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 Eye

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 eye:

• Are sensitive to body language
• If people LOOK angry, they assume it's their fault and goes into stress
• Are distracted by movement
• Is prone to daydreaming
• Do not like to see violence or pain
• Find it hard to say “no” to people, even if the request is irrational.
• Want people to look 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 VISUAL recognition
• Show affection with hugs, kisses, notes, special gestures, attending their games/concerts, 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 typical "sensitive viewers" and need to be restricted by what they see on the television, paying attention to violence, bullying, or people/animals getting hurt. They experience visual pain much more personally and the images will haunt them and may even cause nightmares. It is also true for teenagers and adults.

They stress immediately when someone looks angry or upset. The first thing their minds jump to is: “What did I do wrong?” and the child may not hear a word you say while you are looking this way. This means that the child never hears what he/she actually did do wrong, so they probably will do it again.

When your child needs disciplining, make sure that your face and body language is neutral - no frowning, thin mouth line, aggressive or defensive body position, etc.

Understandably this may be near impossible for many parents. No need to worry - if you can’t get a hold of your body language, ask the child to close his/her eyes before you explain what they did wrong and how you want them to fix it (apology?).

These kids also do extremely well with reward charts. You can draw one up yourself or print one out from the internet and mark the chores and behaviours you need from him/her. You can use the gold star and black dot system where a gold star is received for every positive behaviour and a black dot is for every negative behaviour.

The child wants to see positive things and really don't like seeing negative things associated with him/her, especially where other people can see it too. They will work extra hard for gold stars and will try to please you so there will be no black dots.
If you're not a fan of the black dots, you can achieve the same goals with rewarding gold stars, but taking stars down for bad behaviour.

Here are two examples of charts: closed and open. For a closed chart only one star/dot is awarded per day for a specific behaviour while on an open chart stars and dots are added when it is applicable.
If you are using the stars only, then the open chart will work best for you.

Day-to-day 1 week chart

Open chart

You are responsible to give the stars and dots the association the child needs to understand and pursue them.

Put the chart up somewhere where people will see it. It is no use hiding it in the child's closet, because then his/her friends won't accidentally see it. The child must want to to be proud of the chart when friends and family see it. The kitchen is always a good spot.

Make sure that the child is always present when stars or dots are put up (or taken down).

I hope this helps a few parents out there. Let me know what you think. If you have challenges with your sensitive children you are welcome to comment, I will do my best to assist you.

The Importance of Class Placement

We all know that feeling: Standing in line of our classroom for the very first day, wondering where we’ll sit, if we’ll like the teacher and the subject. Either the teacher will let everyone choose their own seats or assign them based on some kind of order (alphabetically, academic performance) and of course move the kids that cause problems of some kind.

In a perfect world I would want to show each and every teacher where to place each child in their classrooms. Why? Because it has a greater impact on learning than you think.

Each person has a dominant ear and a dominant eye. This means that you see and hear better with a specific eye and ear and you process the information differently depending on the dominant side. As a general rule a child should sit with his dominant ear faced towards the teacher, therefore if your child is left ear dominant, he should sit on the right side of the classroom.

But why is this important? After all, you have been sitting in different places in classroom all your life and you’ve always been able to hear, right? Yes, you can hear no matter where you sit, but you will hear better when your dominant ear faces the speaker. You will also be less distracted because you won’t have to unconsciously turn your head to hear better.

As soon as a child has to turn his head to hear and process information better, he notices other things like classmates chit-chatting, someone’s hair that’s out of place, mismatched socks, and more. This can be so distracting that the child misses most of the lesson as he day dreams.

What’s more is that “problem children” are usually placed in front “where I can keep an eye on you”! These are usually children that need to move a lot in order to keep their brains from going into “sleep mode” (see my post on stress for more information on this). Now they have to sit in front where they will distract all the other kids when they move and what’s worse is that they are permanently in the spotlight: “Sit still! Be quiet! Leave him alone! Focus! Look at me! Stop that! What did I just say?”
This makes the child believe that he is naughty and therefore he will act naughty because it is expected of him.

A better way to manage this is to place the antsy children at the back of the class where they can move without disturbing the other kids. They only need some guidance as to how to move without disrupting the class (jumping up and running is out of the question, but squeezing a stress ball and/or sitting on a pilates ball is quiet, inconspicuous and keep that little brain alert).

Similarly children who are left eye dominant are prone to daydreaming and if they sit too far back, there is a whole host of things that could distract them. They should not sit farther back than the middle of the classroom.

So is this really an issue? Does it really make a noticeable difference?

Yes, it does!

I had a mother who brought her first grader to me because his teacher was insisting that he had ADD and needed medication. The mother was heartbroken and not wanting to just go to the doctor for a prescription, she came to me instead. Nothing in the child’s profile pointed to ADD, although he was left eye dominant and therefore prone to daydreaming.

I recommended he be moved to a different place in the classroom and the teacher refused as she had gone through a lot of trouble arranging her students. A month later the teacher gave in and moved the child. A week later the mother received a phone call from the teacher who apologised for jumping to conclusions - since he was moved to the correct spot in class he has been paying attention, completing tasks and the teacher could no longer see any symptoms of ADD.

