A Reason Your Child May Have Trouble Learning

As an educational psychologist, I have been working with children for many years, most of which have trouble learning. Based on my many years of experience, I know how difficult it is to see your child struggle and how painful it is when learning is such a challenge. I also know that as a parent you might have feelings of inadequacy because you don't know what to do or how to help your child. Maybe you've even been told that the situation is helpless. Well, I'm here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, there's a good chance that your child is a right brain learner. And although very little is written about right brain learning, it may be creating havoc in your child's life.

The Signs of a Right Brain Learner 

Allow me to ask you a few questions. Have you noticed your child grabbing things out of your hand in order to show you something? Or maybe your child has poor handwriting or weak spelling skills? Possibly your child struggles with mastering basic reading and/or basic math facts. Perhaps you've observed your child making careless errors or simple mistakes. Have you noticed your child talking a lot with their hands and moving around a great deal when they speak? A right brained reader may also display sensitivity to light, sound or smells. These are some of the signs that could very well mean your child is a right brain learner. However, this child has creative abilities that are often overlooked in the school environment, which means they are being held back because of something they can't help.

The Definition of a Right Brain Learner 

What exactly is a right brain learner and is there something you can do to help your child? I say with an emphatic YES, there is something you can do. Let me start by explaining a little about the right brain learner. Until only recently, very little has been known about a right brain dominant child, yet this child learns differently. They have difficulty grasping and retaining new concepts. This happens when the brain is not effectively passing information from the left hemisphere (the language center) to the right hemisphere (conceptual processing). A right-brained thinker often struggles with learning from traditional workbooks, class lectures or independent reading because the right hemisphere requires strong visual images in order to conceptualize new concepts. This type of learner will struggle when "more words" are used to learn "new words". A Right Brain Dominant child may be missing pictures for new concepts, key vocabulary words, and abstract words (such as "a", "the", "of ", "is", etc.), stopping the brain from experiencing conceptual meaning and understanding.

Do Not Disregard the Value of Strong Right-Hemisphere Thinking 

While the logical, language-based elements of the left hemisphere of the brain are as important as ever, in our fast-paced world, we can no longer afford to disregard the value of strong right-hemisphere thinking. Our modern economy demands that your child capitalize on the ingenuity inherent to the right side of the brain, therefore learning large amounts of information through the manipulation of visual images, making split-second decisions, and taking risks in the learning process are increasingly becoming more valued skills. Traditional, left-hemisphere teaching methods are simply not adequate to develop cutting edge, whole brain thinking. In other words it is critically important that this type of learner feels a sense of confidence in his or her ability to approach the learning process in a way that matches his or her inherent learning style. What has been missed until now is that a right brained child is able to make new leaps in the learning process and expand to meet the needs of a new world, a world filled with multiple visual stimulation and instant decision making. These right brain learners have the ability to process visual and kinesthetic information at an unbelievable rate, strengthening the natural abilities of the right hemisphere of the brain.

If you Suspect that Your Child is Right Brained Dominant 

There is no longer any reason to let traditional left-hemisphere teaching strategies hold your child back or make them feel incapable of learning. If you suspect that your child could be right-brained dominant, there is a way for you to tap into new learning strategies that make learning fun and exciting. Redesigning how a child approaches the learning process is the foundation needed for future school success. 

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The Secret to Unleashing Your Child's Potential - Harnessing the Powers of the Right Brain

This is a popular song that mommies sing to their little girls. The song goes:

When I was just a little girl, 

I asked my mother, what will I be? 

Will I be pretty, will I be rich? 

Here's what she said to me.

Que Sera, Sera. 

Whatever will be, will be. 

The future's not ours to see. 

Que Sera, Sera. 

What will be, will be.

While parents are not able to predict the future of our children, parents certainly play a pivotal role in harnessing our children's potential from an early age. You might have heard advice from your friends on starting children early, typically at preschool-age of 3 to 6 years. The question often centres on which pre-school to choose - those that focus on learning through play; those that run academic boot camps; those that let children choose their own curriculum, to even those that focus on building self-esteem.

The Critical First 3 Years 

However, if you wait till pre-school age, that is probably too late! Research has long shown that early life experiences have a significant effect on whole brain development. In particular, developmental neurobiology has found that the critical period for learning is in the first 3 years of life. This is the time when the brain shows the most neural plasticity. What Professor Makoto Shichida, a leading expert in early learning, espoused appeals to the cognitivist in us - the purpose of education is not to cram students with knowledge, but to empower a child to tap into the innate mental powers (eg photographic memory, perfect pitch, rapid-calculation ability, speed processing, etc) that are already present in his brain, specifically his right 'genius' brain.

