Sapient Conglomeration: Left Brain - Right Brain

I think about the dominance of one side of the brain over the other and find it sort of interesting. Back in the 80's, I heard about a summer camp that worked with developing kids brains - strengthening the weaker side. The camp was located in the Santa Fe New Mexico area and for the life of me, I can't find any info on it anywhere. I thought the concept was sort of neat. The kids received a watch to put on the wrist that was the opposite of what they were accustom to. (yeah - I know. What's a watch you may ask - but like I said, it was the 80's). All kids were required to eat with their 'opposite' hand. They did sports using all hands, arms and legs. The got out of bed on the opposite side that they would if they were at home. They would even go about their day with a patch on one eye or the other, just to encourage visual strength. I didn't realize how very important the brain developing could be until I learned about many of the benefits. And thought about the battle that must go on in our heads, every single day.

It's proven that different sides of the brain have different strengths and weaknesses. For a child, if we understand how their brain is working, maybe we could help to develop them by encouraging the use of the opposite side; the 'weaker' side. Could that help them to be a better student? Could that help them prosper in all aspects of school and education? Or even help them develop into a stronger athlete?

If we encourage our children to use both hands when playing with blocks, or kick a ball with both feet, at a very early age, could this be the beginning of a better developed brain? For sure, it could not hurt.

I found a story about a kid named Gus who had a stroke while in the womb. This is a rare situation but hits sort of close to home. I have a grand daughter who was born 9 weeks premature and was thought to have had some sort of mild stroke either before or during birth. She was only slightly effected and grew out of all the signs by early school age. She surprised us all when at the age of 4, she got her hand smashed in a door, almost cutting off her thumb. At this time, this child went from being left handed to right handed, almost instantly. In a matter of a couple of days, she was using her eating utensils with the right hand. Drawing pictures with the right hand. And after the bandages came off, she continued with being right handed, unless it was inconvenient then she would go the the left. You see, she had a little bit of physical therapy when she was little and I think that was the start of her brain learning to work from both sides, just a bit better. Gotta make you think a bit.

But, take a look at the story about Gus. He went to a camp conducted by Columbia University’s Center for Cerebral Palsy Research. The results are pretty neat. Check out the entire story right here.

So now I look at this as an adult. What if, when you were a little baby, and you parents encouraged you to use both hands and feet equally, and you developed your brain at that early stage in life, what would happen if you, as a person in their 70's, had a stroke? Would you be able to function better because one side of your brain has the ability to take up the slack for the other? I don't know the answer but I will continue to research it. And, every day I will be forcing myself to do simple chores, with the weaker side of my body, just in case there is an benefit.

Just for fun, take an online test or two.