Left and Right Hemisphere Integration

Brain Gym activities are exercises which support the integration of the right and left hemisphere through the crossing of the midline. This integration is very important since it promotes the strengthening and growth of the Corpus Callosum, a band of myelinated fibres which allows for the transmission of neural messages between the two hemispheres. The stronger the Corpus Callosum, the smoother the learning processes for your child! When the messages are easily and smoothly exchanged between the left and the right side of the brain, the child is better capable of appropriately responding to environmental stimuli, from an optimized ability to stay focused on tasks, interpret (=read) written language, engage in learning challenges, to improved emotional regulation in stressful moments. The strengthening of the Corpus Callosum can also support children with dyslexia and visual processing issues, since this band of fibres also controls certain types of eye movements used for reading, tracking and processing visual information.

The development of the Corpus Callosum starts when a baby is between 6 and 12 months old, in other words it begins with crawling. There are plenty of other activities and movements which you can help your baby with in order to promote this growth, even prior to the "crawling" stage. This bilateral coordination and integration are essential in the long run not only for logical thinking, reading, writing, spelling and playing sports, but also during emotionally charged times when often young children have minimal if any access to the "rational brain".