Right brain: how does it affect your life

Last week we talked about LEFT BRAINS, this week we focus on the right brains.

Right brainers are the brainstormers, the idea guys of the world. They are creative, but you knew that already, and they think outside of the box. They don't let rules get in their way of being creative.

They love challenges. They want to be challenged and use those creative juices to come up with a plan. But they bore easily. As soon as something becomes predictable or if they've mastered something, they lose interest when the challenge has been conquered.
This make them prone to having many unfinished projects, even those they like and enjoy. They will start out with gusto and steamroller into a new project or idea, but they start losing interest along the way and sometimes never finish.

Right brain children need a lot of encouragement to finish what they started. Read through the whole book, finish the project, finish assignments soon (discourage procrastination...), and finish an activity. It happens very easily for them to start with tennis and two weeks later refuse to go to lessons. The have to finish the year or season with sports and arts that they started to understand what it means to push through to the finish, even when it's not fun.

Right brain children don't enjoy school. School is full of structure and routine and they hate that. They want freedom, friends and challenges. They like school for their friends, sports and activities, not the learning. They do like subjects like art and music where they can put that right brain to good use and they will enjoy certain subjects that interest them, where they can learn something exciting.
But for the most part they are not excited about school

When right brainers stress, their left brains are compromised, which explains why they can perform up to 25% under their true potential due to stress in exams. They frequently have "blanks" in exams, seeing the typography of exact page with the information they need (where the headers, content and pictures are), but unable to recall any words or actual information.

In an ideal world the right brainers would come up with exciting ideas and start off projects and then hand them over to the left brainers who are great at structuring things, making it work and finishing projects.

I remind you that this is just a taste of what a Genetic Brain Profile will tell you. Even if you know all of your dominant modalities, it's the interaction between them that makes things interesting. And don't think that an online left vs right brain test will be accurate - for some it is, others will get mixed results depending on the test they take.

I will gladly answer any questions you have and if you are curious about your Genetic Brain Profile, give me a shout out and I will happily assess yours (and/or your children's).

If you've missed my previous posts on the left handed and right handed traits, be sure to visit those posts for more insightful information!

Left brain: how does it affect your life?

The Genetic Brain Profile consists of testing a few dominant body parts or modalities, the centre of which is the brain hemisphere. We all know about left brain versus right brain, but the Genetic Brain Profile goes much deeper than that.
Any combination of dominant modalities are possible, so don't think if you are right handed your are necessarily right footed as well. And remember: you need both sides of your brain to function, you won't just use one side - one side is just more dominant than the other.

Let's look at the left brain today.

Left brainers are the organised, logical bunch in our society. They like structure and routine and they find comfort in knowing exactly what the day will bring. Actually when things are unpredictable or if they are uncertain of something, they feel insecure and stressed.

Left brain children are notorious for asking the same questions over and over.
"Mom, what time is dinner?"
"Mom, what are we having for dinner?"
"Mom, what time will you pick me up from school?"
"Dad, what time will you be home?"
"Who will be at the party?"
These can drive a parent nuts, especially when the same question is repeated multiple times. "I already told you!"
It's vital to understand that these kids don't ask just to bug you. They actually want to know that the status quo hasn't changed in the mean time. They don't want to be surprised, they want to be prepared.

This is true of adults as well, although they don't ask so many questions. They still want to know what will happen, where, when, how and who is involved. Knowing gives them a sense of security.

Left brainers are not keen on change. If the plans have changed and they weren't notified, they become upset and confused. They prefer to know about a change (meeting schedule, moving house, new school, etc.) in advance so they can prepare for that change and get used to the idea before it happens. The bigger the change, the more advance warning they need.

When left brainers stress their right brains aren't working so well, which explains why left brain kids have trouble with writing essays or answer essay questions, especially under pressure. They don't usually have trouble recalling information, but they may struggle to implement it creatively.

This is just a taste of what a Genetic Brain Profile will tell you. Even if you know all of your dominant modalities, it's the interaction between them that makes things interesting. And don't think that an online left vs right brain test will be accurate - for some it is, others will get mixed results depending on the test they take.

I will gladly answer any questions you have and if you are curious about your Genetic Brain Profile, give me a shout out and I will happily assess yours (and/or your children's).

If you've missed my previous posts on the left handed and right handed traits, be sure to visit those posts for more insightful information!
UPDATE: Here is the link to the RIGHT BRAIN as well.

Parenting a child with a Sensitive Ear

Sensitive children need to be parented and disciplined in a different way and their specific sensitivity must also be taken into account. Read about understanding sensitive children.

Children with a sensitive ear:

• Are sensitive to tone of voice
• If people SOUND angry, they assume it's their fault and goes into stress
• Are distracted by noise
• Find it hard to say “no” to people, even if the request is irrational.
• Want people to sound happy. If not, they’ll try to cheer the person up in some or other way.
• Want people to like them. If one person doesn’t like them, they’ll be fixated on that and rarely focus on the people who do like them.
• Are compassionate towards other people and sincere empathy comes naturally to them.
• When they stress, they feel like the whole world is against them, nobody cares about them, everybody hates them and they may even be scared.
• Need VERBAL recognition
• Express affection with words, say "I love you", "You look pretty today", "I like your drawing", "I'm proud of you", etc.
• If your child does not get the recognition he/she needs, they will assume that the opposite is true.
• It is vital to understand your child’s sensitivity. Giving the wrong kind of recognition leads to misunderstandings and lots of heartache for both parent and child.

