The Effectiveness of Using Multisensory Strategy in Teaching

Introduction

Multisensory teaching strategies and techniques encourage learning by engaging its users on several levels. It encourages the users to utilize all or some of their senses to Store information for future use, gain information about different responsibilities, understand relations between concepts, to relate ideas to information they had already learned, utilizing nonverbal reasoning skills, perceiving logic, and to perceive logic (Walling, 2014). Using multisensory teaching technique focuses on helping children and adults to learn via more than one sense. Majority of the teaching techniques are conducted via hearing or sight. Multisensory learning focuses on the use of senses such as kinaesthetic tactile, visual, and auditory elements (Kelly & Phillips, 2016). It incorporates all the different senses into the learning process aiming at enhancing various parts of the human brain simultaneously. It also helps the learner to learn the written language while enhancing their memory. The paper will evaluate the effectiveness of multisensory learning. 

Methodology

Research Questions

According to the current findings, what are the most efficient reading programs and interventions for students with a learning disability?

Each student who may have a learning disability possesses unique needs. What possible strategies may be used by educators or teachers to support the students with learning disabilities while meeting the needs of all the students in the class?

Population of the Study

The population of the study will focus on elementary school students in Washington Elementary School who are currently learning in 2017. The school has a population of 173 students. 

Sample of the Study

The sample study consists of 173 students in Washington Elementary School in Washington, Louisiana. They have 13 full-time teachers, and the student-teacher ratio is 13:1. The start class rating of 4 which is quite low compared to the average rate of 8 among elementary schools in Louisiana. The rating is based on the school environment and academic performance. The gender distribution is 51.2% male or 89 students and 48.8% female or 84 students. The sample students will be divided into two groups: the experimental group and control group. The table below shows the sample distribution:

Table 1 showing the sample distribution.

Gender	Control Group	Experimental Group	Total
Male Female	44 42	45 42	89 88
Total	86	86	173

Design of the Study

The participants in the study were divided into the control and experimental groups. Also, the participants in the experimental section will be taught English and Mathematics through the multisensory approach for 10 weeks while the control group would be taught using the traditional approach for the same period. The two groups will be given a pretest the before the ten-week treatment. A similar test should be carried out as a post-test after the ten-week to test whether the multisensory approach had a different effect.

Instrument of the Study

The researcher will use two techniques to teach English and Mathematics: the Traditional approach and the multisensory approach. The test will be based on the instructional material of the elementary school's English and Mathematics books. The researcher should then collect the data. The reliability and validity should be ensured. Both groups, the control group as well as the experimental group should be taught by their teachers. The selected subjects in both groups should have a pretest to evaluate their actual level before the test and experiment. The same test should be administered after the ten-week treatment to evaluate the impact of the multisensory approach. The time interval between the post-test and pre-test should be ten weeks. The ten-week period is sufficient to minimize the impact of the pretest on the ultimate results and conclusions of the multisensory approach. To ascertain the reliability of the test, the researcher will use the test/retest technique.

Data Analysis

The tests will be subjected to a jury of 10 teachers, 5 English teachers, and 5 mathematics teachers. The teachers should write the relevant comments if necessary. The instruction material will be the books used in the elementary school. To answer the study questions, descriptive techniques such as standard deviation and mean should be utilized for the pre and post tests for the Mathematics and English tests for both the control and experimental groups. The study should also use the Two Way ANOVAs and T-test to evaluate the equivalence. After acquiring the results, the teachers should have a meeting to discuss the best techniques to accommodate all students with learning difficulties in a diverse class.

Benefits of Multisensory Learning

Multisensory learning benefits everyone because it allows the individuals to learn with their whole bodies because humans have a multisensory brain. Also, every individual possesses different learning styles (Brown et al., 2017). It assists the learners to discover the learning styles that fit them best. It offers alternative techniques of comprehending information and methods of remembering the information for future use. It is very beneficial for persons with learning disabilities. People or students with dyslexia face difficulties with language skills related to speech sound which is phonological, and orthographic or print processing (Deroy, Spence, & Noppeney, 2016). They also face problems connecting speech with print. 

The technique is also beneficial to young children and persons having sensory integration challenges (Birsh, 2011). Persons with the sensor integration problem can sense information quite normally, but they have challenges when it comes to perceiving and processing the received information because their brains analyze the information differently. For a young child to pay attention, sit still, and remember the shapes of numbers and letters, the child should have initially developed their proprioceptive system or the sense of the bodies in space. 

