Educational Services). I would have her just talk to me about them, not an official narrration, but just talk about what she listened to and let her tell it back to me. Works great, no pressure, just discuss.

Rachel

Hi Kimberly,

It sounds like the coloring works for your son.  Here are some additional ideas:  

I allow my younger son, who is really kinesthetic/visual to sort beads in a muffin tin or sort his rock collection while I read.

Another idea is a “fidget” for the child to manipulate.  A fidget is a balloon filled with 2:3 mixture of sugar and flour then tied tightly shut – like one of those massage balls given out at conferences.

Doodling is great and can be related to the subject or not.  When my son gets older we will definitely use the graphic organizers that Jimmie suggests.

An idea for the scripture memory would be to draw a pictogram for it so your son has some visuals.  Sometimes I ask my son to “take a picture” or “make a movie in his mind” of what I am reading or telling him.

If you are into books for yourself, I suggest checking out Visual Spatial learners by Alexandra Shires Golon and The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles by Carol Barnier.  So many books just give you the label while these are chock full of solutions. I also really appreciate Jimmie’s blog as a great insider look at creative learning for the non-auditory learner.

…and nothing beats asking the Lord for the Spirit’s guidance in each situation.  He’s the most creative One I know!

Best,

Richele