In instructional Design, Learner Analysis is one of two initial types of Analysis:

  • Learner Analysis and,
  • Task Analysis.

When seeking to overcome learning disabilities, the first critical step before creating any program is to analyze your child’s learning. To gain understand how to teach your child, you need to analyze your child’s needs. You need to know his specific skills, learning strengths and weaknesses, as well as his learning style.

If you don’t perform a learner analysis of your child, you are likely to miss critical needs. You won’t know which learning strengths are helpful for learning. You also won’t know if there are memory, processing or attention deficits that need addressing. Lastly, understanding your child’s learning preferences is one of the most critical pieces.

What is Learner Analysis?

The Learner Analysis stage is one of information gathering.  In this stage, you will not yet understand how to use the information you gather.  The learner analysis stage is simply gathering as much information as you can about your child’s learning.

In this information gathering stage, it will help if you get yourself a notebook to use for tracking the information you collect on your child.  If you use a 3-Ring binder, you can print results pages from the learning styles inventories, testing and other source. You can then punch holes in them and place them in your notebook.

If you have a professional, comprehensive evaluation to determine your child’s learning disabilities, strengths, processing, etc. go ahead and make yourself a copy of the report. Then you can highlight and mark on the document in the next phase of your individualized instructional design.

Let’s get started!

Step #1: Analyze Your Learner

If your child has difficulty learning, and you aren’t sure if learning disabilities are present, you need to have your child evaluated. Have your child tested by a highly qualified neuro-psychologist..  A comprehensive evaluation is the only way can you know exactly what disabilities your child has. A great evaluation will also identify learning strengths and it will help you gain a deeper understanding of your child’s needs.

Some people want to avoid having an evaluation of their child. They don’t want their child labeled. However, trying to develop an effective learning program without an evaluation is like trying to make a complex medical diagnosis without seeing a doctor.  Meeting a child’s specific educational and learning needs is as critical to his lifelong well-being as attending to his medical needs by getting a proper diagnosis.

Learning Styles Models

Determining your child’s learning style(s) is a fun process and it’s a critical part of the learning formula. It helps you to provide instruction that is more easily absorbed by your child.

Please visit the Learning Styles of the website for information and tools that will help you determine your child’s specific learning preferences.  Go through each of the sections to determine your child’s learning style based on the Dunn & Dunn, the Multiple Intelligences, and the Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic/Tactile (VAKT) models.

When you get the results, print the results pages and put them in your binder.  By discovering your child’s learning preferences, you will gain a clearer understanding of your child’s preferences for learning.

After you’ve had your child evaluated and have determined his learning style(s), learn all you can about your child’s specific learning disabilities.  Explore this website and search to arm your self with understanding of each specific diagnosis your child has been given.  Print any information or programs you feel will be helpful, and put it in your binder.

Next up is  Step 2:  Task Analysis, which is broken down into two parts: Part A and Part B.

Resources for Learner Analysis: