Verbal vs. Non-verbal

Rob Millette is passionate about chess. He is earning a living by teaching children how to play chess. I had lunch with him last week and discovered that we can think about learning in terms of verbal and non-verbal abilities. In the traditional classroom, there is a huge emphasis on verbal learning. Children who struggle with verbal skills soon fall through the cracks of the educational system.

Rob has discovered that some of these kids can be adept at learning chess. These n0n-verbal children have good spatial understanding and a grasp of strategy. Learning chess builds their self esteem. Rob is working with a school principal to determine how to translate and focus this self esteem on the verbal skills.