Multi-sensory Learning

Children need movement and sensory breaks for the most effective teaching to occur. This ideology is becoming increasingly accepted in schools and other therapeutic and educational settings. Children learn best when teaching is combined with movement because muscle memory for children with special needs, especially children with autism, is better than just visual or verbal memory alone.

Here are some facts:

10% of the information we READ is retained

10% of the information we HEAR is retained

30% of the information we SEE is retained

50% of information we SEE and HEAR is retained

80% of information EXPERIENCED is retained

95% of information that is actively taught (SEE, HEAR, READ, MOVE, EXPERIENCE) is retained.

Conclusion- When something is taught in the classroom, unless it is reinforced in the real world, it will not be retained by students. Research shows that children need at least 10 passes to a new vocabulary word before they begin to internalize it. Children with special needs will need even more passes at new words/concepts. And they will learn best when these concepts are actively taught by hearing, seeing, reading AND experiencing the concept in the real world.  

Make things literal. Here is an example. The next time you are teaching about plants (leaves, stems, roots) take your students into the garden. I’ve had lessons where one classroom plants a vegetable garden in the summer. They begin by cleaning up flower beds, getting them ready, sowing seeds, watering everyday and watching seedlings grow over a few weeks to eventually grow vegetables. We’ve actually used these garden-grown vegetables to make salsa at our school’s therapeutic kitchen (which I LOVE!). The students get so much out of this activity each summer. They learn not only about the parts of a plant but how to take care of plants, what plants need to grow and where vegetables really come from. The last question (where vegetables come from) is an important one to answer for our kids in today’s world. Most children I work with will respond “from the grocery store”. 

Combining actions with words is critically important for learning words, especially verbs. For example, when teaching the word ‘run’, go out and run and not just in one context, but in many different situations- run in the gym, on the playground, in the park etc. We also know that children, especially children with autism, learn well with rhythm and body movement such as clapping, tapping. 

So, get moving, be creative and get your students to move and groove to your lessons. Let them ‘touch’  ‘feel’ and ‘experience’ the new concepts that are taught to them.