Trained educators and clinicians can help uncover the learning profiles of students by observing their schoolwork and how they act in different situations. But you can also begin to see what you or your child “look like” as a learner by exploring the information and suggested resources on this website and by using our Learner Sketch tool. 

The Value of Understanding Your Learning Strengths and Challenges

Understanding your own learning strengths and challenges can help you be more successful. You can make the most of learning activities you’re particularly good at, and also find ways to draw on your strengths in challenging situations. Identifying your learning challenges can help you pinpoint why certain things are difficult for you and develop strategies for being successful despite those challenges.

For example, perhaps you have trouble reading long reports. Is it because you tend to forget what you read at the beginning by the time you get to the end (active working memory)? Or do you have a hard time staying focused on what you are reading (attention processing controls)? Or perhaps you find it difficult to understand words and sentences (receptive language)?

Once you understand what your challenges are, you can develop strategies for managing them. You might seek out activities that help you strengthen a particular area of learning (such as games that sharpen your active working memory). Or you might find ways to compensate (such as using an index card with a cut-out section to help you focus on a few words at a time when you read if you struggle with attention issues).

A Changing Portrait

Your learning profile is like your physical appearance. Just as aspects of your physical appearance change in different situations and over time (for example, with what you wear or how you style your hair), so too can your learning strengths and challenges. The subjects and ideas you feel most drawn to—your affinities—also influence what you look like as a learner. Your learning challenges may be less obvious when you are doing something that deeply interests you.

As with your appearance, some parts of your learning profile might be relatively set. But just as a shorter person learns to stand in the front row of a group photo, you can learn to manage your own learning and be an advocate for your own learning needs.

Your learning strengths and challenges might serve you well at some ages and under certain circumstances, but less well at others. School places particularly strong demands on certain learning processes. For example, almost all aspects of school require students to apply attention, memory and language in their learning. Many students struggle because of a mismatch between their strengths and these demands.

Adults have more choices. If you have a job or are following a profession, chances are you were drawn to that path by how well the demands of that job match your learning strengths.

It’s more helpful to think about attention as a system of controls that help you do three main things:

• First, attention supplies fuel for thinking, working, and learning.
• Second, it directs the huge amount of input that arrives through our senses.
• Third, it oversees the brain’s various outputs, such as completing work or learning tasks and making decisions about how to behave.

It is possible to have both strengths and challenges in attention at the same time. For example, some people find it easy to concentrate on information that isn’t very exciting, but have a hard time staying awake while sitting still. And we’re all likely to get fidgety during a long lecture with no visual aids or interaction.

Having problems with concentration or other parts of attention does not mean that a person is not intelligent. Some of the smartest people in the world struggle with attention issues. Furthermore, people with attention issues don’t have problems with attention all the time.

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Mental Energy: Brain Fuel

Just as automobiles require fuel in order to move down the road, people need fuel (or energy) to pay attention to information, tasks, and people in any learning situation. Your body is equipped with controls that regulate the flow of mental energy to the brain. They make sure that the active part of your brain is receiving the energy it needs to get its job done.

Mental energy controls are especially important when you are facing tasks and situations requiring sustained effort (for example, reading for comprehension, writing lengthy reports, solving long math problems, or studying for a test or presentation).

People with strengths in mental energy are good at staying alert. They usually sleep well at night and feel fully awake during the day (or the reverse, if their schedules require it). They are able to concentrate even when they don’t feel like working on a task.

People with challenges in mental energy may feel very tired or burned out when they try to concentrate. They may have trouble feeling fully awake during the day, or they may do work of inconsistent quality because their mental alertness comes and goes.

Strategies for managing challenges in mental energy.

