Visual aids also cater to children's natural curiosity and engagement. Even when a child cannot read, there is something magical about how the brain processes visual information even when written text is used. But the caveat is that, it’s not like we just draw a picture on a whiteboard, without talking to our kids and walk away expecting them to know what we are trying to “teach” them in the drawing. Research shows that a visual representation along with developmentally appropriate explanations, discussion and parent-child engagement provides kids a solid way to reference the information we are trying to support them with if they forget.

Why can’t my kids just remember? If I can, so should they. They must learn, after all. I can’t be making signs and reminders all over the place, now can I?

This might be the argument some traditionalists might make. But if we’ve told the child 1000 times, and they still aren’t “getting the message,” it’s not the child that has a problem, it’s the approach we are taking that is problematic.

It’s kind of like a scientist doing an experiment. They might try it one way, and it doesn’t work, so they try it a different way to see if that does it… And scientists may try thousands of ways to do an experiment to finally achieve success. What makes us think that our incredibly unique kids who have a brain full of neural circuits that are supremely unique and no one else in the whole world has that exact brain circuitry, should just do it the one way we’re telling them (a.k.a. that our approach should work no matter what, and if not, it’s the child’s problem)?

Not only that, but a child’s brain is still a growing brain – it does not function like a fully matured adult brain. So no, we cannot expect that our child of 4 years or even 18 years could function just like a fully matured brain – modern brain science proves this. And, even as adults, we definitely can be supported with visual cues and reminders.

Thus, the conclusion is .... Visual representation works!