What's better - books or reading online?

There's no doubt about it: exposure to fiction is essential for developing children's imagination. In a way, it matters less whether the format is listening to a book, reading together with a parent or reading by themselves, just as long as they get lost in the imaginary world of book characters.

We usually include e-books and online reading in the same set: as long as it's a book, it doesn't matter whether it's on paper or on the Kindle. However, as early as 2006, an eye-tracking study by scientists at the US-based research group, Nielsen Norman, indicated that people read web pages and books on iPads in an “F” pattern. This means that they scan the top line all the way, then halfway across the next few lines, and then only down the left side of the page, all the way down to the bottom of the article.

This kind of reading is helpful when we're trying to form a quick overview of the text (non-fiction reading), but it doesn't work to yield a deeper understanding of what we’re reading. Wall Street Journal had this to say: "as much as rich multimedia-laden content captures our attention, with a mixture of words, sounds, and moving gifs, videos and image galleries, studies have shown that together they can lead to lower comprehension than just reading plain text."

Something to ponder, for sure, especially if your Learning Style is visual.

When Too Much Reading Is Bad For You

 

Books are good. Whether you’re reading to your child or letting them read by themselves, there is an immeasurable amount of development going on. Visualisation, imagination, vocabulary, general knowledge, thinking and debating skills – they all increase in leaps and bounds thanks to being exposed to fiction. “At least ten minutes a day,” experts tell us. What they don’t tell us is, how much is too much.

Apart from the obvious strain on the eyes, too much reading is bad for your body, turning it into a couch potato and depriving you of the opportunity to run, climb trees, swim and jump on the trampoline. Furthermore, reading is a passive activity when compared to more creative hobbies such as drawing, composing music, play-acting, sewing, computer programming and free play.

Of course, if the choice is between watching TV and reading, let them read by all means. But if an opportunity arises to play outside, walk the dog or make Christmas decorations, that’s when putting down the book is the right choice.

Is your child in danger of reading too much? It all depends on their learning style. Do they have a preference for no mobility, working alone, perseverance, visual learning? If so, they may concentrate on books so much, they miss out on other essential development steps. Find out today.

Learn To Read Using Learning Styles

Even preschoolers have a well-defined Learning Style. Some may prefer to learn alone, others with friends. Some may prefer to play games which require a lot of full-body movements, others will be drawn towards pastimes that require working with their hands.

When it comes to learning to read the letters of the alphabet, here is a list of games to play that will engage the senses and appeal to many learning styles. To begin, cut out letters of the alphabet out of fine sandpaper. Use different colours for vowels, consonants and digraphs (qu ai ee ie oa ue ar er or ch sh th oy ou oo).

• Let the child feel the letters in the direction you draw them.
• Ask the child to touch “m”, find “o”, move “d”, hold “a”.
• Spread the letters around the room. Ask the child to hop to “m”, run to “d”, tiptoe to “ee”.
• Point to the letter and ask whether the child remembers what it is.
• Let the child cut favourite pictures from a magazine. Sort them according to what letter they start with. 
• Take one letter. Cut out everything from a magazine that starts with that letter. Paste it onto a page or put into an envelope.
• Every day, put out a basket of different goodies, each beginning with the same letter.
• Play “I spy”. Say, “I’m looking for something that begins with the sound bbbb." 
• Play “I spy” again, but with objects that end in the sound “k”: milk, book.
• Play a rhyming version of “I spy”: “I spy with my little eye something that sounds like book” (hook, nook).

What are your child's learning preferences? Find out.

Reading to a child raises IQ

A team of researchers recently examined eight different studies of childhood development and concluded that “reading to a child in an interactive style raises his or her IQ by over 6 points.”

So what does it mean, to read in an interactive style?

