Books For Visual-Spatial Learners
1. Find Books They Are Interested In.
Ok…now when I say books I am thinking broadly. I’m not just thinking of dusty cream colored pages filled with tiny black writing. I’m talking comics, magazines, beginner readers, picture books, non-fiction tomes, anything!
These days there is no excuse for a boy not to find something they are interested in reading. There are so many visually appealing books on just about every conceivable subject just waiting to entice viewers into sampling the words that expand on their colourful images.
For visual learners, this is their generation to shine.
2. Really Look For The Best Books To Give Your Child
I mean really look for them and look at them. Not just at the cover or the subject matter, but look inside. Trust yourself. Just because it says Beginner reader doesn’t mean that it is right for your son.
Just say your son is a “reluctant reader” and loves Star Wars. There are heaps of books on Star Wars so where do you start? The Jedi Quest, Jedi Apprentice and Last Of the Jedi series’ are great but are too dense and overwhelming for early readers. The Dorling Kindersley Beginner Readers are appealing but the vocabulary might be too frustrating for readers who struggle.
Did you know that Random House released a series of Jedi Reader books to coincide with the prequel films at four different levels of reading? You can find them on ebay and their vocabulary choice is highly suitable for early readers. Comic publisher Dark Horse released a series of comics called Clone Wars Adventures that has many visuals and a few well-chosen words.
Go for what you think will work and if in doubt test it out…Gently.
3. Be Patient And Be Consistent
Be really, really, really patient and totally, totally, totally consistent. Read with your visual learner each day with him sitting by your side. Set aside a time where you read him a book and then he reads to you.
Read him a chapter of a book like Geronimo Stilton, My Father’s Dragon or a few pages of a Tintin book so he can watch the story as he hears your words. Then encourage him to read to you, whether it be a page or a small book, he will develop not only a steady reassuring love for the time he spends with you but a sense that you are really interested in his reading.
You are sharing two things that are so essential to his life-journey: Love and words.
4. Fill Your House With Comics And Other Visual Books
You don’t have to spend a fortune to do this. Thrift stores, second-hand book sales and the mother of all things cheap and accessible, ebay, are the places to start.
You can buy auction lots of all-ages comics from the 1980s to the 2000s at a great price. Try the Marvel STAR imprint, Groo (See my review of Groo Graphic Novels), Batman Adventures, Justice League Adventures, Teen Titans, Cartoon Network Block Party, Loony Tunes and comic strips like Garfield. Many all-ages comics have also been collected into trade paperback format at an affordable rate.
Purchase new or previously read books in visual series like Geronimo Stilton (Read more about Geronimo) or visual dictionaries and guides (Usborne offer a great entry level Encyclopedia and information series) to space flight, dinosaurs, computers, mechanics, and thousands of other subjects, one of which is bound to entrance your child.
Once you have books in your house they will pick them look at the pictures then put them down, pick them look at the pictures then put them down and one day they will pick them up and read a few words. Cool.
5. Reach Out For Understanding and Reassurance
We live in an amazing age. The world is at our fingertips and people are sharing their knowledge and passion on just about everything. There are some great sites out there on helping boys to read where you can ask questions without fear of not being understood.
I was acutely aware that my 8 year old son was nowhere near reading fluency while some kids his age were reading Harry Potter by themselves. As a child I was one of the latter who read everything I could get my hands on.
It took a while for me to accept that my son learns in a different way and will come to reading in his own time. I just need to be there to guide him with patience and the right resources.
I have not only also used the Internet to find out the best books for his level and his interests but also found encouragement from those who share my experience and can help.
A great place to start if you have questions is GettingBoysToRead.com a site conceived by Mike McQueen who you can also follow on Twitter @MrMLibrarian. Mike is a teacher-librarian who has a special interest in the subject of helping boys to develop a love for reading and he facilitates specialized authors to write on the subject on his site. Pay a visit and share your experiences.
Reassurance will help you understand and be patient with your visual learner and its what he needs most from his teachers.
You can purchase some of the books mentioned above from Amazon now:
