connection between right brain training/early learning and acquisition of skills

[Skylark]

I had  an interesting discussion a few days ago. It started in quite an unusual way. We were in a big shopping center when my baby started signing “potty”. It took us a while to find a bathroom, all the while she was showing me that she needed to go. So by the  time we got there, I was not paying much attention to anyone around trying to get her set up on her little potty, that we always carry along.

One of the ladies there was observing us ( which is not unusual in itself, sometimes we have a few people with their kids and toddlers watching us and asking questions, since I guess it is not so common for 1,2,3,4 months old to use potty), and then she asked me out of the blue “So is your baby getting right brain education?” I was taken aback a little. Then she explained that she is a professor, if I recall correctly child psychologist, and they were doing studies, that connected right brain training with acquisition of skills that were not specifically taught, but were observed by babies and picked up “instantaneously”, without a period of “learning” so to speak.

She said that they were observing that babies/ young children that were exposed to right brain training/activities would have abilities to “pick up” skills almost effortlessly. But they were not always the same skills, or not necessary predictable which skills will be picked up in that manner. Apparently their brain is trained to observe in a much different manner, taking note of minor details, and putting it all together, and then just performing a skill, without noticeable period of learning.

I do not know if that really how it works, but it was interesting to hear. It did not make sense to me in regards to my girl through, because we did not start flash cards, GD method or early learning things till she was about 3 months old, but she was using her potty ( and not using diapers) at about 2 weeks, she did start using her potty instantly. But I would not be able to say that it was because of early learning/or using right brain learning methods, because we were not at that time.

So I am just wondering about experiences of others here on this forum, any connection between right brain training/early learning and acquisition of skills, which they were not trained in? Just curious…

[fatima786]

you potty trained at 2 weeks! that is amazing. how did you do that? how did you know? what made you do that? that is def amazing!!!

[momtomany]

I believe it... of my 3 older children (ages 15, 12, and 9), the 12 year old learned to read significantly earlier than the other two... independently anything she wanted before she turned 6 -- the others by 8 or 9... and she is the one that grasps everything else more easily, has the beautiful handwriting, draws beautifully, learns new piano pieces easier, and just seems more capable at everything at an earlier age (in math, for example, she is only one book behind her sister who is 3yrs 9months older and I am rarely helping her with her questions but I am often helping DD15... I don't think it would be a good idea to let her 'pass' her sister, but I know she could).  Interestingly, she also started crawling on her hands and knees on the day she turned 5 months old.

[Joha]

you potty trained at 2 weeks! that is amazing. how did you do that? how did you know? what made you do that? that is def amazing!!!

Skylark,

I want to know too. Could you please share? My daughter is almost 7 months old. I wonder if it is too late to start.

[Kyles Mom]

yeah even in our country majority still are trained to use the toilet (NOT the potty!) very young, my cousin never dirtied the diaper after the age of 4months as he was not on diapers! my son was doin ok at the age of 15months when he became ill n i couldnt get him out of diaper as he first got diarrhea and then flu with fever and all.
i have a cousin whose daughter, same age as Kyle, who will cry herself out to get the diapers removed for her to empty bowel at the age of 8months! like they once waited to see if she'l unltimately do it but she just cried n cried!!! (poor her i know!!!)
I would advice to start training young like in the first three months and believe me u save money, time and gain confidence and raise an independent baby too who can be proud enough not to dirty the diaper leave alone pee in it!

as for the main topic i think its quite possible!

and no, never is too late, my advice is put the diaper on and start to put her on potty or on hands every 15mins at start and then after a while they will somehow let u know....even if they dont know sign lang they find a way to tell u they need to get to the toilet!

[Joha]

I have to admit. I did hear about the "diaper-free" techinique even before I was pregnant. By the time our baby was ready to come to this world, my husband and I discussed it and it sounded overwhelming to us being new parents    so we decided not to do it. Now, I think I may give it a shot.

This article has the basics and some helpful information

http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-diap/42-infant-potty-training.htm

This one has the steps to start "elimination communication"

http://www.ehow.com/how_4575933_do-elimination-communication.html

I'm still interested to hear Skyrlak experience.

