Helping Children Learn to Read the Right Way

Lets face it, we live in a culture where left brain skills are valued in our schools, even though the right brained skills of creativity and problem solving are most needed by adults. Most of elementary school is spent in memorizing details and practicing processes. Since most young children learn in a more right brain way through action, pictures, music, and the whole picture, teaching in a left brained manner requires hours of ineffective, boring drill work such as filling in workbook pages. Some children naturally prefer to use their left brain (memorization, numbers, sequencing, listening to lectures). These children are the ones who do well in elementary school. The more gifted a child is physically (athletic), or visually (visual-spacial, creative), the further they will be from the prevalent teaching style of most elementary school teachers. These are the children who will have trouble learning to read. It is not that they are "defective" or "slow", but simply that they are not being taught in the way that they learn. Just as an orange is not a defective apple, these right brained children are not defective left-brained children. The solution is to teach right brained children to read in their natural right brain way.*

This isn't hard, in fact it is fun. It doesn't require special training, just a love for the child and an understanding of the types of learning styles that fit a right brained person.

People Learn Differently

Being a person who struggled in elementary school myself, I really believe that people learn differently. Based on my own experiences and what I have learned in over thirty-six years of tutoring children, I  agree that most children are not disabled learners, but simply people who learn in a different way.

Some of us can not learn merely by hearing something. We need to see and experience to learn. Visual aids such as pictures, time lines, graphs, demonstrations, and DVD’s really help me follow a lesson, but they don’t always have to be things you can touch. Stories, parables, examples, and analogies also enable me to “see” the ideas. I have found  Teaching No Greater Call to be a invaluable resource of teaching ideas.

Resources for Asperger Syndrome

I just read a great book for teens with Asperger Syndrome. It is called:

The Asperkid's Secret Book of Social Rules by Jennifer Cook O'Toole

She calls her book, "The handbook of Not-So-Obvious Social Guidelines for Tweens and Teens with Asperger Syndrome".

Jennifer really knows about Asperger Syndrome. Not only is she a person with Asperger Syndrome, she is married to a man with Asperger Syndrome and has three Asperger children.

She gives straight forward social rules presented with humor and a positive attitude. I think her book would be a great help for extremely logical people in helping them feel more confident around people and function more easily in society.

Auditory Learning

Perceptual Mode-  AUDITORY Learning
The different ways that Left Hemispheric Dominate, Mixed Dominate, and Right Hemispheric Dominate people learn from listening and speaking.

Left Hemispheric Dominate - Primary Learning Channel 
likes to read aloud even when should be reading silently
makes up rhymes
monopolizes conversations
verbalizes all activities

Determining Brain Dominance

How Children Learn - Determining Brain Hemispheric Dominance

Dominate Side of Body - uses opposite side of brain

Left H. Dominate Mixed Dominate Right H. Dominate
right handed ambidextrous                      left handed
uses right foot uses mixed uses left eye, foot, hand
looks through right eye combinations (note some left handers
reverse hemispheres)

Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Left                                                                                                        Right
                                                                             
verbal                                                                    sensitive to light, color, sounds,
                                                                                                      movement, smells  
linear thought process                                                holistic
one thing at time                                                       multi-linear
sequential                                                                  intuitive

How I took Tests

What helped me the most in test taking was to allow me to answer essay questions instead of inaccurately judging my understanding by my inability to recall dates, names, or multiplication tables. Writing allowed me to

How Did I Cope in School?

How do you manage school when you can't follow the teacher's instructions and lectures? What do you do when you can't remember how to spell a word or math formulas? How do you pass tests when you can't remember names and dates? How does a creative person like me survive in school?

"Those Kids"

By now most teachers have their class running pretty smoothly-- except for “those kids”.  What about “those kids”?  Perhaps he refuses to do his assignments, she might sit with a dreamy look on her face, he wiggles incessantly and plays with things in his desk, she talks constantly no matter where you put her, and what about the quiet boy who doesn’t want to go out at recess? As a teacher you want to help each child, but how? Nothing seems to be working.

Helping "Active" Children Learn

“Active”
If you have this last basic type of student, you probably get to visit with his teacher often.
You also have probably heard enough about how he doesn’t hold still, concentrate, finish his work, and is disruptive. Trying to fit these people into a quiet, orderly life is like

Helping Scientist type of Children Learn

“Scientist”
If your child is an endless series of “Whys?”, then you have a budding “Scientist”. These independent, logical souls may take apart anything to see “how it works”. After they understand the underlining principles of something, they are done with it. They are impatient with

Helping "Communicator" Children Learn

“Communicator”
If your child loves to talk, thrives on personal attention, wants to be appreciated, makes up their own stories, daydreams, loves fantasy, and always wants harmony both at home and at school, they may be a “Communicator”. They seek not to set the world in order, but to understand it. Since they are most interested in

Helping "Orderly" Children Learn

“Orderly”
The first type is what I call “Orderly Souls”. According to learning styles research, these make up about 38% of the average classroom. As adults, they dominate the business world. As children, these are the “ideal” students. They crave security, routine, and the approval of adults. They actually enjoy

Helping Children Learn intro

Helping Children Learn

Often parents are counseled that the best way they can help their child in school is to share their interests with their children, and to take them on educational outings. While these are valuable enriching activities, parents’ involvement in their child’s education should not be limited to these areas.
For a child to feel adequate in school, he must

Helping Children Learn

I am including a series of articles which were published in our local newspaper. This is the introduction to the series. These are practical ideas on how parents can help their children learn and do well in school. Hope it helps.

Why I started this blog.

A few weeks ago I was feeling a little overwhelmed with trying to manage my life. I always had a nagging feeling that I was forgetting something, but just couldn’t remember what, and all the details I had to handle gave me a headache. Knowing that I am a very right brain dominate person, I thought this was most likely the source of my stress. Since right brainers,