5 Ways to Help Your Child Learn

Learning is a very personal process and it is different for everyone.  Unfortunately, most of our formal learning systems are very rigid in the way they are expressed and funnel everyone into the same method of learning.  Many of us have been squeezed into a system of education that requires us to learn how the system wants us to learn, rather than how our brain wants to learn.  Some people adapt successfully to imposed learning processes, whilst others find it challenging to connect with information which is presented in a format which falls outside of their preferred learning strategy.  At best, the non-adapted learner assimilates only a percentage of the presented information, at worst, they are labelled as having learning difficulties and channelled into remedial tuition or they get disheartened and just give up the learning process.

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When you teach a pupil, or are taught by a teacher, are preferred learning styles taken into consideration before the lesson begins?  If the answer is no, a great deal of potential learning is probably being lost in the delivery of the lesson.  A great teacher is one who is able to translate ideas, both simple and complex, into a language that the pupil can understand and process in a natural and unconscious way.

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So how, as a parent, teacher or coach, can you elicit someone’s preferred learning style?  Firstly, you listen.  The language used by your child or pupil will give you a great deal of information about how they learn naturally, how their brain wants to learn. So this is the first of 5 key ways that learning NLP can assist you to assist the children who will shape all our futures.

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Representational systems are how we encode our thinking, so that the information we receive makes sense to us.  Most of us have one preferred representational system.  The most prevalent systems are:

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 Visual - Pictures

 Auditory - Sounds

 Kinesthetic - Feelings

 Auditory Digital – Self Talk (Operates alongside one of the above systems)

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Visual learners will need to see something in order to learn efficiently.  They may need to see you, the teacher or parent, performing the exercise before they can fully understand the detail of what they are required to produce.  They may need to study pictures or watch DVDs/videos of others performing the exercise.  Explaining just with language will not be compelling learning for these people.

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Auditory learners will want to hear the sound of your voice.  They will respond to rhythm and sound, they may even enjoy a little music whilst they learn.  They will be easily distracted by the sounds around them, so quiet lesson times with only purposeful auditory input will be the most effective.  Asking these people to get a feel for the learning will not give as much clarity as asking them to listen to the resonance of the teaching.

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Kinesthetic learners are those people who need to physically get on and do something in order to make sense of it.  They will feel the learning emotionally and physically.  They want to know how the exercise should feel.  Spending time talking to these types of learners will most probably just lead to frustration, they want to get on and try it out. Those ‘wriggle bottoms’ who just won’t sit still through a learning session are most probably kinaesthetic learners, they just want to get up and feel how success feels.

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Learners whose preferred representational system is Auditory Digital require a detailed and logical explanation of the task in hand.  They will want step by step instructions in the greatest of detail.  Examples and statistics will help them to learn and they will need everything before they are asked to demonstrate an exercise themselves.  Just get on and try it, or let me show you how, are not going to work for this type of learner.

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What is your preferred representational system and that of your child?  Think about when you teach a child something.  You will probably discover that you deliver your lessons in your own preferred system of thinking, rather than that of your pupil.  Imagine the results you could be getting if you taught people in the way they learn best!

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In addition to our preferred representational systems, we also have strategies for learning.  This is our second key element to enhanced learning. Eliciting a learning strategy is a more advanced form of NLP and all our delegates learn how to discover their pupil’s learning strategies when they attend our Enhanced NLP Coach Practitioner Certification Training. One of the most impactful pieces of learning about learning that we offer our NLP Coaches is the Spelling Strategy. This very simple method of enhancing a child’s spelling capability to a point way beyond their current level is one of the most incredible gifts that parents who join our trainings take back for their children.

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The process of creating a new spelling strategy is very easy and can be done for 5 minutes each evening under your supervision as a parent. The thinking that makes the spelling strategy work is that children who can’t spell are usually attempting in vain to feel how to spell the word. The only way to spell with consistent accuracy is to spell in the visual modality.  Within a few weeks your child will be spelling words both forward and backwards in a very natural way and amazing their teachers.

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When children learn it is important that they can keep their attention and emotional content in a positon conducive to enhanced learning and recall. This is our third key. In NLP we have a wonderful condition called the ‘learning state’. The learning state is the perfect internal state to facilitate deep learning and absorption of information, whilst making the recall of that information really easy and accurate. The learning state is one of calm, relaxed focus and is ideal for children who find it difficult to sit and listen quietly. When adult learners sit comfortably in our training room, they also learn this magical state and spend the whole eight-day training calm, relaxed and open.  

Moving into the fourth area of enhanced learning for children, all learning happens in the part of our mind known in NLP terms as the unconscious mind. All our learning is stored at the unconscious level and then recalled consciously when we require it for utilisation. For example, think of your phone number. Now, where was that number before I asked you to think of it. You weren’t conscious of that number until you were asked to become conscious of it, therefore it follows nicely that the number was stored in your unconscious mind until you needed it. All of our learning happens this way. During the Hypnosis section of our NLP Coach Practitioner Certification Training, you will learn how to help your children to answer test questions thorough the use of ideomotor signalling. Ideomotor signalling techniques are quick and easy ways for your child to access the information held within their unconscious minds with biofeedback.

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The two techniques we will teach you are called ‘sticky’ and ABCD. Sticky is an excellent technique for establishing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to a question. The child effectively asks their unconscious mind is this answer the correct one and gets an ideomotor signal telling them the result. In the case of sticky, the child rubs their finger across a smooth surface, like a plastic folder or a ruler. When the result of the question changes the surface of the finger against the plastic experiences more or less friction, therefore feeling sticky. Once the child trusts the process, they can use sticky to check their responses.

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Similarly ABCD is great for answering multiple choice questions. An ideomotor signal is set up on each of 4 of the child’s fingers, one for A, one for B and so on. When the child asks themselves the question, the unconscious mind will send a signal to one of the fingers using micro-muscle movement to give the child the correct answer. Easy and confidence building. Of course, there is one major requirement here, the child has to have been in the lesson and learned the material first!

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Finally and most importantly, effective learning can only be realised if the child has a belief system that supports that learning. Any limiting beliefs around school and learning can set a very bright child back considerably. During your Enhanced NLP Coach Practitioner Certification, you will learn Time Line Therapy® techniques which children embrace very effectively. Using these simple techniques you can ensure that your child can be free of any deep seated beliefs that limit them and hold them back from achieving their dreams. Imagine being able to give your child the gift of confidence, self-belief and motivation to shoot for the stars.

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You can learn all of these techniques for yourself in just 8 days and apply them all immediately and be delighted by the results that you will achieve for both you and your family. It’s time to take action and learn about learning. You’ll be amazed by how much more you will learn for yourself too, after all, the best parent a child can have is a happy and content parent.

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