When at-risk students of a first grade teacher in a Denver elementary school score in the 74 percentile in reading on the Iowa Basic Skills tests, it's time to seriously examine what that teacher is doing. As she had used my handwriting remediation program tied to learning styles to "train the brain." over the last year, I was elated to get her feedback!

She indicated that it had become a integral component of her daily routine along with the Open Court Phonics program. She used it twice a day -- first thing in the morning and then again after lunch. While she greatly appreciated seeing a wave of calm sweep over the classroom as the children focused intently, they loved doing the exercises to the therapeutic music.

Especially intrigued by her twice a day use, I asked if she had noticed any improvements. She stated that the students' ability to focus and their organizational efforts on paper had improved greatly. When I asked whether reading scores had improved, she said her class experienced "a dramatic increase in scores - in the 74 percentile." When I ask what she felt had contributed to the improvement, she replied that she felt that perhaps the phonics had been a good part of it.

In light of what I know about brain research on the cerebellum, I explained that phonics had likely contributed, but the impact of the multi-sensory handwriting concept was far more likely to have had far greater influence than she recognized. This "little brain" at the base of brain had long been thought to be primarily involved in coordinating movement. However, new brain research has now revised that limited perspective -- the cerebellum has been found to have far greater influence on higher brain functioning than previously thought. Because handwriting uses "bottom up processing" to influence "top down processing" to influence the brain, it screams and shouts the critical importance of more intensive handwriting training for young children.

While the movement in both is modulated by the cerebellum, the neurological impact on the brain due to the rhythmic repetitive manipulation of the thumb and fingers and its inter- active processing has a totally different impact on brain processing over time than simply saying letter sounds. The reality is that it causes an essential shift in dominance -- by dampening the right brain's influence, it strengthens the left brain's control. This is the "brain that goes to school," where the language capacities are located, bringing its sequential processing style "online."

Brain researcher Eric Harth clarifies a basic physiological fact as to its effectiveness - "The power of determining one's own behavior is not the power of one entity (the brain) over another (the body), but the influence the brain has on itself."

While this was not controlled research, the vast potential of this process as evident in her improved reading scores merits serious attention from principals, pre-kindergarten and first grade teachers on up.

 For more information about a staff in service, contact Jeanette Farmer at retrainbrain@prodigy.net or check out my web page at http://www.retrainthebrain.com