7 signs that your child is a backward learner.

I am a teacher with two diplomas, a masters degree, and a Ph. D. and I am a backward learner!

There, I have said it.

It has taken me many years to accept and to understand that I learn backwards. I used to call myself a slow learner and I told people that it was because I was a slow learner that I was really good at teaching children with learning problems. I understood where they were coming from. But calling myself a slow learner never quite fitted. In fact I learn things pretty quickly- my Ph. D. supervisor even called me a ‘quick study’, much to my surprise- but somehow my learning never seemed to produce the results I needed and wanted.

Now, some of you are going to have problems with this post, but stick with me. Most people are forward learners not backward learners like me, and I know from vast experience that forward learners find it very difficult to understand how backward learners function.

It is also very difficult for backward learners to explain why they feel unhappy with the way they learn. But I will do my best.

Backwards learners tend to learn visually. They are good at creating a vision of where they want to be or of what the person is trying to teach them. This is a great skill and to be encouraged. But along with this skill often comes the inability to understand the steps of how you reached that vision. Now i know that forward learners cannot understand how you can have a vision and not know how you got there. But you will have to believe me, you can and backward learners do this all the time.

Let me give you an example. I want to write a book about helping your child succeed in school. I know how to begin and I know where i want to end. The difficulty I have is working out the steps to get from the beginning to the end in a logical fashion. I KNOW that there is a series of logical steps that link the beginning and the end of the book because otherwise how could I have reached a conclusion? But it takes me ages to work them out, and what is worse, they keep shifting!

Another example. I have taught some children who,literally could not read one day and could read the next day. Not for them the slow painful working out what a word said, they either got it or they didn’t. It was as though their brain did not function until it had all the answers it needed to be able to do something. When I asked them why they could suddenly read they had no idea what had happened to make then be able to read. They were backward learners.

Logically I know that their brain was taking in information all the time, but was not ready to use it until it felt it could produce an answer. I understand the feeling. I have to know what i want to say before I say it, I have to have an answer before I start on a discussion, I have to know the result before I do something. ( I always read the last pages of a book shortly after I have started it. I need to know the ending, only then can I really enjoy the book. It drives my husband mad!)

Backward thinkers are not given the respect they deserve!

In a world of forward thinkers the backward thinker can be seen as being indecisive, head in the clouds, unproductive. It can be very disheartening. If your child is a backward thinker he or she may be struggling in a class of forward thinkers, may be thinking that they cannot learn, or even that they are stupid and strange. If your child is a backward learner you need to respect their learning style and help them fill in the steps that got them to their conclusions and visions.

Here are some signs that your child might be a backward learner;
* Daydreams
* Knows what he wants to write but not how to write it
* May have flashes of brilliance
* Grades are lower than you- or he – expected
* Can be exasperating
* Is a strong visual learner
* May like to learn in a messy environment

There is nothing wrong with being a backward learner as long as you know that is how you function. Once a child understands why they are having difficulty learning or producing good work in class they can find ways to fit into the world of forward learners and get recognized for their skills.

If anyone is interested in knowing how to help backward learners let me know and I will post a blog about it.