EVERY CHILD LEARNS DIFFERENTLY, AND VISUAL LEARNERS HAVE UNIQUE ABILITIES.

By Dr. Ronald MALCOLM, EdD (a 2021 and 2022 Contributor Awards Winner)

Children come in all shapes, sizes, and with different abilities. Your child with autism is no different in that regard. So, you’ve just been informed that your child with autism may be a strong visual learner. What will that mean for both you and your child? Here are ten simple tips and informative snippets for better understanding the visual needs of your child with autism.

What are learning preferences?

Learning preferences can be described as visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic. A learning preference basically describes the way in which your child will learn best. Some children are visual learners and need to visually see information to process it quickly. Other students who are auditory learners can be presented with information verbally and are able to process it auditorily. Children who demonstrate a read/write preference like to see words in a written format to deal with them. Finally, some children have a kinesthetic preference. These children will want someone to physically show or demonstrate items to them so they can learn.

Some children with autism demonstrate a strong preference for visual information to assist with their daily learning needs. The more you understand about the visual preferences of your own child with autism, the better you’ll be able to assist and guide them.