When we learn about authors, illustrators and publishing books in the beginning of the year, I always tie in the lesson on the parts of the book to cross lateral movement by relating the spine of the book to our spine. Both are midlines and we use that word to springboard into topics like symmetry, foundation and brain development!
In a grad school class at St. Ed’s we learned about cross lateral movement and the importance it has in brain development. We learned about how crossing the midline calms the brain while also stimulating neural activity.
In this 5 minute video, Rae Pica discusses a 16 year old who could read and implemented cross lateral movement to engage connection between the two hemispheres. He was able to read in just 6 weeks. Rae talks about some cross lateral movement activities that we do with infants, toddlers, preschoolers and even kids in elementary school. If we begin to mindfully integrate (not force!) these fun and playful movements into our day, they can make a world of difference in brain development!