Why are the first 3 years so critical? The secret is in the way the brain develops. When your child is a baby or toddler, he will use the right side of his brain far more than the left. However, between 3 to 6 years, there is a gradual transition from right-brain dominance to left-brain dominance. By the time he is 6 years old, the transition to left-brain dominance is complete. This leaves us with the critical window of birth to 3 years - only 3 precious years to unleash the 'genius brain.' The rationale is that by stimulating the right brain before it gets overwhelmed by the left, the whole brain can be harnessed to its fullest potential.

Left Hemisphere 

The left brain is known for its mathematical and language abilities. Analytical thought, logical thinking, sequencing, categorising, planning, speech and spelling are linked to left-brain functioning. In our schools today, more emphasis is given to left-brain activities like mathematics and spelling, as compared to right-brain activities like creativity and music. This explains why school-going children tend to have more highly developed left brains than right brains.

Right Hemisphere 

The right hemisphere is responsible for emotions, creativity, music and rhythm. Experts have also accrued the 'softer' aspects of personality and behaviour to the right brain. The right hemisphere, often known as the "image" brain, works through visual stimulation. It can enable a child to learn subconsciously and process large amounts of information at high speed.

When I was shopping for a smart phone recently, the salesperson recommended those with dual-core and even quad-core functions, explaining, "The processor is the brain of the smartphone." Using this analogy, when you harness the powers of the right brain, you are not merely loading new data, but actually increasing processor speed from single core to dual-core or even quad-core! The right brain soaks up information like a sponge and is capable of processing data all at once. So much of formal education nowadays focuses on inputting information. All the more we need to grow our children's brain processors and their inherent capacities, in order to match the exponential demands of the 21st century.

Stimulating The Right Brain 

Some of you may be aware of the many merits of the right brain; but what most people do not know is how the right brain gets stimulated. It is best activated by visual images, high speeds and a stress-free mood. What does this mean for educators and parents? The answer is simple - we adapt our teaching processes to help our children get in touch with their 'genius brain'! It means that in the early years, we should be harnessing right-brain strategies to teach, even on subjects that are typically accessed by the left brain such as languages and mathematics.

A Right-brain Strategy: The Flashcard Method 

There are many activities that can help to develop children's right brains. One of the more common methods is using flashcards. The method of teaching babies with flash cards was pioneered by Glenn Doman, a child brain development specialist and founder of the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. It involves either physical or digital flash cards which you show rapidly to your child. Flashing cards (at a speed of less than one second per card) is an effective method of teaching babies for the simple fact that information presented at high speed is more easily apprehended by the right brain. Learning in this way occurs unconsciously and effortlessly.

Teach Reading With Flashcards 

If you are using flashcards to teach reading, start with words that are familiar and often used around the house; and progress from single words to couplets, phrases, sentences and finally books! When making your own cards, ensure that the words are big and clear. In order for a baby to understand language through his ears, spoken words have to be loud, clear and repeated. By the same token, in order for a baby to read a language, written words must be large, clear and repeated -- as explained by Glenn Doman. An interesting variation to Glenn Doman's method is to include pictures to reinforce the meaning of words, particularly words that are new to your child.

Teach Mathematics With Flashcards 

Flashcards with dots on them to represent numerical quantities can be used to teach mathematics. Utilising their right-brain function, very young children have the innate ability to "subitize' quantities, i.e. instantly perceive the number of items in a set, without counting or guessing. As a parent, you could start by flashing dot cards to your child regularly, before progressing to numerical recognition, equations and problem-solving.

Recipe For Success: Love & Consistency 

Of course, be it words, pictures or dots, a lively tone and an enthusiastic disposition when reading the cards will go a long way to sustain your baby's interest. It is also important to flash the cards regularly, at least once a day, as children learn best through consistency and repetition. Finally, it cannot be over-emphasised that right-brain education is only effective if your child has a close, loving relationship with you and learns in a relaxed state. Without positive emotions like feeling happy, loved and secure, learning is stifled in the right brain. Your baby should never feel coerced to learn. This will drive both you and baby into a state of stress, which is counter-productive for successful learning.

At the end of the day, you do not have a crystal ball to predict the future, or dictate what your child makes out of his life, but you are certainly putting him head and shoulders above others by endowing him with the unique gift of early learning! So when the day comes that your precious darling asks of you, "What will I be? Will I be handsome, will I be rich?", you can confidently answer "Que Sera, Sera. Whatever will be, will be."

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