Foundation for Research and Exploration of Mind Motivation

Hugh Harmon, Ph.D. Founder      Pamela Chilton, C.Ht. Director

The Treasure Chest

A Brief Message About Dyslexia:

It’s not just about reading difficulties.   Dyslexia can be difficulty with reading, and/or difficulty with numbers, and/or difficulty with directions, and/or spatial difficulties, and/or difficulty with speaking/thinking, and possibly, the inability to visualize accurately.

 Problem is in the Corpus Callosum – the bundle of nerves that are a communication system that form a kind of ‘bridge’ or ‘switchboard’ between the right and left brain.   Communications between the right and left brain must pass through the corpus callosum in order to process ‘right brain’ and ‘left brain’ information accurately.  

The right and left hemispheres of the brain (right brain/left brain) often have individual functions, thus without at accurate transfer of information from one hemisphere to the other distortion of information or a ‘blanking’ of information occurs.  Some people with some types of dyslexia must pause between the intake of information (words, number, images, directions, spatial) to process what that information means.  This slows them down and can make them appear ‘slow” or ‘spacey’ when they are not. 

 Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with the brain, specifically the corpus callosum, which is programmed in early childhood, during the crawling phase of development.  Often super bright children are found to have dyslexia due to having skipped the crawling phase altogether.  “They just got up and walked” is a phrase parents use proudly and one that ought to be an alert for possible dyslexia of some kind.

 Babies can also learn to crawl wrong – for the corpus callosum that is.  They scoot or they draw themselves forward with both arms and both legs at the same time without alternating.  It is the alternating of the arms and legs that correctly connects the network of nerves in the corpus callosum.  Thus a child should be crawling in this way:  Right arm/hand go forward, left leg and foot go forward.  Left arm/hand go forward, right leg and foot go forward simultaneously. 

 When a baby crawls in a homo-lateral manner (right arm/right leg go forward at the same time and left arm/left leg go forward at the same time) they are programming the corpus callosum incorrectly.  Babies can be taught the correct movement by parental play: lying the baby on the back and moving the arms and legs in the correct crawling manner.  One of the tests for dyslexia is to ask a child or adult to march in place swinging their arms.  A homo-lateral manner of marching is a sure sign of dyslexia.  See Cross Crawl below to learn how to correct this.

 Note:  The standard ‘Jumping Jacks” used in calisthenics lead to a dyslexic condition which can be temporary in some people, longer lasting in others!  If you child is told he/she must do jumping jacks in school, teach them how to do and to do the Cross Crawl technique given below afterward.  Dyslexia can be corrected with what have come to be called “Brain Gym” Exercises.

 A most effective brain gym exercise is the Cross Crawl:

·        Imagine an imaginary line drawn down the middle of the body.

·        March in place – to music or without – and as you do:

·        Cross the right arm across the midline and the left knee over the midline at the same time.

·        (Touching the right hand to the left knee helps to set this up in the beginning.)

·        Cross the left arm across the midline and the right knee over the midline at the same time.

·        (Again, touching the left hand to the right knee helps to set this up in the beginning.)

·        Do about twenty reps (ten on each side) 4 –5 times a day to correct dyslexia.

·        Once it is corrected, do cross crawl before beginning any activity requires concentration and focus- like studying, typing, writing, reading, sports activities – and 30-40 minutes after the activity for faster, clearer processing. 

 For more about Brain Gym go to:       https://www.braingym.org/

See the books they offer (simple and excellent for adults AND children) here:

https://www.braingym.org/products

Two really good books offered there are:

Brain Gym, by Paul E. Dennison and Gail E. Dennison

Edu-K for Kids by Paul E. Dennison and Gail E. Dennison

I Am the Child: Using Brain Gym With Children Who Have Special Needs by Cecilia K. Freeman with Gail E. Dennison

There are SEVERAL excellent ones, including a book called Senior Moments, giving brain gym exercises to help Seniors.

People Contact Is: 

Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc.
P.O. Box 3395
Ventura, CA 93006-3395 USA
Toll-free: (888)-388-9898 - Local: (805)-650-3303
FAX: (805)-650-1689