Why Crossing the Midline Activities Helped this Child Listen to his Teacher

By: Integrated Learning Strategies

A child’s motor planning (jumping, bouncing running), auditory (retaining letters and sounds, listening to the teacher), and sensory input (behavior, focus, attention), and organizational skills used for math, in many cases is now suffering because we did not allow our children adequate time to develop these critical milestones used for helping the left and right sides of the brain work together.

Crossing the Midline – Right and Left Brain it's important to start from the beginning before working on higher learning concepts like reading, comprehension, writing and math. The first step is to help our kids with purposeful movement and crossing the midline activities to activate the right and left sides of the brain.

Elbow to Knee In this exercise, you want your child to have their right elbow touch their left knee and then their right knee. Make sure your child crosses their imaginary midline of the body. We want the movement to be precise and slow so children don't complete the exercises too fast or sloppy.

Crossing the Midline Activities – Right to Left

Wrong Way or What to Watch for If your child is struggling to cross one side of their body over the other then they may need help. Children with poor muscle tone, coordination and balance may struggle to cross the midline. You may need to physically help them put their left elbow to their right knee.

Crossing the Midline Activities – Right to Left

Shoulder to Shoulder Children are being taught how to cross their right arm to the left shoulder and back again. Remember to help your child touch their right hand to their left shoulder, and vice versa. This activity should be completed slowly and accurately so that each person's body moves at the same speed.

Crossing the Midline Activities – Right to Left

Swipe up to read the full article!