These children are very sensitive to what they hear. They listen to how something was said and not necessarily what was said. Try to speak in normal tones with these children, because raised voices, high pitched voices or loud booming voices physically scare them into stress.

They immediately interpret a loud voice and anger and think that he/she is the cause of that emotion. So if you come home from work and is upset about something a colleague did, keep your voice calm when you tell the story to your sensitive ear child (or partner!), otherwise he/she will probably not hear a word you say - they will worry about why you are angry with them.

This can cause problem with disciplining because, let’s face it, it’s hard to keep your cool when you’re angry or when a child broke your crystal vase from Venice.

Try and see it from the child’s perspective: you are yelling or talking with a raised, angry voice and the child shuts down, not hearing what you are saying, but understanding that you are very angry.

They will probably cry, because they don’t like people being angry at them, but chances are that they don’t know what they did wrong, increasing the chances of repeating that same offence.

A better way of dealing with disciplining is to take a deep breath, count to ten, and ask the child to go to his/her bedroom (or whatever room you have chosen for time out). That gives you time to gather your senses and cool down (keep it under 5min) so that when you go to the child, you can explain calmly in a neutral voice what he/she has done wrong and why you consider it to be wrong. Also talk about punishment for that behaviour in the same normal tone of voice.

This prevents the child from crawling into an emotional hole like a frightened kitten and opens up a chance for discussion and deeper relationship. As the child gets older, this is very important for forming a bond with your teenager who is normally quite detached from parents.

Children with a sensitive ear also flourish with verbal recognition.

Having trouble getting your child to make the bed? Tip: Say in a warm, friendly tone that Mommy will be so proud if he/she makes his/her bed (or whatever chore). When the child does complete the chore, give verbal encouragement (don’t be too loud or high-pitched!). The chances of that child doing that chore again, is very good when he/she gets the encouragement and attention they want.  Stay away from praise, as that can lead to a misguided self image. Focus on what they did, how they persisted and finally got it right instead of saying how wonderful, brilliant, awesome they are. There's a subtle difference but it can influence the child greatly.

And keep up the encouragement! Until you are sure that the behaviour is imprinted, keep on making a big deal about a chore well done. You can scale it down later as you start concentrating on a different chore.

The flip side is what parents revert to by default: yell when it is not done. Negative attention is still attention and although the child gets scared when you raise your voice, it may count as recognition, albeit negative recognition, and will be counterproductive.

Rather concentrate on what is being done well and ask in friendly tones when you and the child are not rushed or busy to complete a previously ignored chore.

Another thing to keep in mind is when giving instructions to these kids, give instructions one at a time instead of a whole list, eg. “Please bring me the milk”, instead of “Please bring me the milk, 2 eggs, bread and salt.” With a list the child is likely to get confused and forget something. One at a time works best for children with a dominant left ear.

I hope this has shed some light on your sensitive child and equipped you to handle your child in a more appropriate way. If you have any questions or concerns, you are welcome to comment and I will try my best to assist you.

The Genetic Brain Profile Report

If you have had your or your child's brain profile done by an Edu-Profilogist like myself, you would know that you'll receive an extensive report after the session.
Adult and child reports vary slightly.

This report covers:
- Dominances and their explanations (Brain, Hand, Foot, Eye, Ear)
- Normal functioning
- Stress functioning
- Barriers (What will cause stress)
- Implications (Explanation off the profile)
- Recommendations, incl. ideal placement in classrooms
- 12 Intelligences (Talents - both inborn and those needing nurture for development)
- * Profile Strenghts
- * Profile Weaknesses
- * Relationship Needs
- * Communications Style
- * Preferred Business Setting
- * Working in a Team
- * Management Style
- Career Indications
* Adult report only, although many of these will be discussed during the session for children as well.

The Genetic Brain Profile explains who you were born to be, your inborn good and bad traits. It is very important to note that nothing in the profile may be used as an excuse!
For instance: if you are right brained it is unacceptable to blame your inability to finish tasks on your right brain.
What you should do is recognise that you have a weakness and that it is caused by your genes, but strive to overcome this weakness by forcing yourself to get out of your comfort zone.

Sometimes we have to do things we don't like. If you are right ear dominant, it will be hard for you to patiently listen to a long winded story (and not zone out or interrupt), but sometimes you have to grind your teeth and suck it up.

It is much harder for children to do something they are uncomfortable with and that doesn't come naturally to them. That is why it is so important for parents to help your child work through the weaknesses and overcome them.

All children need to get through school. All children need to work to get through school, whether they like it or not. All children need to be respectful of other people, both elders and peers. All children need to know what hurts other people and what builds other people.

If you know you child's strengths and weaknesses, you'll know what to focus on and monitor in your child so that your child becomes the best version of himself he can be.