[octaviaorca]

skylark, do you do other things that might relate to right brain training.  you've def. interested me in EC for dd2 but i've also been thinking about ways i would want to re-tool the teaching processes for her (she is still in the tummy so i have time ).  i have always been interested in the right brain program or tweedle wink but haven't stepped up... do you used them?

amazing that you found someone who knew what you were doing with your bebe!!!  i find most people look at me like i am a nutty parent when i talk to my child and ask her to read things or had started potty training @ 1.5!!  compared to you guys i'm WAY behind!!! 

[Skylark]

you potty trained at 2 weeks! that is amazing. how did you do that? how did you know? what made you do that? that is def amazing!!!

As far as potty training, I think it is more correct to say that she trained us  Differently from Joha, I had no clue about EC till much later, when people start saying, "oh, you are doing Elimination Communication...", that is when I checked about it on line. Ec is a very neat concept. Mothering.com has a very good discussion forum on EC. But we have not really practiced its training aspect, since we have not trained per se. But communication aspect of it, -- definitely, it was all about communication.

When my daughter was born, she was extremely alert. I had natural non-medicated water birth. Starting from Day 2 or 3, she waited till we would be changing her diaper and will go exactly then. So every time she fussed as she needs her diaper changed, we would open up her diaper, it would be dry and she would go right then. It happened again and again, too regularly to be a coincidence. So after a week we decided to get her a potty to see if that would work better. It took us another few days to actually find a little potty ( it was not easy to find something that would work for a newborn). And the next time she fussed to be changed we took off her diaper and put her on the potty, she went immediately, and that was the first time she did not cry during her changing. The same day our friends invited us out to the restaurant ( it was for the first time after the baby was born we went out), we took potty with us, she used it in the restaurant’s restroom, in the car and then later in the park, when we went for a walk. We had to support her sitting on it, and she really was the happiest little baby sitting on her potty. It was a hit, and she continued with it. There was no gradual learning, it was as if she knew all about it, we could not believe it  Much less all the people that we talked to.
We filmed the first time she used the potty and a few times after that…

For the first month or so we kept a chart of her potty times as well. Then we stopped. According to the chart, she  would have an "accident" once out of 21-25 times, and that would usually be when we were driving when she asked to go, and it took us a while to get off the freeway or a couple of times when we forgot that she might be asking, so we were just trying to change activities, wondering why she is fussy. However most of the times she would hold. At night she would wake up about 2-3 times nowadays, but she goes right back to sleep after we put her on the potty.

She was very expressive as a newborn, and it was very clear when she was asking to go potty, and when she would be hungry ( she would make certain sound with her mouth). Now she started using her own sign that she invented to sign for a potty. We have not started baby signing yet, so she came up with this one on her own, and I think we will just leave it this way, as she signs for the potty may be 3 times out of 5, which is neat.

An interesting observation, she would wait to get an eye contact in most situations before showing that she needs to go ( unless she is in the car and we can not see her, then she would make little cough-like sounds.) I guess she figured out, that this way she does not need to waste time keep on asking while her parents are talking or busy. It was very cute. We were visiting our midwife, and as we were talking, Evangeline realized that she needed to use potty, she would get an eye contact with someone in the room and started signing "potty", she did not realize that daddy saw that and went to the car to get her potty, so she was getting pretty desperate. So she "upped" her efforts, she would smile at different people in the room, and the moment they will notice her, she would start signing "potty". It turned out to be quite a show, ha
This is  in reply to the question how it all started.

As far as EC or early potty training, I am definitely not an expert in training aspect of it. I am sure others will have much better council, ideas and tips. I would not know where to start 

One thing that our midwife mentioned is that potty training is basically “un-training” baby to go in his or her diapers ( which we train baby to do after birth), so similarly to any other habit, the shorter the time certain action is practiced, the easier it is to “re-train”, “re-learn” or “un-train” , so I agree with Kyles Mom, that the earlier you start the better, it simply makes sense.

In this sense, it seem to make sense that it does take a bit more work with training the baby who used diapers for a few months, then communicating with the one who does not know that going into diapers is an option. Communication is secret in both cases, I think, however in first case, it is not just communication but also training, and showing that it will feel better to use potty vs diapers, persuasion, getting child interested; while in the second case, it is more about communication.

