Learning disability or different learning style?

JustV

I watched this amazing Ted Talk just now, 'how we suppress genius and create learning disability'. After some chatter about the education system last night, I thought this was worth posting. He talks about there being over 70 different learning styles, just one of which being verbal linguistic. Feel free to post comments and thoughts below - interested to know what people think. :chin:

TW: Brief mentions of domestic violence and violence at school, though not in too much detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxkBqFbbAP0

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Former Member

I found that when I was at college, there did appear to be this obsession with labelling people with learning disabilities. Some people just learn differently and you have some people who are better at some subjects than others.

I, for example, due to a mixture of disabilities, (I have hearing, sight and learning disabilities) really struggle to learn visually and found that the way we learnt in school didn't suit me.

Former Member

Had this debate far too many times in lectures! My opinion, and the general consensus of my class, is that every child is completely different.

Whether that's a 'labeled' difference, dyslexia or ADHD or any other SEND, or just that a particular child doesn't like reading while another does, in an ideal world we should be providing for every child regardless of if they have a diagnosed SEND or not. However, obviously in the current school system with a class teacher and 30 kids that just isn't possible, however is certainly something to aim for.

JustV

Totally agree with everything mentioned. :yes:

How do you think the education system as it stands at the moment could be tweaked to allow for more learning styles (if at all), both on a human level and a procedural level?

Former Member

Personally, I think that's going to be really difficult. As has been mentioned, if you've got a class of 30, you're going to really struggle to cater to every single child's learning styles.

Former Member

I think the system creates exceptions by its design - at the moment there is such a pressure to teach so much in a certain time frame to so many children that instilling a love of learning - even in children who don't fit the system - is left behind. I think smaller classes, perhaps grouped towards certain learning styles may help, as well as trying to remove the pressure of so much content for the children to explore learning themselves.