• Take periodic breaks when working on a mentally demanding task. When it’s time to focus again, prepare yourself by thinking about how long you will need to stay focused until the next break.
• Instead of using breaks from work to run errands or do other tasks, use physical activity or quiet time to help you recharge your mental energy.
• Pay attention to how your mental energy levels change throughout the day. Keep a log of when you feel most focused and when you find yourself running out of steam. Use this insight to help you tackle more demanding tasks during times when your alertness is sharper.
• When possible, stand or use a “fidget object” (such as a bean bag) while you work. Physical movement can help sharpen mental energy and focus.
• Break up tasks into small pieces and focus on completing them one at a time.
• Try to stick with a regular sleep schedule. Getting adequate periods of sleep is important to mental energy.
• It’s often easier to work on something you find interesting. Try alternating the tasks you find less interesting with things you enjoy doing.

Processing Controls: Directing the Input

We all have to absorb and process information every day. Work, school, and many other situations require us to attend to a broad range of incoming information (including complex concepts and detailed facts) from many different sources (such as other people, written materials, and our surroundings).
Your processing controls direct how you “take in” of all of this information. The processing controls of attention specifically help you select which information is most important and then use that information as needed. These controls act as a kind of gatekeeper for information to be stored in memory.

People with strengths in this area of attention can discriminate between more and less important information. They are able to control their attention, resisting distractions when working on something and shifting their attention to a new task with ease. They are good at using incoming information to trigger new ideas and connect with prior knowledge.

People who have challenges with attention processing controls may focus only superficially on new information, without really paying attention to the details. Or they may focus too long or too deeply on relatively less important information. They also may get distracted easily, particularly by information that is more interesting or stimulating than the task at hand.

Strategies for managing challenges with processing controls

• Minimize sources of distraction. Get rid of clutter in your workspace, and use a fan or other source of “white noise” to cover background sounds.
• Look for quiet places to work and learn. Excessive noise can interfere with anyone’s ability to concentrate. Click here to read about some research on the effects of noise on learning.
• If you find yourself particularly distracted when reading something, try limiting the amount of text you are viewing at once. For example, hold a piece of paper under a line of text as you read, or choose books with larger type.
• Develop your active listening skills. Click here for a site geared to helping educators teach listening skills, which also includes tips for active listening that anyone can use.
• When taking in new information, discuss it with someone else who read or heard the same information, and listen for key takeaways or details you might have overlooked.
• Practice differentiating between main ideas and details. Skimming and scanning techniques can help you identify the main ideas when you read (e.g., looking for visual cues in written information that help identify key ideas).

Production Controls: Overseeing Output

Just as part of attention involves mentally controlling incoming information, another part involves controlling your output (such as the work you produce or academic assignments) and your behavior. This part of attention enables you to “preview” in your mind what is likely to happen as a result of what you do or say. It also helps you control your impulses, and allows you to pay attention to the quality and pace of your work.

People with strong production controls are able to avoid acting impulsively. They are good at drawing on past experiences to help them make choices about how to behave. They are able to evaluate and improve their own work, and they can monitor their effort level and pace to get things done efficiently.

People with challenges with production controls may have a hard time planning projects, preventing social conflicts, or predicting likely outcomes of an action. They may have trouble resisting temptations and using “hindsight” to inform current actions. They may not do a good job of evaluating their own work or picking up social feedback cues. Students who frequently get in trouble for their behavior may struggle with this area.

Strategies for managing challenges with attention production controls

• Before starting a task, develop a plan for how you will approach it, and then get feedback on your plan.
• Solicit feedback at various stages of a task, rather than waiting until you finish.
• If you rush through writing tasks, use the “COPS” strategy to proofread for Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling.
• Practice pausing before you act or speak to think through different options.
• Keep a journal to help you reflect on social interactions and identify patterns in how people respond to you.

Memory actually includes three different kinds of mental processing

• Short-term memory involves briefly recording new information that is quickly used, stored, or forgotten.
• Long-term memory has two parts: storing information in your mind (also know as “consolidation”), and accessing that information when it’s needed at a later time.
•  A third—and very important—part is active working memory. It serves as the brain’s workspace, where different information is temporarily held and juggled to help you perform a particular task.

