How Does Your Child Learn? There's More Than One Way To Be Intelligent

Which describes your child best?

A) Ruth learned her ABC's at age 2. She has always snuggled up for a story or two or more and couldn't wait to get her library card. Reading is her favorite school subject.

B) Corey is a problem-solver-she is always curious, experimenting and trying to figure out how things work. She loves math.

C) Andy's favorite toys are blocks, legos, and puzzles. He has a great sense of direction and always wants to read the map on family trips. He loves art.

D) Karly was walking so early you hardly had time to get the house childproofed. She throws a ball with ease, loves to dance, do gymnastics, and seems to have a natural grace. She loves phys ed and her dance class.

E) Brian could sing before he could talk. His eight-key piano was his favorite toy and now you barely have to nag him to practice his piano lessons. You know he is in his room because you hear the music playing-music is his favorite subject.

F) Rick was always the center of his playgroup-all the kids would naturally be attracted to him. He has always been the family mediator and in school and out is involved in lots of group activities. You know he will become class president some day.

G) Dan, even as a baby, seemed to need time by himself to recharge his energies. He has always kept a journal and spent time on reflective, more solitary hobbies and activities. He likes to do projects at his own pace-you could easily see him as a scientist or researcher.

H) Cathy has never come home with clean knees-she's always stopping to get down and examine the latest flowers or look for bugs in the grass. She has collections of rocks, butterflies, shells-and clamors for more and more pets-her aquarium full of exotic fish, her dog, cat, gerbil, turtle, are only a start for her ever-expanding home zoo. She loves environmental science and biology.

In 1983, Howard Gardner wrote a book, Frames of Mind, which challenged some of the traditional ideas on intelligence. Generations grew up with the notion that one's IQ (intelligence quotient) measured how smart one was. But one's IQ was based on a test that only measured one's verbal and math abilities. But Gardner's theories are that there is more than one way to be intelligent and more than one way to measure intelligence. He describes at least eight intelligences-and the children above would be an example of each:

• Linguistic: strong in reading, writing, and storytelling


• Mathematical: strong in math and logic and problem-solving


• Spatial: strong in design, seeing relationships between parts and building


• Kinesthetic: strong in movement, athletics, using one's hands
• Musical: strong in singing, remembering rhythms and melodies


• Interpersonal: strong in relationships, understanding others and communicating


• Intrapersonal: strong in understanding and analyzing the self


• Naturalistic: strong in understand nature and the environment
  

Gardner's theories have been mainstreamed into many school programs. Have you noticed that your children do more than just a simple book report? They may act out the plot of a book they read (good for a kinesthetic learner) or draw a picture of the book's characters (good for a spatial learner) or lead a project team on the book (good for the interpersonal learner). When schools encourage a child to use his or her strengths in completing assignments, children become less frustrated and more excited by learning.

While a child may be strongest in one area, he also has the other intelligences that he uses as he completes assignments or goes about his daily tasks. Pigeonholing a child as solely mathematical or completely naturalistic doesn't allow for a total picture of the child's abilities to emerge. Every person uses a bit of one or the other depending on the activity he is involved in at the moment. His strongest intelligences, though, are what may lead him down his career path or what may help him choose the hobbies he most enjoys.

How can you help your child utilize his strengths? Once you have pinpointed where you think your child's strengths are (and for more information, there are books on parenting based on Gardner's theories), you may want to investigate the type of school assignments he is bringing home and the types of projects he is doing at school-especially if he seems bored or discouraged. If you think his school is taught in a very traditional way and his learning style is not best suited to that manner of teaching, you could ask for a conference with the teacher and/or school administrator to explore other ways your child could complete the work-beyond just pencil and paper type of activities. You could also help your child at home. In completing a difficult reading assignment, for example, if your child is a kinesthetic learner, ask him to impersonate one of the main characters to get at how he is feeling. If he is a spatial learner, have him create a graph of the major plot events. If he is a musical learner, see if he can make up a song or a rhyme that will help him remember the story. If he is an intrapersonal learner, have him keep a reading diary or listen to the book on tape. For an interpersonal learner you could encourage him to organize a book club.

By helping your child to work from his strengths, you are helping him build confidence and self-esteem, a desire to learn more, and a curiosity about his world- all attributes that will help him succeed now and into his future.