Hmmm, the thing is that he is *not* good at getting info from listening. Unless he repeats what he is told, it goes in one ear and out the other. It's not just that he learns better by saying things out loud--I think that's true of everyone--it's that he can't learn *at all* unless he says things out loud.
Case in point: he was asking me questions about syllables today. To help him understand why words break where they do, I mentioned vowels. I listed them for him several times and "lectured" about it using several real-world examples. It was a classic aural learner presentation. Then--with this post in mind--I asked him if A was a vowel. He had no idea, and that was seconds after the lecture.
So I had him repeat the vowels back to me and then let it drop. We did nothing with the info--no application at all. I let it sit for an hour while we both did other things. After an hour of not using the info, I asked him the vowels, and he remembered most of them.
He cannot digest information that he hears unless he is able to repeat back what he has heard. But that's not how most aural learning is structured. One cannot repeat everything a lecturer has said.
Audio books--even TV shows--have never been a hit with him. Too much listening. That he dislikes TV is something I never understood. But I think all the talking overwhelms him. Even when we read a book aloud to him, he is easily distracted, interrupts a lot. He likes the books, but he doesn't listen well when read to.
I think the PVC idea is GENIUS! Thanks!
I will rig one up and send it to his school for homeschoolers next year. I was wondering how to advocate for him to get to say things aloud. That might help.
