Is Your Child Right-Brained or Left-Brained?

Everyone has a dominant side of the brain, and it's possible to tell if your child is right-brained or left-brained. Sure, it's easier to tell if they're right-handed or left-handed. But there's a secret to knowing which side of the brain your child utilizes most, and it's pretty interesting. A right-brained child might grow up like me: writing blogs and updating statuses to make parents giggle on a Speech Pathologist office's Facebook. A left-brained child might grow up like one of our therapists. The science behind this isn't sure-fire, but it's intriguing nonetheless. Odd fact about the brains motor function: the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body while the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body. We're so backwards! Ever compare your reflection in the mirror to a photo taken of you? It can be pretty bizarre. That is, unless you're face is completely symmetrical, like Rowan Atkinson's.

At any rate, knowing your child's brain dominance can help you in guiding them academically. It can give you insight into their way of thinking. Right-brained individuals are often intuitive and/or spontaneous, while left-brained individuals are known for the weight they place on logic and reasoning. So...

How Do You Know if Your Child is "Right-Brained"

Prominent characteristics of right-brain dominance include creativity, spatial awareness, and a more profound understanding and grasp on associations. You might find that right-brained individuals can easily recognize faces, places, objects and names, and associate these different properties together (at least, with more ease than left-brainers) (Sousa, 1995, p.88). Right-brained individuals are known for their "out-of-the-box" thinking, creativity with the arts, imaginative thinking, and strong inclination to enjoy and revel in music. A right-brained child or individual may display all of these characteristics or just some. It very much depends, and is not a "sure-fire" science. There's so much about the brain we've yet to discover. 



How Do You Know if Your Child is "Left-Brained"

The characteristics of an individual with dominance in the left side of their brain aren't drastically different, but distinct enough for a Mother or Father to recognize. Left-brained individuals are known to be well-spoken, have analytical skills, easily understand mathematical concepts such as time and sequence. They may be good with numbers, letters, and words. Left-brained individuals seem to have a knack for language skills, including reading, writing and speaking, math, logic and reasoning, and science. Much like right-brainers, left-brainers may only display a few of these characteristics...or ALL. It all depends. The human brain is so very complex and Psychology is ever-growing.

How To Foster Accordingly

So, you can see that there is definitely a difference in the "ways of thinking" between left-brainers and right-brainers. As you could imagine, the two have distinct "ways of learning" as well. Right-brainers, for example, have a higher learning curve when you throw creativity into the mix. Turn a lesson plan into a song and see how much easier it is for your right-brainer to retain information. Right-brainers are also social beings. They tend to learn better in groups, where shared learning is the primary objective. Group discussions can do wonders for a right-brainer.

On the other side, a left-brainer holds tight to logic and reasoning. An organized lesson plan will help them learn much more than a sporadic, creative lesson plan. Left-brainers should do their homework step-by-step and learn their lessons one-by-one. They need plans to follow. Left-brainers thrive in structured activities such as analysis, research, realistic projects, and worksheets.

So, is your child a left-brainer, or a right-brainer? They may be too young to tell, or even too impressed upon by peers in school for you to distinguish. Nevertheless, now you know.

Resources

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2007). Brain basics: Know your brain.

Quantum Learning (1999). Orchestrating student success. Oceanside, CA: Quantum Learning Network.

Sousa, D. R. (1995). How the brain learns. Reston, VA: NASSP.