Body Laterality and Learning

See what side of your body and brain is in control

Prodigy.net offers a most comprehensive series of articles helping us understand laterality, and crossed or mixed dominance. Find out what eye, ear, hand, foot is dominant within your body. Understand ways to correct faulty dominance when it results in learning problems.

Insist on daily physical education to assure your child builds a strong sense of laterality which leads to midline mastery of the hands and eyes needed for effortless reading and writing. Once again movement prevails as the leading way to achieve academic success!

Vestibular Disorders Cause LD

Remedy learning disabilities by first starting here

The vestibular system located within the inner ear unifies the visual, auditory, tactile, and proprioceptive (body) systems involved with attention, focus, eye tracking, auditory discrimination, posture, laterality, directionality, sitting still – all of which affect writing, reading, language development, concentration and ultimately self-esteem.

If the vestibular system is weak, an overwrought hypervestibular system is easily overwhelmed with school activities. A slow hypovestibular system is underwhelmed with its low muscle tone and weakened sensory and motor functions.

What to do? Test the vestibular system first, then use specific movements to strengthen the hyper or hypo systems.

Daily physical education offers vestibular stimulation needed by students to excel, especially those falling behind. For a spin on this key learning system visit Vestibular.org.

The Body is Key to Reading

There is more to reading success than meets the eye

Of course eye teaming, smooth eye pursuit across the midline, and visual accommodation near and far are important to reading success. Often overlooked is the body’s role in reading. For example, having good muscle tone in the core and leg muscles needed to sit still… integration of primary reflexes ATNR, and STNR allowing steady focus when the body or neck is moved… body awareness including a sense of laterality and directionality, allowing readers to distinguish between a ‘p’ and ‘q’ and ‘m’ and ‘w’ so ‘mom’ doesn’t become ‘wow’… and having a mature vestibular system unifying visual acuity, auditory discrimination and body-in-space skills.

How does one strengthen all of these body systems to assure reading success? Repetitive movement! Ample running, skipping, spinning, rowing, throwing, catching and other vibrant movement activities are essential.

Daily physical education with a focus on body awareness and movement exploration is a must to help young children mature all of the body brain systems involved with successful reading.

Not helping children mature their body brain networks will result in reading delays, dyslexia, and other challenges and learning disabilities we often hand over to Special Ed. Read Physical Activities for Improving Children's Learning and Behavior by Billye Ann Cheatum and Allison A. Hammond available from Human Kinetics for in depth understaning.