Using multisensory learning techniques involve assisting a person to learn via different techniques. For instance, a child’s sight may have been used to reading from a board, reading information, looking at pictures, or looking at text (Ehrman & Oxford, 2010). Their hearing senses may be accustomed to hearing the teacher’s instructions. However, their vision may face challenges with visual processing or tracking. In some instances, their auditory processing may be weaker. The only alternative for such challenges would be to utilize other senses that the child may possess such as kinetic or movement and the use of touch or tactile (Carbo, 2016). Developing other senses will assist the child’s brain to enhance their kinetic and tactile memories as well visual and auditory senses. People who have difficulty in learning often have challenges in one or more areas in expressive language, reading, listening comprehension, writing, and math. The multisensory techniques assist people to utilize their personal areas of strength to assist them in learning. The assistance can range from complex to simple according to the task at hand and requirements of the student. 

Learning Styles

Most researchers insist that most people or students possess certain areas of sensory learning strength known as the learning style. The researchers state that when students learn using methods that are consistent with their individual learning styles, they understand quite easily, can remember, apply various quite more readily to their future learning (Dede et al., 2009). A majority of students who may have or may not have a learning difficulty have a lot to benefit from multisensory learning techniques. Some of the multisensory techniques that can assist students are discussed below. 

There are techniques aimed at stimulating learning and visual reasoning. Pictures or text on paper, flashcards, posters, computers, models and projection screens assist in this learning technique. They can also utilize student created video, art, pictures, images, and text. Colour can be used for imagery, highlighting, and organizing information (Kang, 2009). Outlining passages and graphic organizers are also important. The techniques mentioned are described as visual teaching strategies and methods. The auditory techniques involve language games, music, chants, song, rhymes, instruments, and speaking. It also involves computerized text readers, books on tape, paired reading, and peer-assisted reading. 

The multisensory methods that involve utilizing the touching senses are known as the tactile teaching methods. Some of the tactile methods include utilizing tiny materials known as manipulatives aimed at representing number values for teaching maths. It also involves puzzles, sand trays, finger paints, raised line paper, and textured objects to enhance their fine motor skills. The method also uses modeling elements such as sculpting and clay materials. The multisensory techniques that utilize body movements are known as kinaesthetic methods; such techniques involve gross and fine motor movements (D'Antoni et al., 2010). It includes extensive movement activities for the students such as bean bag tossing, dancing, and other activities that include academic competitions, concepts, and rhythmic recall. The academic competitions involve learning games, quizzes, and flash card races. The games may involve clapping or jumping the rope and other movements that are paired with significant activities such as singing and counting songs. 

Although reading to learn and learning to read are not inborn or natural, phonemic awareness and phonologic awareness skills are key stepping stones when comprehending reading. Comprehending reading is a method that involves the student to understand and derive meaning by interacting with the specific written language and engaging in a text. Thus, phonemic and phonics awareness is indicators of later reading and the expected success in academics. Nevertheless, people with have learning disabilities are faced with difficulties that may be persistent from childhood into adulthood. The people with reading disabilities may have a shortcoming in word recognition skills (Thornton et al., 2016). Also, such learners are highly likely to have challenges with their working memory and cognitive capacity. Therefore, multisensory learning techniques are necessary to assist them to have normal lives. 

Creating a Multisensory Classroom

The teacher may write homework or assignments on the board using different colors for different subjects. The differentiated colours encourage the students to know which books to bring from their homes and the subjects that may have homework. For instance, green for maths and blue for history. They can also use different colors to show different areas of the class, using music especially in maths, and using different scent to signify or convey various feelings (Birsh, 2005). The teacher may start a lesson with an object or picture, visualize or animating stories, and encourage discussion among the students. They can also have games that are aimed at reviewing what they have learned in class. 

Summary

The paper has evaluated the effectiveness of multisensory learning when teaching students who have learning difficulties. Using multisensory teaching technique focuses on helping children and adults to learn via more than one sense. Multisensory learning focuses on the use of senses such as kinaesthetic tactile, visual, and auditory elements. When students learn using methods that are consistent with their individual learning styles, they understand quite easily, can remember, apply various quite more readily to their future learning. Therefore, it is necessary for a teacher to comprehend their students’ learning styles. People who have difficulty in learning often have challenges in one or more areas in expressive language, reading, listening comprehension, writing, and math. Therefore, Multisensory skills are vital in assisting them to have normal lives. 

References

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