Why Visual Learners Are Not Slow Learners

I’m at an interesting age, between 50 and 60, which means I’ve lived long enough to begin to understand the quirks of the way I take in information about my world. I can recall many situations (as recently as last week, frankly) in which I found myself stammering and confused, positive I was flagrantly dim-witted. In my own defense, what I’ve come to understand is that there are ways I can grasp information easily and there are ways in which it is more difficult. The challenge is knowing how to help myself when I feel the onset of that fuzziness.

We have to see the whole picture

I’ve blogged a lot about how visual learners learn all at once through pictures. What I'd like to talk more about is how many visual learners must see the whole picture before they can make sense out of a single detail. They have to see each detail fitting into the whole and see the relationship between all the parts. Any detail not located within the map, (not related to other details) becomes a serious distraction.

When presented with details in isolation, visual learners can come to an abrupt, stammering halt. They appear to be slow and incapable of grasping what seems amazingly simple to their sequential peers. Thinking in whole pictures is actually a wonderful ability, it is just not utilized in traditional lessons. Those children who have the luxury of understanding how their minds work and who are taught by adults who also understand will be freed to create new systems, be great at managing projects, will excel in high levels of problem-solving. Conversely, if a child is told that they are incapable of learning by teachers who do not understand how this child's mind works, or believes this because of being labeled with a disability, that child will likely fail to reach their potential.

Help them make a whole picture

So how do we recognize these kids? Once we recognize them, how do we help them? The first thing is NOT to assume the child is slow. This will not produce good results. When you are working with a child who doesn’t “get” something you are teaching, stop and consider if there is a more visual-friendly way to present the same concept. If you can find something that is designed for visual learners and the child responds positively to it, of course, do it again next time they get stuck. For a child who simply cannot remember which way to make the hook on the J, this visual is powerful! A child who sees this visual will not forget to turn the sharp point on the J away from the letter following it.

Use SnapWords® for children who don't respond to sight words

If your child or student is not responding when you teach sight words, we may have a solution to the problem. Our collection of SnapWords® are designed specifically for the visual learner, who excels with these stylized products. Try our sample SnapWords® and see if your child responds positively, then browse our entire collection. 

Present every fact as related to other similar facts

If you teach 2+5=7, also teach the other sums that equal 7 at the same time. Let the child see the array of problems so they can see all the ways to make a seven at one time. If you teach one word such as “light” as a sight word, don’t stop there. Collect all the -ight words you can find and teach them all at one time. In both of these examples, you will be relying on patterns that exist within numbers and within words that will make sense to the child. Again, when you teach a sound spelling, teach all the ways to spell that sound; preferably making a visual graph of all the spellings so the child can see where they are in the map. This might take more time initially, but think of all the myriad of words the child will be able to read! Instead of just learning “light” they will be able to read all the -ight words!

Give them TIME to make sense out of random details

I vividly remember the opening session of a graduate course in education. The professor directed us to go into the hall where, on two long tables, he’d stacked the various handouts we would need for our 9-week course. I cannot begin to tell you the chaos this collection of paper unleashed in my brain. No one else seemed to be remotely disturbed by the handouts. What was my problem? I instinctively began to look for relationships between the various handouts. I saw none. I saw no logical progression. When I arrived home (with great frustration and rash thoughts of dropping the course) I spread the handouts out on the floor. I began to study their titles and sketch on scratch paper what I hoped would be a map showing the relationship between each handout. It took me about three hours, but I finally emerged with a map of the contents of the course with lines connecting each handout and its contents. Why was it necessary for me to do this? Because without that global whole that showed the course content, I would not have been able to concentrate on lectures and learn from them.

Minimize verbal teaching; maximize visual teaching

Sheepishly I will admit that I had real trouble with a particular class in college. The issue? The professor droned from his podium for the whole class. Early in the semester, I noted with great interest that there was a particular bold plaid sports jacket he seemed to favor. Favor? He wore it 2-3 times a week! While he was up there lecturing sagely to my dedicated peers, I was mentally graphing the frequency of appearances of that plaid jacket. Likely if the professor had arranged for a part of his teaching to be done non-verbally, I would have gleaned a lot more from his class. As it was, my eyes had nothing to fasten on save his visually arresting garb.

Visual learners are most certainly NOT slow! Their only problem is that most young visual learners don't know how to arrange content in a way that makes sense to them, they do not automatically exercise metacognition, and they don’t have the experience that would enable them to help themselves unless an adult helps them first. Let us help you help your visual learners!