Description

Strategies for helping bright, quirky, socially awkward children to thrive at home and at school.

Does your child:
• Have impressive intellectual abilities but seem puzzled by ordinary interactions with other children?
• Prefer to spend time with adults or alone rather than with other kids?
• Have deep, all-absorbing interests or seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of certain subjects?
• Seem uncomfortable with unstructured play or social engagements?

If you answered “yes” to some or all of these questions, you may be raising a left-brain child. Bright, eccentric, and socially awkward, these are children whose talents and inclinations lean heavily toward the logical, linear, analytical, and introverted side of the human psyche—what is commonly referred to as the "left brain”—as opposed to the “right brain” which is our emotional, holistic, intuitive, and extroverted side. Left-brain kids are often found on the margins of the classroom and the playground, the ones who tend not to fit in with their peers but have rich interior and intellectual lives.
According to Beals, left-brain children are increasingly misunderstood and undervalued, particularly at school. In today’s classrooms, assignments tend to favor children who are collaborative, artistically creative, and comfortable speaking in front of groups. Left-brain children tend to be highly intelligent but shy, and unsuited to group activities, and they are often downgraded for social aloofness and emotional immaturity.
Drawing on Beals’ research and interviews with parents and children, this book offers a new understanding of left-brain kids and practical strategies for nurturing and supporting them, both at school and at home.

About the Author

Katherine Beals, PhD, is an educator and the mother of three left-brain children. A former public school teacher, she is a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Her writing on parenting has appeared in Mothering magazine and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She lives in Philadelphia.

Praise for Raising a Left-Brain Child in a Right-Brain World: Strategies for Helping Bright, Quirky, Socially Awkward Children to Thrive at…

"This book brims with sound, practical advice for nuturing children who don't fit into the commonly accepted patters of 'normal development,' yet possess remarkable gifts."--Michael Gurian, author of Nurture the Nature and The Minds of Boys

"A brave, wise, and compassionate guide for parents and teachers of children who, because of their unique styles of thinking and learning, are so often misinterpreted and misunderstood."--Brad Sachs, PhD, author of The Good Enough Child and The Good Enough Teen

"Educator Beals wants to help left-brain children thrive. Beals especially laments the pervasive use of educational trends such as "Reform Math," which takes a subject left-brainers usually excel at and leaves them lacking by attempting to make math a social activity." -- Library Journal