Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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!

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.

What I like best about this book is that the author takes a radically different approach from most other parenting coaches, the majority of whom seem eager to help you make your kid adhere to the current standard of normality. Beals is brave enough to call a halt to mindless conformity to current social and educational ideals which are, after all, nothing more than ephemera. Why squeeze your child into a mold for which s/he is not suited, when in a few years, you can be sure a new mold will be in favor anyway!? This is a courageoues, honest and intelligent book. I think anyone with a kid who is not thriving in the current right-brain dominated educational system will cling to this book like a life preserver!

First, a disclaimer: Dr. Beals is a friend of mine.

While this book is pitched to parents of "left-brain children", it should be of interest to anyone who cares about education in America. We shortchange everyone by shortchanging these talented kids. One challenge in education is always the variety of levels and learning styles in the classroom; Beals shows us that in our zeal to make sure "right-brain" learning styles are accommodated, we have gone too far. America's scientific and engineering future will be much brighter if we heed the warnings and advice in the book.

Luckily for the hundreds of thousands of readers who should read this book, its style is delightful. Beals makes her points efficiently by bolstering her larger observations with appealingly apt, lively examples.

One miniscule quibble: the claim that mathematicians generally work alone and collaborate only to report and tweak results is simply false. While many mathematicians do work that way, many others work collaboratively.

And, no, I'm not giving this book a rave review because my friend wrote it. The rave is for the book's elegance and importance.

My heart goes out to all parents whose children are struggling in school, both academically or socially, but blaming the current pedagogy in today's public school system is not the answer. "Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World" unfairly portrays teachers as being loyal to dogma instead of the children they have dedicated their careers to. I say all of this as a person who has a family history of ASD. I'm also a former teacher who worked her butt off to make sure that the Aspie children in my classroom received every special accommodation and service that could possibly help them.

Yes, maybe children with social issues would do better in traditional classrooms from the 1940s, but those teaching models would not prepare students for the modern world. Despite what Dr. Beals claims, STEM careers require communication and collaboration. Do engineers create digital cameras in isolation? Do cancer researches conduct private experiments and then keep mum about their findings? In my opinion, gently encouraging students to become better about sharing their ideas and thinking can only help them in the long run.

As a teacher who is passionate about education, I would love to have seen a chapter in this book that highlighted the ways teachers can work closely with parents and school districts to make the current pedagogy work for all types of minds. I know from first-hand knowledge that it can work, because it is the teacher, not the curriculum that makes the difference.

Finally, I'd like to leave with a note to the publisher: This reader would have liked to see footnotes or formal references!