20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating look at how changing educational trends affect special needs children, October 10, 2009
This review is from: Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World: Strategies for Helping Bright, Quirky, Socially Awkward Children to Thrive at Home and at School (Paperback)
On the face of it, the title of this book would probably not normally engage my interest - which is unfortunate because it's a really fascinating book. The title isn't wrong either, the book really is about "Left-Brained Children"; it's just that you need a bit more explanation before you read the title.
Katharine Beals has used the label "Left-Brained" in place of other more judgemental labels. She describes the left brained child as the sort of child to whom mathematics comes easy and group work does not. Her definition is quite encompassing but if I have any issues with the book, they're simply that the definition she uses isn't wide enough. In my opinion, the book is just as relevant to children with "left brained" characteristics but better English/History skills than mathematics. Similarly, much of the book is relevant to children who have aspergers but who also have learning difficulties which prevent them from becoming "math wizzes".
The book describes three types of "left-brained" children;
* The Unsocial Child
* The Analytic Child
* The Mildly Autistic Child (Aspergers, HFA, PDD-NOS)
There are similarities between all three types of children and you may find, as I did, that things relevant to your child appear in all three sections.
What makes this book fascinating is that instead of providing an overall view of the child like most similar books, it concentrates on the changing school environment and its effects on these children.
It helps that Katharine is both an educator and a mother because her discussions don't stop at the school, they also include socialisation with school children outside of school (playdates), homework and learning at home.
It's strange but I had actually noticed many of the school changes that Katharine talks about. It's just that I'd never considered them together and I hadn't really given much thought as to how they were affecting my children. After reading this book, I've got a lot of questions that I want to ask at our next school meeting - and quite a few changes I'll be suggesting at our next IEP.
The book covers the effects of some radical and "right-brained" changes to the school curriculum many of which have probably already been implemented at your children's schools without your knowledge.
These include reform math, which places greater emphasis on creative and group solutions to problems than on mathematics itself. Examples include exercises such as "measuring the playground" and questions such as "What is your favourite number and why?".
The book covers changes to several other disciplines, including science, writing, foreign language and literature. These changes are all quite frightening and I've recognised a few of the projects cited as things my own children have brought home.
Textbooks are not novels, we don't read them simply for enjoyment. We want to be able to get something out of them. To do this, they need to offer real life examples and good advice.
Interspersed throughout "Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World", are snapshots of our children's world. Some are through the eyes of these children but most are from a parent's point of view. These are offered, usually at the beginnings of chapters, without any initial interpretation. The interpretation is provided when the incidents are referred to in later parts of the chapter. I really liked this approach. It gave me an opportunity to formulate my own ideas as a parent before explaining the real situation. In many ways, this is exactly the "gap" that parents experience between what they see and what their children feel.
Even better, each section concludes with a number of detailed suggestions for working around the problem. They range from the obvious and drastic; "change schools" including what to look for in a new school, to suggestions for inclusion in the IEP, extracurricular activities and even ways of dealing with your child's lecturing or argumentative streaks at home and with friends.
This book was really very interesting and relevant and I urge you to look beyond the title. If you have children, particularly in the early years of primary/elementary school, then this book may be essential reading.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why parents and teachers should buy this book...., October 22, 2009
This review is from: Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World: Strategies for Helping Bright, Quirky, Socially Awkward Children to Thrive at Home and at School (Paperback)
Katharine Beals's book offers a welcome antidote to the mountains of parenting manuals and educational philosophies that treat children as if they were all the same. Rather than bemoaning the plight of parents whose children don't seem to fit the institutionally-articulated standard, Beals celebrates the idiosyncratic nature of the children she discusses, and in doing so, elucidates an expansive, exciting, challenging, upbeat and intelligent vision of what parenting and education might look like and feel like. It's a book that resists normalization and the averaging-out of human subjects, large or small. Hooray!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Resource for Parents of Quirky Kids, September 29, 2009
This review is from: Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World: Strategies for Helping Bright, Quirky, Socially Awkward Children to Thrive at Home and at School (Paperback)
Katharine Beals' book is a compelling exposition of the problems left-brain children face in today's society. In particular, it clearly outlines the disadvantages analytical, mathematical and/or introverted children face in the contemporary classroom. While this book is bound to have resonance with the parents of left-brainers, many educators are sure to find the book provocative as it questions current educational practices. On the issue of how children should be educated, this book is a powerful contributory polemic with vivid examples drawn from the real life experiences of a variety of learners.
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