The Art of Successful Communication: Learning Styles and So Much More! With Sophia F. Dziegielewski, Ph.D., LCSW

How do people learn? How can we maximize learning?

Learning Styles  Different approaches to learning.  There is no pure type.  Primary learning style is the preferred style of learning.  In classroom we now often use: Learner-based learning Responsibility for learning rests with the student, not the teacher.

Why is it important to know my style?  Your learning style defines how you acquire and process knowledge.  It does not determine how smart you are, only how you trigger development.

Learning Styles  Auditory learners (40%)  Visual Learners (50%)  Tactile Learners (10%)

Auditory (listen and learn)  Learn from verbal instruction  Need phonics (need to understand what is spoken)  Write lightly and not always legible  Talk while they write  Remember names but easily forget faces

Auditory Learners  Easily distracted by noise outside of the speaker or presentation  Games and pictures can be perceived as un-necessary and distracting

Auditory Learning  Enjoy presentations that mix music and voice

Auditory Learner: It started with hello  Think about when you met that special someone.  What stays with you?  For me, it started With Hello

Visual (see, write and learn)  Facial expressions are central  Need to connect with the other person  Uses color and often remembers things by the colors  Often remember faces but not names  Vivid imaginations

Visual Learners  Can see pictures or words in their mind when someone is talking  Think in pictures

How do you remember things?  Describe the day J. F.K. died.  Where were you when you heard about the twin towers on 9/11.  Describe an event that really touched your life? Something that brought you pleasure and something that brought you pain.

Kinesthetic (whole body learning) or Tactile Learners (fine motor learning)  Learn by doing, experiential learners  Love to practice tasks, role plays  Poor spellers  Doesn't always hear things well *All children are kinesthetic learners till around age six

Kinesthetic or Tactile Learners  Touch is critical  Love games and simulation exercises  Impulsive  Want to address most things on a physical basis  Does not want to talk rather wants to act

Learning Exercise  Where do you fit?

Example 1:  Social Workers are the bridge between the person and the environment.  Back in classroom  Teaching example

Defense Mechanisms  Projection  Projective Identification

Killing me Softly!

Example 2:  Back in the classroom  Teaching example

Defense Mechanisms  Projection  Projective Identification

Learning Exercise

IS BE (my example)

IS Be

Invited for Session Together

IS BE model

IS BE His 1

IS BE Hers 2

IS BE His 2

Process Which did you like better? Explanation/Exercise 1 or 2 Why do you think you liked one exercise better than the other?  Which example did you feel was most helpful?  Which example did others feel was most helpful?

Lessons learned: How do the changes we encounter affect our learning styles?  Hearing Impairment  Vision Impairment

Mature Adult Learners  Tend to be Self- directed  Have a rich reservoir of experience  Intrinsic need to know or understand something  Take an active role  Try new things  Pick things that interest you

Therapy in Action: Stand-up and Smile at the Ceiling  Maximizing learning.  Using all three learning styles to engage my client.  Learning to find humor in what we do and how others see us.

Enhance Opportunities for Socialization-Need More Socialization  Interact with Children  Adolescents

INCORPORATING ADULT LEARNING PRINCIPLES: LISTENING AND LEARNING Listening involves: understanding and manipulating the sender, message and receiver. ENVIRONMENT Be aware of the physical environment for listening (e.g., distractions, where you sit, how you sit, can you see or hear audiovisuals) SENDER Identify speakers and allow yourself to connect MESSAGE Identify what the message is and relate it directly to your own experience if possible RECEIVER Identify receiver emotional barriers to listening and learning

Johari Window  Recognize areas of concern that may not seem obvious to the self or others

Public Private Blind Spot Inner Jungle Johari Window Feedback Known to self Unknown to self Known to others Unknown to others Adapted from P. Hersey, K.H. Blancard & D.E. Johnson (1996). Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing human resources. 7 th Edition. p. 308 Disclosure

Summarization  Individual Therapy  Group Therapy  Individual Communication  Group Communication  Teaching  Homework

Using Self-Disclosure: It is not about you!  Open lines of communication are not about you. It means listening to others.

Don’t Catastrophize!  It could be embarrassing but you will be just fine.  Get up and start again.

MAXIMIZING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT  Involves feedback and action upon the feedback  Learning is best when it concrete, structured and applied  Recognizing cultural aspects and awareness of differences  Education and objectivity, when the personal and professional cross paths  Sympathy vs. empathy  Always build rapport and seek participation

Top Ten for Successful Communication!  1. Know your strengths, weaknesses, feelings and values.  2. Identify these same factors in others, regardless of whether you agree.  3. Know where your "habit roots" or "expectations" came from.

Know Yourself and Others  4. Become comfortable with the thought of being alone.  5. Recognize and clear up confusing words in conversations that improve communication.  6. Find someone to talk things over with.  7. Rehearse different ways of saying yes and no.

MAXIMIZING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT  8. Be aware of the preferred learning style of the those you want to communicate with.  9. Incorporate adult learning principles that can maximize understanding taking into account -hearing and vision.  10. Summarization and never catastrophize!

So What Style Are YOU? Make the most of your communications and NEVER burn that candle on both ends! Enjoy the Day!

Thank you