You’ve probably heard it said that children learn like sponges, and for the most part that’s true. But research over the last couple decades has shown clearly that multi-sensory learning is the sweet spot of education. Children learn uniquely, have stress, feel poorly, have learning disabilities, struggle with social issues, and face a host of other distracting difficulties.
The variety of multi-sensory learning helps draw and keep children’s attention. That variety has proven to be invaluable to children in the traditional school system and private and home schools, as well as children with learning disabilities or autism. All types of children that have been tested over the years show marked improvement in both learning and classroom contentment when placed in a multi-sensory environment.
Why is this? The sensory organs are considered to be the “windows to the brain;” each one relays the new information in its own way to the learning center. When all the senses are used, the brain not only receives a complete presentation of the new information, but the stimulation uses the brain’s natural plasticity to form learning pathways more smoothly and quickly.