How many of you has at one time said....."If I only could find a way to see how their mind works!! I might understand them better." I know I have said this many times about people, and especially about my kids. Kids on the spectrum can really make you question what you thought you fully understood.
Recently we had the opportunity to "figure" out Lydia with the help of PeopleKeys Personality Style Online Report ($12.00). PeopleKeys has developed an online system that helps provide individuals or families with instant access to important behavioral assessments and reports. No need to track down an expensive therapist or doctor.
The Personality Style Report uses the DISC system to help individuals to understand their behavior style, learning style and even motivation techniques they need.
A little background about why I was so excited to use the Personality Style Report. Our 8 year old is such a bright and loving child. She loves to have fun and play....oh and she is also my most frustrating child. She is the one that is the most defiant and challenges me the most. It's not like it's a competition.....but WOW I think she has taken it as a personal challenge to see if she can turn my hair gray. I have red hair, almost 40 with no gray....so that is why I say that.
I so want to understand how to work better with her personality, so when given the opportunity, I jumped at the chance to see what a personality test would say about her and why she chooses to do things in her way.
Our product was very easy to download and prep. PeopleKeys makes this process very user friendly and easily done. We probably took roughly 30 minutes to answer the questions. It seemed to take us a little longer on the harder to understand questions. I would have to explain what was meant and give her choices again. She may have been a little young for this, but too be honest I couldn't have turned Joey loose with this either. I would have had to explain the questions to him also. Our's is a unique situation though, so do not compare your kids with our kiddos. I would say that most children could do this questionnaire by 5th grade at minimum.
After we finished the questions, it took just a few moments and our personality report was ready for download. The PDF Student Personality Style Report easily opened and it was chocked full of information. I have to admit that I felt a bit intimidated by the amount of information presented, but also understand that explanation was needed. But after so many years of reading med papers, my poor brain gets overwhelmed when reading items like this.
First there is an introduction page that lists the 4 main personality styles:
D - Drive and challenge
I - Influence and Relationships
S - Steadiness and Consistency
C - Compliance and Constraints
I was reading this and enjoyed the fact that continually pointed out we are all combinations of personality styles. So after reading that, Lydia's report made more sense to me. There was also a page on why understanding personality styles is so important to our lives. It really makes a difference in our dealings with people and how we approach them.
PeopleKeys really strives to make sure that you fully understand the information in the report that you are reading.
So how accurate do you think the report was? I was nervous, especially since I was a little frustrated how Lydia struggled answering so many of the questions. I didn't think the report would give me an accurate picture of Lydia. But WOW!!!! It was so accurate it was scary!!! The report actually read like someone had spent many hours studying Lydia, instead of us just answering questions for 30 minutes on my laptop.
Included also is an educational style report. Basically this report tells whether the person is a kinesthetic, visual, or auditory learner. I had my suspicions about her learning style, and this report confirmed it. So I will continue to be able to customize her education to her. Just another benefit of homeschooling.
But the report doesn't end with personality style and learning style, there is also cognitive thinking styles included. Are you a Literal, Intuitive, Theoretical or Experimental thinker? Well, I guess I never "thought" about this either. Our thinking style affects how we deal with others also. Again this is one that allows for many cross-overs, meaning you can have your mesh of multiple thinking styles. And that is what we have with Miss Lydia. The information that I learned off this report, so vital to help me with my relationship with Lydia.
Written exercises are also included to help students to understand their personality style. Lydia didn't do this, but I did cover the material with her orally. I also used them to help me understand her better....and actually myself also. It is really scary how much our personality styles are, basically Lydia is a mini-me.
Now that I have this information though, what do I do next? I continue to remind myself of her feelings. I take the suggestions and remind myself constantly that what works for one child, will not work for all. Lydia is such a different child from our others, and this report has been a gentle reminder for me to really look at the areas where she may have difficulty and see if I am using the wrong disciplinary techniques with Lydia. Can I do her chore area different and make adjustments?
And let me just say, I DO need to make adjustments. The PeopleKeys Personality Style Report has been a brick thrown at me to say WAKE UP!! Make these adjustments!!! I have the ability, and I am going to do it.
I have loved this report so much, that I plan on having our boys take the Personality Style Report also. Caty is still too young, but when she is older I will for her also. I really would highly suggest all homeschool parents to do this with their kids, just so that you can better understand your child. If your child is older, it really helps them to understand themselves. The exercises in each section helps with that so much. That is the main reason I want to tackle this with Joey. I think him visually seeing his personality, learning and thinking style will help him to understand himself better. This is something that some with autism may not fully understand without help.
PeopleKeys offers many different products to help with your family with understanding and developing their personality better. Companies use them to help hire the right people and maximize their employee's potential. What a way to give your children leg up on future employment opportunities? I wish I would've had a report like this when I was in middle/high school. Would've really helped me to find a better career choice.
The Schoolhouse Review Crew had the opportunity to review several of the products offered by PeopleKeys. Please take some time to see how they used these products in their homes and how they worked for them.
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