Understanding what's inside your child's head
Understanding what's inside your child's head
By Novita Tandry
JAKARTA (JP): Understanding how your children's minds works will help you teach them at home, says Dr. Richard Woolfson, a child psychologist working for the headquarters of Tumble Tots Preschool in London.
If you want your children to learn at home it's useful to understand more about how they learn and the basic skills they need to develop, he adds.
There are five skills every child needs to master to learn properly: listening, language, memory, concentration and problem solving.
For example, if you ask them to fit a triangular shape into a jigsaw, they will need to listen to what you want them to do, have a good knowledge of language to recognize the word "triangle", remember which shape a triangle is, concentrate while studying the shapes and solve the problem of matching the shape to the hole.
Understanding how these skills develop will help you formulate the approach to teaching your child.
Memory
A good memory is essential for your child to learn and store facts, but the memory needs to be trained to work efficiently. Children have five different types of memory: a store for sounds (auditory memory), one for sight (visual memory), another for words and meaning (semantic memory), one for smell and taste (olfactory memory) and one for body movements (kinesthetic memory).
The more types of memory that are involved in remembering something, the easier it is to recall. For example, if children are learning the alphabet, showing them the letters in an alphabet book or frieze helps them associate them with the name and picture of familiar objects. Give them plastic letters so they can feel the shapes, and sing the alphabet song so that the child associates each note with a letter.
When learning to count, use actual objects they can see and feel; so that the child can pick them up and put them down while memorizing the numbers.
Children are also more likely to remember facts if they can link them to something they already know. For example, if you say "o" is for orange, they will immediately associate the round shape of the letter with the shape of the orange. But if you say "o" is for orangutan, they won't make an immediate association, and will probably forget it.
Listening
The ability to listen ensures your child is good at receiving instructions, and is essential when learning to read and spell. Children must bee able to identify the different sounds that make up words.
To encourage children to listen, you need to get their attention. The best way to do this is to come down to their eye level and look at them while talking. Afterwards, ask them to repeat what you have said. This will ensure they have heard and understood everything, and the repetition will help commit it to memory.
When reading stories, discuss what's happening so the child thinks about what they are hearing. Let them sit quietly with a story cassette, so they can concentrate on the tale. Play nursery rhymes and song cassettes, and get your child to sing along so that they listen carefully to the notes.
Talk about other sounds around you -- one good game is to sit quietly in the garden and name the sounds you hear: cars, birds singing, bees humming and so on.
Language
The more time you spend talking to your child, the faster their vocabulary will expand. Talk about what you are doing as you go about everyday tasks and they will soon begin to absorb new words and concepts. Even if your child is slow to talk, they will be 'filling away' the words you use and understand far more than what the child can say.
Once talking, encourage them to describe their thoughts on things: "Did you like that story?" "Why?" "What are buildings?" "A castle?" "Who do you think lives in the castle?" By listening to them, you'll give the message that their ideas are valued, which in turn will encourage them to voice their thoughts and expand their vocabulary.
Concentration
Young children often find it hard to concentrate for more than a few minutes, but concentration improves with age and practice. Children who are naturally quiet and enjoy passive activities often concentrate better than those who are constantly on the go.
If your child finds it hard to sit still, begin giving them an enjoyable task -- such as painting or drawing -- in a quiet room with no distractions. Let them spend a few minutes on it. When the child tires, let them do something else, but next time encourage them to spend just a little longer doing an activity. But remember, children are far more likely to concentrate if they are motivated. The task must be enjoyable and rewarding, or they will quickly lose interest.
Problem Solving
Most children enjoy problem solving, but are often thwarted by grown-ups who insist on doing things for them. While it may be expedient to help children with tasks, like dressing when you're in a rush, try to make time to let them tackle as many new challenges as possible, and be patient while they learn by their mistakes.
If they really can't manage something, like opening a container, show them how it's done -- in stages. Then give it back to them to try. Children who confidently tackle new problems have a head start when they start school.
Confidence
Even after children have developed the five key skills, the may still have troubles learning if they lack confidence. If they are anxious about failing, they won't be able to concentrate when trying to learn.
This is illustrated by a recent study involving a group of five year-olds who had just started school. They were split into three reading groups: one group was made to feel anxious by ensuring they failed a word-reading task, another group was made to feel good by succeeding at the same task, and a third group wasn't given the task at all. Then all the children were given a general educational test. Researchers found that those who were made to feel anxious scored the lowest.
You can increase children's' confidence by tackling one learning step at a time, and giving them plenty of practice at each stage. When choosing a new learning activity, pick one that is more difficult than the one they have completed, but not so difficult that they will need a lot of help. Praise them and avoid comparing their progress with other children's; if children feel they aren't keeping up they become anxious or lose interest.
Novita Tandry is director of Tumble Tots Preschool for children from six months to seven years old, Blok M Plaza, South Jakarta.