• Read the book out aloud, with the child sitting next to you, possibly following the text with their eyes and fingers.
• Do different voices for different characters.
• Ask the child to be one of the characters, or to read alternating pages.
• Pause to explain words you think the child may not be familiar with.
• Pause to ask factual questions about the text: "What is Red Riding Hood carrying in her basket?"
• Pause to ask interpretative questions about the text: "Do you think she made a wise choice to stop and talk to the wolf?", "How would the story work out if she hadn't?"

Of course, your children will respond best to interactive reading if their learning style is auditory (listening and talking).

What is your child's unique learning style?

Learning Styles and Reading Information

If you've read the previous post in the series (Learning Styles and Using Google), you will have seen that many students and school children are sadly incapable of getting information out of search engines. A number of factors may be at play here, and today we will look at one of them in more detail: the inability to read facts.

Thanks to the TV and the Xbox, many chilsren today aren't as good readers as their parents were at this age. However, we see children who are fluent readers and who love reading fiction still struggle with reading web pages and textbooks.

The same children who can't use Google are probably equally incapable of finding out facts in the encyclopaedia or "how to" books. It all comes down to the fact that a learning style is not a measure of how well you do something, but a preference for a way of presenting new and difficult concepts.

It would be a mistake to assume that just because your child reads a lot of books they can learn from non-fiction textbooks, just like a child who watches a lot of TV might not necessarily learn best from DVDs.

To determine your child's learning style, start here.

Story Magic - Bring Stories to Life with Learning Styles

We all agree how important it is for the next generation to love books, right?

Absolutely!

But when it comes to books, it's not all about reading... not only about the skill of reading. It's also about the actual stories. Stories are a useful way to teach children our values (it pays to be noble and righteous, because good overcomes evil in the end), introduce the concept of "baddies" in a loving, secure environment, as well as inform us about the way things work (from making soup to what a hearing aid is).

All children love stories, so it makes sense to smuggle in new and difficult information to them using the medium of the written word...

... except, of course, not everybody's learning style is visual (words), in other words, not all children enjoy having to read the words themselves.

What is a parent to do?

• If your child is auditory (internal), click here to listen to children who read stories to other children.
• Children who are auditory external may prefer to read the stories out loud and to re-tell them to you in their own words.
• If your child is visual (external), watch this site.
• Kinesthetic children will enjoy acting out the stories as you read them out loud.
• Tactile children may want to draw or make the characters from the story, participate in reading touch-and-feel books, or even make ordinary books into tactile books themselves.

To determine your child's learning style, start here.

Learning Styles and Illiteracy

Globally, illiteracy is becoming one of the most prominent social pains of the 21st century. While in developing countries the problem is chiefly the lack of teachers, schools and teaching aids; the problem in the West is the overabundance of technology.

In a world where television, computers and cell phones reign supreme, books are taking a distant second place. Even SMS or email no longer resembles the written word, with shortcuts and phonics such as: “GTG PAW c u 2nite”.

Of course, struggling to read may have its roots in health issues such as vision problems or dyslexia.

More often than not, however, if a child has access to food, school and books - yet they have not acquired the ability to read, the problem may lie in their Learning Style.


Your child’s learning style dictates the way in which he or she understands and remembers new concepts. The learning style will also determine the way they learn to read.


If your child is not visual, for example, they will have no natural curiosity about books. If they need mobility for their learning, sitting still with a book is an unnatural thing for them to do. If they are not left-brained, the idea of starting the book at one end and continuing in a linear fashion will be foreign and uncomfortable.

You can help!


A tactile child will benefit greatly from being allowed to handle the book and trace the words with their fingers. An externally auditory child will prefer to read the words out loud. And you can keep a kinesthetic child’s interest by asking them to act out the plot of the book as you read it together.

Is your child tactile or kinesthetic?

Of course, as with any new learning, learning to read should take place in an environment that’s tailor-made for that specific child’s learning needs. The Learning style Analysis (LSA) report shows parents exactly how to turn the learning area at home into a successful one.

To find out your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.