Bette Fetter

Doing homework with visual kids can drive the best of us crazy, but it’s hugely important you come to homework time without emotion or frustration. And if you can’t, then you’re not the right person for homework helper.

Back-to-school season is upon us! Parents have done so much to get children ready for the new year, so what's next? In my early years as a parent, I felt that I had done a great job in preparing my kids for school; they were in bed on time, had a healthy breakfast, finished their homework, and I was involved at the school. There is always the fine balance between preparing our children and being the notorious "helicopter parent". During my oldest daughter's second grade parent-teacher conference, Mrs. Johnson gave me a bit of a course correction and reminded me to "pay more attention". She nicely reminded me that school systems are big with many challenges to meet the needs of different kinds of students. In Episode 30, I share my story and encourage you with ways to prepare your children but to always pay close attention! As parents, it is our job to make certain that our children are getting their needs met, especially those visual learners who may not fit the mold of the left-brain learner. For notes and resources from Episode 30, please visit www.bettefetter.com.

Back-to-school time is upon us! There is much excitement in the air - new backpacks, new shoes, new teachers, new classmates! Parents are even excited about the return of school routines. Yet, there can be a bit of anxiety which accompanies the fun, especially for those visual learners who may have struggled in the past in certain subjects. It is important as parents to recognize the very real anxiety without being overprotective. In Podcast #29 - School Anxiety, I share some techniques for how we can manage the anxiety, help our kids to cope and enjoy a successful school year! For notes and resources from Episode 29, visit www.bettefetter.com.

I share great feedback from a parent about her second grade visual learner and especially her struggles with math. I have great ideas for how to help with math for your visual learner. Your school really has a lot of resources available but if the school is lacking those resources, there are also outside sources for tutoring in all sorts of academic areas. I share what to look for in these tutoring centers.

First and second grade is the time that most children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. But many of the same characteristics of visual learners are the same traits that point to an attention deficit. If you are in this situation, be open to all the possibilities for helping them be more successful in the classroom.

From an overstimulating classroom environment to questionable discipline practices, first grade was a challenging experience for a visual learner. The expectations of high test scores and achievement just didn’t allow for differences in learning styles.

High school brings bigger, more detailed projects that require a lot more planning and organization. The reading requires a lot more evaluation and math gets much deeper into new concepts. The good news is that even in the upper grades, many of the same strategies work for helping your visual learner. Tune in as I interview a parent with high school aged kids and talk to her about what she does with her big kids to keep them ready for school.

It is not often in business that you get to tell a story and get to feel that everyday, no matter what you do, you affected the life of a child. That you affected the life of lots of children in lots of places. Tune in to episode 24 of Living Life as a Visual Thinker and learn the passion and the purpose of Young Rembrandts.

I have some easy ways to keep learning alive over the summer break.Summer brain drain can amount to a significant learning loss, as much as 2 ½ months per student, with the biggest losses in math and reading. Consistent summer losses can cause a child to be 2 years behind their peers by 6th grade. By 9th grade, summer losses are considered responsible for 2/3 of the achievement gap. Let’s consider our visual kids. Many of them have already been struggling in school and can’t afford any leaks.

Dyslexia is very misunderstood. It is really a learning style rather than a disability. Visual learners and dyslexics have some very similar tendencies but not all visual learners are dyslexic. Children with dyslexia have difficulty with very specific things. The key to their success is early intervention.

Visual kids need more information about the concept of math before they can be successful with the computation. They are whole to part learners. The focus on computation through drills and worksheets before learning the “why” of these math concepts is hindering their math success. It is just not enough information for them to work with when learning math.

Math should be easy for your right-brain conceptual thinker. But, due to traditional teaching methods, visual learners seem to have a hard time grasping math. With so much memorization and drill these big picture thinkers get lost and confused. That is just not how their brain works. From using visual aids to making art with math, there are very real ways for you to help your visual learner have success in math.

With all the stuff children have today it is essential for you to help your visual thinker get their space organized. Since there is so much internal activity for visual learners they really need their external environment to be visually soothing and organized. Tune in as I give you some great ideas for getting your visual learner’s space organized and calm.

Homeschooling is certainly not for the faint of heart. It takes mountains of work and dedication to your child's education to keep it going. One way to make it more successful is to use the most effective techniques for each type of learner in your home. Whether your child is a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner makes a huge difference in the most successful way to teach the material that he/she needs to learn. Tune in as I explain some simple ways that you can make your at home classroom more successful for all of your learners.

The Lego Movie was a HUGE success. It made lots of money and got lots of critical acclaim. In addition to all of that, it has a great dialogue into how the right brain and left brain work. The left brain really needs things to be in order and stable. The right brain needs freedom to explore possibilities and create new concepts. The Lego Movie gives a great viewpoint on how important each side of the brain is in healthy functioning in our society.