So octaviorca, I think it is worth a try (from birth), and Joha, I do not think it is "too late". Look at the society at large, most parents wait till 2,3 years to start, the habit is more established then, you are w-a-ay ahead in that respect. I think it is worth giving it a try, but not feeling pressured. It is not about accomplushment after all, but about communication and happier baby  And also each baby is different ( I wonder what will my next one be like  )

Joha, it definitely was not more work to be diaper-free for us, then using diapers. It actually was much easier, because there was no cleaning after each pee or pooh, no diaper rush, no diapers to wash. I only washed her up a couple of times a day with a warm cloth, since she likes it, but even that was not really necessary. It also helped us to establish a real line of communication with her at early age. She seem to be very secure, that she can communicate with us. It manifests in her interactions with strangers, her bed-time habits, independent play time. I think the fact that she feels she can express her need and we are able to meet it, based on her request makes her want to communicate more. So lately she would be very clear about her music preference, or preference between two outfits, or showing what is bothering her ( she was teething lately, and would point where she wanted us to put teething gel).

As far as connection between this and early learning… I do not know what to make of it. Because we have not started early learning activities with her ( like reading  and math) till she was 3.5 months. We did some other activities, but really, none of them would be related as her using potty happened instantly after birth… We did quite a bit of pre-natal communication ( playing music, talking, singing, rhythm, initiating contact via touch), and I definitely would say that showed right after birth. But I would have a hard time connecting that with her EC…

Will be very interesting to hear everyone’s experiences. Momtomany, your comment is very interesting!

[Joha]

Well my friend you definetly have a little genius  I have to be honest with you I'm in awe of how well you daughter communicates with you. That is awesome!    We did a lot of prenatal estimulation and our daughter has been very alert since day one too, but unfortunatly being wet doesn't bother her a bit  I have to be constantly checking her diaper because she would never complain because of it. So far we have been able to know when she is hungry by using signing language. When we make the sign for milk, cereal and eat she will smile at us if she is hungry otherwise she will look away.

Anyways, I may give it a try. It does sound like a lot of work though  I'll let you know what happens.

Congrats again on your daughter! 

[nhockaday]

That's amazing, Skylark. I think you are going to have an extremely smart child, and by that I mean one of those children who graduates high school at 10 or so     I would start doing every early learning activity that she will let you do.

[Skylark]

I guess it did not felt too extraordinary to me, since I did not know any different . Of course it makes my life quite a bit easier 

Any ideas for activities, Nikki? I am always looking for some new fresh ones

[nhockaday]

Everything. Flash cards, math, ek, lots of reading, learning videos ((when she hits 6 months) I would just show like 30 minutes max a day of videos that actually teach something), LR, signing, lots of motor skill activities, hands-on activities, Montessori activities, a lot of explaining everything and touching everything...the possibilities are endless. Just do all that you can (I'm sure you are already doing a lot of these) as long as she is happy. She sounds extraordinary, way more advanced than the norm 

[Skylark]

Thank you, Nikki, great list! K2U! Yes, we are doing quite a bit already, -- LR, LM, starting flashcards, listening to Russian, Chinese and English ( poetry, songs, dramas, Bible), my husband and I wear her a lot in a sling, so we explain what we do ( she loves that    her new thing now to touch everything that we are working with, like dishes, when I wash dishes with her in a sling  ), she watches my husband playing classical guitar (would follow his fingers and hums, and I think now this is her favourite activity, so we cant wait for Little Musician to be released).... Reading poems and small books..

What are the motor skill activities? (She just learned to put her pacifier in her mouth from all different positions, and really excited about it every time it works  , are there any specific activities that help motor skills at this age? Or Montessory activities? I know there are some for much older children... Any ideas?

[nhockaday]

Basically anything that lets her manipulate things. Fitting objects into holes, pressing buttons on toys, things like that. Just let her get her hands on everything. Tactile learning is great for developing fine motor skills. My son loves to play with dried beans. I have containers with spoons and funnels. These are very fun as long as your baby doesn't put everything in her mouth. I have to watch my son very closely. He has tried to put the beans in his mouth a few times. I had to remind him that they are yucky unless I cook them  You can just start by letting her grab them and feel their textures (you can use different beans for different textures). This will also help develop her pincer grasp.

I uploaded many Montessori videos a while back. Most of them are for toddlers and preschoolers, but I think you can modify certain activities with a lot of supervision and help, of course. I like all the videos on this site too http://www.earlylearningathome.com/home

I also started to let my son scribble at 5 months. I let him hold a crayon and I helped him move it around the paper. He created some nice scribbles by himself.

I think sign language really helped with his fine motor skills too.

[Skylark]

Thank you, Nikki! Very helpful!Always getting great advice from you!

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