Verbal Bias

Amy

Verbal Bias

Amy is one of the estimated 7% of children in the school population who have relatively much higher verbal skills compared with their spatial abilities.

Amy is imaginative and expressive. She enjoys debating and makes strong connected arguments that clearly link to her interest for reading a wide range of genre. She typically has no trouble accessing most aspects of the curriculum and is usually a strong, confident learner, however she has started to become disengaged in some lessons that require more practical skills.

Video

Key Questions

  • How well is Amy accessing learning in science and maths?
  • Does she need support in subject-specific concepts through modelling or practical demonstrations?
  • Help Amy to make connections by providing knowledge organisers and linking to pre-learning opportunities that utilize her higher order thinking and extensive reading.
  • Consider facilitating extra curricular opportunities for creative writing, advanced discussion and debate.
  • How does Amy feel about herself as a learner across the wider curriculum?

Further reading on Verbal Bias >

60 100 140 Verbal Quantitative Spatial Non-Verbal

Verbal

Verbal classification

Verbal analogies

These learners will likely excel in debate, developing strong connected arguments. It’s also probable that they draw upon advanced reading skills to use rich and effective language/vocabulary for creative writing.

These learners will likely find accessing tasks involving the written word more challenging and may find it difficult to keep pace in group discussions where they should be given clearly defined roles to avoid being a ‘passenger’.

Non-verbal

Figure classification

Figure matrices

These learners will quickly build a puzzle, solve a Rubix cube or spot the difference as they prefer to think with numbers or images. They will likely thrive with activities that require them to problem solve with abstract information.

These learners may find it difficult to keep up in the learning environment as they may not follow instructions or find new information easy to follow. They will likely find challenge with following logical approaches to problem-solving including model building and science experiments.

Quantitative

Number analogies

Number series

These learners will likely excel in tasks related to arithmetic and computation. They will solve number problems, find patterns in numbers and identify relationships within data sets with greater ease.

These learners will likely experience barriers with number related learning which may manifest as an anxiety toward maths. They may have difficulty with recall of number facts, recognising the value of a group of objects, seeing patterns in numbers and with basic arithmetic skills.

Spatial

Figure analysis

Figure recognition

These learners will be quick to visualize and will learn best through concrete resources, graphics/images or in the virtual world. Concepts that can be explored actively and in three dimensions (model design and building) will likely be easier for them to grasp

These learners may need additional support with organisation and navigation as they may miss clues in their environment. Learning may need to be scaffolded/demonstrated particularly if represented in abstract two-dimensional diagrams.