When it comes to memory, many of us have both strengths in and challenges. For example, you might be very good at recalling names, dates, and other information. At the same time, you might struggle with things that require you to remember and use lots of different information, such as writing a proposal or doing a calculation in your head.

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Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory involves the capacity to hold a small amount of information in your mind in an active, readily available state for a brief period. It is the brain’s “scratchpad,” allowing you to temporarily store information you have just encountered. This type of memory is vital for thinking about things in the moment and for sorting out what information is important enough to store away in your long-term memory. Everyday activities like remembering a phone number just long enough to dial it or recalling the beginning of a sentence while listening to someone speak rely on short-term memory. This memory system acts as a gateway, processing incoming sensory information and deciding if it needs further attention or can be discarded.   

People with strengths in this area may be able to easily recall names of people they have just met or remember a string of instructions given to them moments before. They might excel at tasks that require holding and quickly retrieving information, such as remembering a sequence of numbers or words presented to them.

People with weak short-term memory may frequently misplace things they were just holding like a pencil or glasses because they don’t remember where they put them down. They might struggle to remember what they just read or heard, requiring information to be repeated. They may have a hard time following directions with more than one or two steps, and they may seem to forget what they were about to say mid-sentence. 

Strategies for managing challenges with short-term memory:

• Play Memory Games: Classic card matching games, “I Spy” with a list of items, or games like “Simon Says” are fun ways to practice holding onto information. 
• Practice “chunking”: Group information into smaller bits. For example, instead of trying to remember a long string of numbers like 5289173, break it into chunks like 528-91-73.   
• Minimize distractions: When you need to remember something, try to focus solely on that information and reduce background noise that could interfere with your concentration.   
• Use repetition and rehearsal: Silently or verbally repeat the information you want to remember. The more you process it, the more likely it is to stick.
• Write things down: Make it a habit to jot down important information, such as appointments, to-do lists, or key facts from a conversation. Using sticky notes, planners, or digital apps can be very effective.   
• Request information in manageable segments: If someone is giving you a lot of information at once, ask them to slow down or present it in smaller parts.
• Engage multiple senses: When trying to remember something, try to involve different senses. For example, saying information out loud (auditory) while writing it down (kinesthetic) can strengthen the memory trace.

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory has two components: storage of information (or consolidation) and retrieval of stored information. It is possible to be good at one part of long-term memory yet struggle with the other part. For example, you might be very good at storing information but have a hard time recalling that information without a prompt of some sort. In that case, you might be better at picking out the right answer on a multiple-choice test than responding to an open-ended question.

Being good at storing information involves mentally “filing” information—facts, skills, and experiences—using categories or other systems that allow you to later “find” and recall that information.

People with strong long-term memory may be good at spelling and at learning new words and their definitions. They can take in new knowledge and fit it into categories in their minds. They easily recall facts, such as dates in history, information about a concept, or names and faces. They can learn and recall information strategically, instead of having to rely on memorizing things by rote.

People with challenges in long-term memory may struggle to recall information even with cues to help prompt them. They may have trouble recognizing patterns or learning a foreign language. They may find it hard to learn and remember “paired” information (such as states and their capitals).

Strategies for managing challenges with long-term memory

• To help consolidate information in your memory, review it right before you go to sleep.
• Use mental cues to help you remember and organize information. Such cues include imagery (like associating a top hat with President Lincoln), acronyms (like HOMES for the names of the Great Lakes), and rhymes (like “i before e except after c”).
• When learning new information, it helps to connect it to something that you already know and understand. For example, connecting something you read to your own life or daily experiences can help you remember it.

Active Working Memory

Active working memory involves the ability to hold things together in your mind while working with them, such as steps in a process or attributes of a concept. If short-term memory is the scratchpad, active working memory is the workbench.

