Does your child have a highly developed imagination and spend hours doing one or more of the following: computers/video games, building/electronics, art/ photography, theater/showmanship, fashion/sewing, puzzles/mazes, cooking/ gardening, or music/dance? Yet, does your child struggle with math facts, learning to read, or spelling, or is labeled with ADD, dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, gifted, or Asperger’s? Do people consider your child smart, but lazy, living below his potential, or she resists your teaching methods? You may have a right-brained learner.
Schools use a scope and sequence that favors the strengths and gifts of a left-brained dominant person. Because most of us were schooled in these left-brained dominant schools, we learned to value left-brained traits, too. If we have right-brained children, though, we’ll soon notice they do things differently. These are intelligent, creative, and inquisitive children who often seem to flounder in school. They resist or perform poorly because we are not teaching in the way they learn. We use left-brained teaching methods on a right-brained child. The good news and hope within this book is that there exists a valid and strengths-based educational approach best suited for right-brained learners, and, with it, they flourish and thrive.
There’s an epidemic of diagnosing learning disabilities today. Home educator Cindy Gaddis believes it signals a mismatch between the learning needs of right-brained children and the educational environment in most schools. “Creative learners have amazing strengths that emerge when they are placed in an appropriate setting,” says Gaddis. Too many children are shamed for the very traits that define who they are. This book helps parents and teachers stop trying to fit right-brained learners into a left-brained mold, and instead create space for them to flourish.
Cindy Gaddis combines a solid review of experts in the field of creative, right-brained children with parent-proven models and concrete suggestions. The Right Side of Normal showcases the traits of both right-brained and left-brained learners and how each is represented in the learning environment. The natural learning stages for right-brained learners are described in detail for all the traditional school subjects. The common learning disability labels is sifted through the right-brained learning lens to discover where the overlap occurs in order to best address the learning needs of right-brained children. The Right Side of Normal is all about empowering parents and teachers and right-brained people with knowledge and understanding about this learning style in order to create the optimal learning environment for right-brained children.
“The Right Side of Normal is a fascinating look into the creative lives of children. Cindy Gaddis provides a cornucopia of ideas, resources, images, strategies, and experiences to help any parent with ‘interestingly different’ kids to find the key to unlocking their innate love of learning. I hope that parents (and teachers) will take this book to heart when working with children who learn ‘off the beaten track.’”
~Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
Author of The Power of Neurodiversity
and In Their Own Way
“The Right Side of Normal is a valuable addition to the relevant topic of how to educate the visual-spatial population. Because the number of these children is growing exponentially, any book that reveals the intricacies of this learning style is invaluable, and this book absolutely accomplishes that. Cindy is experienced in the field and her techniques are good and valid…This book is a must-read for parents and educators alike.”
~Jeffrey Freed, M.A.T.
Author of Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World
“Cindy Gaddis’ research, stories, and insights provide abundant ideas, activities, and hope for parents to use with right-brained learners. Gaddis empowers parents to support their children who don’t fit into conventional schooling with many examples of homeschooling her own right-brained children, generously illustrated with photos and drawings…There are so many good things in this book about learning and respectfully helping children that you should read it whether you are left- or right-brained!”
~Patrick Farenga
Author of Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
Publisher of Growing Without Schooling
Go here to order The Right Side of Normal: Understanding and Honoring the Natural Learning Path for Right-Brained Children.
