The right-brained learning style is most definitely not a disability…it is merely a different way of learning. One that many people are not familiar with. Our society and most educational models primarily value a left-brained way of learning. Right-brained kids, especially in the early years in school, often struggle and assume that it must be because they are “dumb”, not realizing that their struggles are caused by teaching methods and timetables that are contrary to their natural learning style. They are square pegs which schools try to force into their round holes.

Right-brained learners are often misunderstood. Since they are obviously bright, yet struggle with the “basics”, they are often seen as “lazy” or as “not living up to their potential”. Right-brained learners also often find themselves with a host of labels such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, discalculia, ADD, or ADHD.

Right-brained learners often find themselves “struggling” in school, not because they are learning disabled, but because they are being forced to learn on what is, for them, an artificial timetable, using approaches that are weighted heavily towards left-brained strengths (memorization, sequential learning).

For more on this topic, read An Introduction to the Right-Brained Learner by Cindy Gaddis.

Last updated on October 4, 2009 by Stephanie