It is amazing that something as small as where you sit in the classroom can make such a marked difference.

Do something different this year and have your child sit in the correct place in class and see for yourself if it makes a difference.
I will gladly assess your child and recommend the optimal position for him/her in a classroom.

Feel free to comment or contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Stress: an Infographic

I spent some time on Canva (www.canva.com) to create an infographic. I had so much fun! Here it is. Let me know what you think!

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.

Sensitive Children

Some children seem to let nothing get them down while others seem to take everything personally. You may or may not be aware that your child is sensitive.

An easy way to check is to watch your child and listen carefully to his/her stories. Does she say yes to things she shouldn’t? Is he concerned about a boy in class that doesn’t like him? Is she always trying to please others?

These are a few ways to guess at sensitivity and the interesting thing about sensitivity is that it is directly connected to either a dominant left ear or left eye or both. This is tested during the genetic brain profile. This is also my favourite part of the brain profile.

Sensitive children all have the following in common:

-    They find it hard to say “no” to people, even if the request is irrational.

-    They want people to be happy. If not, they’ll try to cheer the person up.

-    They 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.

-    They 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.

Sensitive EAR	Sensitive EYE
- Sensitive to tone and pitch - Are distracted by noise - If people SOUND angry, they assume it's their fault and stress - Shrill or loud voices = angry voices	- Sensitive to body language - Are distracted by movement - If people LOOK angry, they assume it's their fault and stress - Violence/painful scenes haunts them
*Need VERBAL RECOGNITION	*Need VISUAL RECOGNITION
Spoken words of affirmation: “I love you”, “you are beautiful”, “thank you”, "Mommy is proud of you", etc.	Show affection: hugs; kisses; notes on the fridge, pillow or in lunch boxes; special gestures (eg. favorite dinner), etc.
*This is not an ego booster. Without these recognitions, the child assumes the opposite is true and develops a low self esteem.

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. They also need guidance to learn how to say “no” to people; otherwise they will always be “the sucker who says yes”.

They need to learn how to be compassionate without compromising themselves and for that they need gentle parenting.

Some children have both of these sensitivities, which make them classic people pleasers. Help and show them how to be assertive because they easily fall prey to others’ manipulations. They also need both types of recognition to develop a healthy self esteem.

Some children have no sensitivity at all which you need to be aware of as well. They can become arrogant, defiant and manipulative. They need to learn how to deal with other peoples’ feelings (since they don’t care what other people think of them) and be considerate towards others.

Blog post: How to discipline a child with a sensitive EYE

Blog post: How to discipline a child with a sensitive EAR

The Anatomy of Stress

All of us experience stress on a daily basis. But do you know how it affects your brain?

Let me start by explaining what stress is.

The electrical circuit in your house has a fuse which is there to protect your appliances from an electrical surge. So, when lightning strikes your house, the fuse breaks and cuts off the electricity to your computer so that it won’t blow up.

Just like the electrical circuit in your house, your brain has “fuses” called synapses. The synapses are located between the brain cells (neurons) and the rest of your nervous system. Your heartbeat is like the electricity in a circuit. When it beats too fast, your synapses pull apart slightly, stopping the impulse from going through and possibly damage your brain and that is called stress.

The best way to monitor stress is to look at emotions. If you are happy, calm and content, your heart rate is normal. If you are frustrated or irritable, your heart rate is faster and when you are aggressive or enraged your heart rate is very high.

Stress (synapses pulling apart) always happens in your non-dominant brain hemisphere first, so if you are right brain dominant, your left brain will “shut down” when you are stressed. This also means that during stress you will find it difficult to perform tasks that are controlled by your non-dominant hemisphere. The more we stress, the less logical and more emotional we become.

fig.           row 1: top view          row 2: side view

Normal heart rate is around 60 - 75 beats per minute (bpm) (fig. A)

If you heart is beating at 80-120 bpm, one side of your brain shuts down. (fig.B) Notice how the synapses are slightly further apart.

At 120-180 bpm both your brain hemispheres (yellow part) will shut down (fig.C2)

**At over 180 bpm your limbic system (emotional brain; red part) can also shut down.

NB: Dehydration will also cause the synapses to pull apart. Drink enough water!

So, how do we get out of stress? The easiest and fastest way is to do some kind of physical movement. Take a walk, run around the block, do a few push-ups, do the dishes, etc. Slow, deep breathing also helps - remember the count-to-ten rule? Taking a break before responding to something stressful physically gives your brain time to "get back online" and then you can respond more rationally.

Basically your emotions should be able to tell you how much brain you have at any given time of the day and someone else’s emotions should tell you how much brain you’re talking to. Using this guideline you should be able to eliminate a lot of unnecessary conflicts.

**This happens very rarely, like in cases of road rage (smash someone's window) or blind rage where someone kills a person. This is where one can plead temporary insanity. That person had no logic nor emotion at that stage and was temporarily reduced to an “animal”.