Active working memory plays a role in helping you produce quality work and communicate ideas effectively. Following instructions, writing, and problem solving are all aided by active working memory. This part of memory also helps you link the information registered in short-term memory to information stored in your long-term memory.

People with strengths in this area may be able to do math calculations or manipulate other information (like reverse a phone number) in their heads with ease. They can listen to a theory or explanation and then apply it to a task. They can easily follow multi-step processes, like recipes.

People with weak active working memory may forget details from the beginning of a passage by the time they finish reading it or forget a question as they are trying to recall an answer. They may have trouble keeping track of multiple steps. Or they may have a hard time comparing and contrasting two things because remembering aspects of both at the same time is difficult.

Strategies for managing challenges with active working memory

• Play games like Sudoku, which require you to apply multiple rules at the same time.
• Practice doing math computations or making estimates in your head. For example, as you’re waiting in line to buy multiple things, try to calculate what you will spend based on the prices of the items you are buying.
• Exercises in which you must remember and repeat a series or reverse the order of something can also help you develop your active working memory.
• Do writing tasks in stages, rather than trying to spell, punctuate, and develop ideas at the same time.
• In meetings or presentations, jot down questions or comments as you think of them. This helps you focus on listening rather than on remembering your thought.
• When working at a computer, keep the resources you need open in multiple screens.
• When reading something long or difficult, pause once in a while to summarize for yourself what you have just read.

Processing language has two sides: input (or receptive language) and output (or expressive language). Language input takes forms like listening and reading, while output is usually speaking and writing. Language can also be broken down into different levels of components parts, which build on one another. For example, to be effective with language we have to process the sounds of letter combinations, individual words, sentences and multi-sentence passages. All of these represent areas in which you may have strengths or challenges.

Being good at language is usually important to success in school. But remember, understanding an idea is very different from being able to put it into words. People also succeed in the world if they can think without language, picture things, build and create, and understand how things work.
Learning that involves language also frequently draws on parts of memory, attention, and complex thinking.

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Understanding Written and Spoken Information

When we encounter word-based information, while reading or listening to someone talk, our minds must “decode” or quickly recognize the sounds and words we’re taking in. We also must be able to comprehend or make meaning from the way those sounds and words are combined.

People with strong receptive language tend to learn new words quickly. They are usually good at spelling and grammar. They can recognize and understand abstract ideas through metaphors or analogies and are good at comprehending information they read and hear.

Breakdowns in receptive language may happen at any (or multiple) levels: for example, recognizing word segments and letter combinations, or understanding information that is longer than a sentence. People with challenges in receptive language may struggle with reading or hearing information—or both. They may have trouble recognizing misspelled words or understanding tenses, plurals, and possessive forms of words. They may be confused by words with multiple meanings or by symbolic or figurative language. They may need to have information repeated or summarized in order to understand it.

Strategies for managing challenges with receptive language

• When you come across words you don’t know, jot them down and look them up. Or use a “Word a Day” calendar to build your vocabulary. 
• Learn to scan and skim written text, identifying important information by cues in the format. 
• Try speed-reading lessons to learn to “chunk” sections of what you’re reading. 
• Practice listening for key “chunks” of information.
• When you hear a figure of speech or a play on words, create a mental image or cartoon to help you understand it.
• When listening to someone, check your understanding of key points. Ask questions or try summarizing what you think you’ve just heard.
• Use an electronic pen that records audio while you write notes.

Communicating Ideas through Writing and Speaking

Communicating ideas through written or spoken words (also called expressive language) involves a broad range of mental processes. Memory helps you to remember words and rules (for spelling, punctuation, and grammar) and to apply this information while generating ideas at the same time. Attention processing helps you determine what is appropriate to say and review the quality of your written work.

In addition, a variety of language-specific processes also influence how effectively you communicate. They help you to come up with the right word quickly and use it correctly, to express yourself in complete sentences, and to express information through a coherent series of sentences. When you are speaking, they help you generate smooth and intelligible speech (which is also connected to motor control).

People who have challenges with expressive language may use words incorrectly. They may tend to write in simple declarative statements, and their written ideas may not be clear or well-developed. They may speak hesitantly. They may confuse similar words or have trouble coming up with words to express an idea. They may have trouble coming up with examples to extend and clarify the thoughts they are trying to express.

Strategies for managing challenges with expressive language

• Develop your vocabulary by doing crossword puzzles or playing games like Password. 
• Use concept-mapping software (such as Inspiration) to capture and organize your ideas. 
• Use other formats than writing to present information, when appropriate. Diagrams, bulleted lists, models, or pictures may help you communicate your ideas more effectively than words alone.
• Record yourself talking through your ideas before trying to capture them on paper.
• Jot down notes to help you organize your thoughts before you speak. 
• Take your time when you are speaking. Give yourself permission to pause and think.
• Practice speaking aloud with someone you trust.

People with strengths in complex thinking may be good at deeply understanding ideas and concepts, seeing connections among information from different sources, demonstrating imagination, constructing and defending arguments based on facts or evidence, taking risks with new ideas, and/or drawing inferences from limited information.

Conversely, people with challenges in this area may struggle to understand new ideas and concepts without considerable support, have trouble “reading between the lines” or making inferences, approach problems in a haphazard way, or tend to rely on existing ideas rather than coming up with original ones.

As with other areas of learning, complex thinking is not something you’re simply either good at or not good at. Different people are good at thinking about different kinds of ideas. The subject matter—and your level of interest in it—can affect how well you understand and think about concepts. And everyone has a certain degree of imagination and creativity.

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Strategies for managing challenges with complex thinking

• Talk through an approach to solving a difficult problem with someone else before beginning. (Click here for a structured process for examining a complex problem.)
• Make an effort to ask good questions when learning about a new idea. This can help increase your comprehension.
• Take an improvisation class. This can help you practice “thinking on your feet” and coming up with unscripted ideas in response to a line or scenario you’re given.
• Play games that develop reasoning and logic skills. Research suggests even simple, inexpensive games can have a big impact. 
• Turn off the television. To find out how this and other strategies can encourage creativity and innovation, check out this article.

There are three main types of motor abilities:

• Gross motor abilities involve moving large muscles and coordinating the whole body to move in a particular way (such as when playing a sport, riding a bicycle, or dancing).
• Fine motor abilities involve coordinating the fingers to work accurately and quickly when creating and constructing things (such as when drawing a cartoon, turning a microscope knob, eating with a fork, or coloring a picture).
• Graphomotor abilities involve coordinating the small hand muscles that help form letters while writing.

People vary from each other in how well these brain-muscle connections function. It is possible to have a strength in one type of motor ability and a weakness in another. (For example, a talented surgeon can have terrible handwriting.)

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Strategies for managing gross motor challenges

• Self-paced sports (such as running or golf) may satisfy you more than activities where others set the pace (such as tennis or soccer).
• Activities like yoga and lifting light weights can help you develop better balance, coordination, and body awareness.
• When learning a new movement, think about that specific motion and create a mental image of what your muscles should do as you execute it.

Strategies for managing fine motor challenges

• Computer games in which you control the action with a joystick or keyboard strokes can help promote hand coordination.
• Strengthen hand muscles by working with materials such as clay or squeezing a tennis ball; strengthen finger muscles by practicing with precise tools such as tweezers.      
• As with gross motor skills, imagining hand and finger movements before doing a fine motor activity can help you do it more effortlessly.

Strategies for managing graphomotor challenges

• Use a pencil instead of a pen. Pencils provide more friction with the paper and generally smear less easily.
• If holding a pencil is physically uncomfortable, try using a rubber grip or wrapping the pencil with tape. These things can provide greater sensory feedback and prevent you from gripping the pencil too hard.
• If notetaking during meetings or presentations is difficult, make audio recordings (when appropriate) so you can review the information again at a later date.      
• Voice recognition software offers an alternative to writing or typing for people with graphomotor and fine motor challenges.