For children, drawing is a way of seeing things, thinking about their world or sharing how they feel. It helps them form memories by engaging both sides of the brain. It is a fun way for young children to practice using a pencil that will help them with handwriting as they get older. It can teach them to break large projects into small, manageable pieces. For visual thinkers, drawing is like handwriting is for auditory learners. It is extremely important for them to feel comfortable with a way to express themselves.

Many of us know that art is important in education but unfortunately art class is one of the first things to get cut when budgets are dwindling. Art encourages social development, gives children a creative outlet, increases academic performance, boosts out of the box thinking and fosters intellectual development.

You may have gone your whole life wondering, “What is wrong with me?” You have a hard time focusing and feel distracted by all the things that are going on in your mind. You may be right-brain dominant. There is a lot of activity going on in the right-brain and it can be hard to harness it. Listen in as I help you understand why you are feeling overwhelmed.

ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, is used to describe kids who can’t sit still, focus or follow directions, are easily distracted, seem bored and cannot get or stay organized. The good news is - for the majority, none of this is about a deficit – or a disorder. It is about being a visual-spatial learner; a right-brain thinker with a fast paced, powerful mind that struggles to fit into logical, linear, language-oriented classrooms. Tune in as I offer ideas to help children with ADD and visual-spatial learners feel more confident in their classroom.

As parents we know reading is important. We know our kids need to read well, to do well at school. But how do we help our visual kids make the transition from picture books to words, build skill and confidence, all while keeping their love of books intact? Tune in as I give you some ideas for helping your beginning visual reader thrive in a traditional classroom.

In a world where testing is increasing and the arts are being cut to allow for more instruction time, visual, right-brained thinkers are getting lost. Our children are being asked to put aside their creative thinking in order to fit inside a box. Tune in as I explain how the arts can give visual learners an outlet to be who they are.

With so many scheduled activities and an increase in the amount of homework, our children are becoming more and more reliant on being told what to do next. Being able to see things in a different way and thinking creatively are essential to who children are and their future success. Listen in as I give you some very simple ways to encourage your child to be more creative.

No other subject or activity is taught without first learning the fundamentals. Why not art? In this episode, I explain the history of Young Rembrandts, the impact art has on young minds and a simple cure to the Crisis of Confidence we all face as children and adults. Listen in and hear how learning to draw is learning to think.

Reading and writing can be a struggle for visual learners. Visual thinking is fast. It’s instantaneous, intuitive and natural. Reading requires dissecting paragraphs, sentences and even words into parts, which requires left-brain thinking. It can be done but it’s a much slower, more cumbersome, less comfortable process. Writing presents a similar struggle, only in reverse. Writing requires them to translate their rich multi-dimensional images into words and get them on paper. We want our visual kids to read and write well. They need to know how to read and write well. So how do we get them there? Tune in as I explain some ways that you can encourage your visual reader and writer.

Do you have a bright, capable, intelligent, creative child who struggles in school? Do you worry about him/her being discouraged? Do you dread homework and tests as much or more than he/she does? Don’t worry! Your child is just fine. Your child may be a visual learner, and school is not teaching or measuring the things they’re good at. With a few adjustments to how you work with your child at home, you both can feel triumphant. Tune in as I give you some specific ways that you can improve your child’s success in school.

Tackling classwork and homework or studying for tests can be a challenge for any parent, especially if you have kids (or are an adult) with a different learning style. Visual kids and adults can feel lost when it comes time to do school work, but I have 10 ways to teach you or your child anything! Listen in as I discuss these 10 different tips and how it makes an impact on the brain in a way that they or you will never forget.

If you have a child that’s bright, full of life, creative but not doing well in school, you might have heard the phrase, “I’m just not smart.” It’s a heartbreaking phrase that simply isn't true and as parents, you can change your child’s mindset and bring out the genius you see everyday. Listen in as I discuss 4 strategies to help your child understand themselves and bring them to a new level of confidence and success.

Supporting, enhancing and enriching your visual child’s experience at school comes down to you. There can be great things happening in the classroom, but your visual child may need more. In this episode I’ll cover 5 Ways to Become a Powerful Parent Advocate, which are the essential steps to guide your visual child to success.

Episode 3: The Mission and Vision for Visual Learners by Bette Fetter

In this episode, I describe the traits and qualities of left and right brain thinkers. Join me as I explain how left and right brain thinking works and the difference between the two. I also describe what it REALLY means to be right brain a visual thinker and how that affects kids in school. Education and culture is left-brain focused and our right brain (visual thinkers) are often misunderstood and underachieving but there is hope. This is THE episode to understand visual thinkers and what they need to be successful.

Hi, I’m Bette, I’m a visual thinker with a passion for art, education and empowering parents and kids. This episode is my personal story and journey of living life as a visual thinker. Join me as I discuss my love of art, teaching art as Young Rembrandts and my book "Being Visual".