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Right brains, left brains?? - what do you think & what would you suggest?

4 replies

Bink · 30/01/2008 14:57

(And before anyone says it, I KNOW there is codswallop talked about this kind of thing. Strangely, having archive-searched, there doesn't seem to have been any talked on MN - so far.)

So - in the interests of noncodswallopy inquiry, it was suggested to me yesterday that ds (who's 9-in-April) could be seen as very left-brain dominant and would benefit from doing things which encourage his right-brain. Does anyone who knows about this kind of thing have any links, or ideas of books, or general suggestions for this? (There's stuff on the internet but it tends to be called BrainUpYourOffspring TM & require a subscription of $4999.99 per quarter.)

PS - if you aren't clear what I'm on about I found this, which seemed to be sensible about what you could associate with brain laterality:

"Activities that stimulate the left brain are solving crossword or word search puzzles, performance of learned tasks, language usage, both comprehensive and expressive, analytical information, problem solving, and recalling new information. Geometric or spatial memory, hand gestures, writing one's name, classifications of pictures or words into categories, recalling complex narratives, recognizing someone you have met, and name recognition are also all left brain activities.

Activities that stimulate the right brain are emotional issues, the creative process, recalling memorized lists, any unfamiliar event or activity, and holding the attention span. Seeing or feeling different sizes, seeing different colors, attention exercises involving timing, seeing unfamiliar faces, and meeting someone new also stimulate the right brain."

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
indignatio · 30/01/2008 15:02

Is playing music a left or right brain activity?

Christywhisty · 30/01/2008 16:19

Not sure, but saw a very interesting programme on teachers tv about dylexia. They have shown through imaging scans that there are three parts of the brain involved in reading all on the left side.
If I remember correctly
one recognises the individual letters, the second part recognises short sounds like "oo" or "eI" "sh" and the third part is word recognition.
This third part doesn't work properly in dylexics and they substitute by using the right side of the brain.

DS us being assessed for dyslexia at the moment, and I am sure DH is an undiagnosed dyslexic as well.

DS never crawled, which is often linked with dyslexia and I have read that crawling helps create the left/right brain patterns.
But DS had swimming lessons from the age of 1 and piano lessons from the age of 6 which I think may have helped him as his problems are fairly mild compared to others.

I have also heard drumming is also good for left/right brain coordination.

TrinityRhino · 30/01/2008 16:23

two things that use both sides of the brain are jumping on a trampoline and drinking through a straw if thats any help at all
and for adults reading upside down (the book upside down, not you )

mugglewump · 30/01/2008 17:20

It is not exactly the same thing, but my DD has right sided brain damage - called hemiplegia. Depending on the extent of your child's left/right brain imbalance you may find something that might help on the hemihelp website (hemihelp.org.uk)

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