Interacting with other people requires a lot of thinking, including interpreting social information (like reading situations and nonverbal signals from others), deciding the best thing to say or do in a situation, managing the give-and-take of conversation, working as part of a team, and nurturing positive relationships.

People with strengths in this area may be good at detecting the mood of others, using humor appropriately, handling miscommunication effectively, and showing appreciation for others’ viewpoints and interests.

Those with challenges in this area may come across as being either pushy or detached during group work. They may tend to dominate conversations or to be overly passive. They may misread others’ moods or introduce humor or topics that others consider inappropriate to the situation.

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Strategies for managing challenges with social cognition

• Focus social interactions around things you like doing, such as a hobby, a volunteer project, or anything you care about.
• Ask people you trust to give you feedback about how you are coming across to others. Make an effort to treat their input as useful data and avoid taking it personally.
• Practice things like giving compliments, asking people for their opinions about things, and active listening. Role play these social skills with someone you trust.    
• Be aware of your body language. Click here for some suggestions on how to improve your non-verbal communication.

Many professions draw on these skills, including art, design, engineering, mechanics, and athletics. People with strengths in spatial thinking may tend to think spatially about information that others process differently. For example, on a trip they may prefer reading or visualizing a map rather than thinking about the journey as a step-by-step process. They may be good at organizing and keeping track of their belongings. They may draw or copy well, and they easily understand information that is presented visually. They may be good at fixing or building things (such as model airplanes or furniture that must be assembled).

People with challenges in this area may have trouble interpreting maps, graphs, diagrams, or symbols. Their living space or materials may be cluttered. They may have trouble visualizing how pieces of something fit together before it is assembled and may struggle with putting things together from parts.

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Strategies for managing challenges with spatial thinking

• Cooking can help develop your visual understanding of quantity (such as how much goes into a cup or a tablespoon).
• Use graph or other lined paper to help keep notes or calculations orderly.
• Practice interpreting graphs, charts, and maps. It may help to use words to describe visual material for yourself.
• Turn to experts for suggestion on how to organize your living space.
• ·Sharpen your ability to think spatially with various online games (such as those at http://www.lumosity.com/). 

People with strengths in this area are often good at managing their time effectively. They may tend to sequentially process information that others process differently. For example, they may prefer to think about and follow driving directions as a step-by-step process, versus using a map.

People who have challenges with keeping track of time or order may have poor time management skills. They may tend to procrastinate and miss deadlines. They may confuse the steps of procedures or instructions. Or they may present ideas out of logical order.

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Strategies for managing challenges with Keeping Track of Time and Order

• If you often run out of time, make a point of estimating in advance how long a certain task or activity will take. Later, review how long you actually spent on it, and use this insight to build the right amount of time into your next effort.
• Examine your time management techniques. “To do” lists that are not prioritized or whose schedules you routinely don’t meet, are not very effective. Similarly, compulsive over-planning is a poor use of time.
• Use staging when you undertake a project. Break a complex task into smaller, shorter, or less complex “mini-tasks” and tackle them in order.
• Support your understanding of processes with visual information, such as diagrams or flow charts.
• Use computer software programs that facilitate planning and organizing. For complex projects with certain steps that must happen in sequence, a Gantt chart is a good tool.
• Check out Time Hack Hero’s article on Time Management for Teens.     
• Mind Tools offers a variety of tools (many of which are free) designed to help professionals with both time and task management.

You can begin to see what you or your child “look like” as a learner by exploring the information and suggested resources on this website and by using our Learner Sketch tool. If you want to go further, consider our Attuning a Student Online Tool.

Visit the PBS Misunderstood Minds site for insights about the following common learning challenges:

• Attention
• Reading
• Writing
• Mathematics