What Is a Multisensory Approach?

A multisensory learning approach is a term many schools use to describe teaching methods that involve engaging more than one sense at a time. Involving the use of visual, auditory and kinesthetic-tactile pathways, a multisensory approach can enhance memory and ability to learn. This can also include taste, smell, touch, sight, hearing and movement. The students are able to experience a lesson through multiple pathways that can best stimulate their brains and engage them more deeply in the subject matter. There is a long history in the educational literature dating back to Montessori, John Dewey and Grace Fernald, just to name a few.

Multiple studies, including those from the National Institute of Child Health and Human development, show that a multisensory approach is the most effective teaching method for children who have difficulties in learning. 

Although every lesson won’t necessarily use all of a child’s senses at the same time, most multisensory lessons engage students with the learning material in more than one approach.

Who Can Benefit From a Multisensory Approach?

All children benefit from exposure to multisensory lessons; including those who may not have any difficulties with learning or paying attention. Whether general education or special education, if a student has the opportunity to learn something using more than one sense, the information is more likely to make a memorable impact and be internalized.

However, multisensory learning can be particularly helpful for students with learning disabilities and cognitive limitations who may have difficulty in one or more areas of education. For example, a differently-abled student may have trouble processing visual information. This can make it challenging for them to learn and retain information through only reading and visual stimuli. Using other senses, such as tactile or auditory, these children can make a stronger connection with what they’re learning.

Instead of each student experiencing a lesson through a singular medium like a textbook, a multisensory approach will involve more students in taking active roles in learning. This kind of hands-on learning enhances students’ ability to collect and remember information, make connections between what they already know and new information, understand and work through complexities, and use nonverbal problem solving skills.

Ultimately, using a multisensory approach in a learning environment helps to meet the varying needs of all children giving them each a chance to succeed.

Our Mission at The Gateway School:
Provide a safe and nurturing educational environment dedicated to the vision that individuals with disabling conditions are entitled to a full and meaningful life.

Chris Hoye, Principal-The Gateway School, Carteret, NJ