Putting Kids in a Box

Steph left this comment on my last post:

The human brain is incredibly complicated. We categorize things because that enables us to understand them. But as Christine mentioned (in the first comment) no one fits tidily into a box.

I agree! And that is why I don't think that we should get really totally hung up on "is my child xyz" or putting a label on our kids. Yet, here I am talking constantly about visual-spatial kids…what gives?

The reason for me is because learning about the visual-spatial learning style has drastically opened my view about how kids learn…it has expanded my options and has given me a new way of approaching learning with Jason. So in this way, finding a "label" has helped me break out of the traditional box.

Some labels can be used to limit. Others can be used to more fully understand. Reading about visual-spacial learners has given me more tools to use and has enabled me to better understand how Jason learns. It also has given me information that has allowed me to become more relaxed (usually anyways!) as I have learned that things like "late" reading and being slower to memorize math facts is "normal". And it has made a difference to Jason as well…he is more aware of how he learns and is getting better at knowing what works and does not work well for him. Which can only be a good thing.

So for us, finding a label and a "box" to put Jason in has actually resulted in expanding our world and increasing our options.

So that is why I keep talking about visual-spacial learners so much…in the hopes that someone else might recognize their child and see them in a different light…it is all about perspective and the perspective we have on our children makes the biggest difference in their lives. If we see them as progressing normal for them, we won't see their progression as a problem that needs to be fixed.

And for those of you who are not sure where your child falls…reading about visual-spacial learners will still give you additional ideas to try…maybe they will work, maybe they won't. But having more options and different points of view is a good thing. And you will learn more about your child, even if they are not visual-spacial…I know that I have learned so much about my own left-brained approach and gained quite a bit of insight into my own way of learning by reading about visual-spacial learners.

So labels can be freeing and labels can be restricting. It is all what you do with the information gained from that label. Many people do just fine and don't need any labels to figure out what their kids need. And that is great! In my case, a label was what I needed for me to figure out what my son needed. And I am eternally grateful for Cindy for pointing me in the right direction.