Gaps in learning could stem from poor bilateral coordination and mixed dominance, which can prevent your child from tracking, reading, listening to the teacher, comprehension and expressive and receptive language. Bilateral Integration While laterality is the dominance of one side of the body, humans are bilateral animals because we have two sides of the body; therefore we need bilateral activities and movements for greater learning. Bilateral integration creates the opportunity for your child to use both sides of their body in a coordinated manner. This includes hands, eyes, arms, legs, feet and the brain. Your child must develop bilateral coordination in all parts of the body to perform fine motor skills, gross motor tasks, walking, logical thinking, studying, and the list goes on and on. This is why you see a two-year-old frequently eating with both hands, why they scribble with a crayon in either hand, why they push a wagon with both feet, and why they jump off the playground with both feet at the same time. If your child has plenty of opportunity to experience sensory and motor experiences as a baby and toddler, the brain matures sequentially and their bilateral integration transitions smoothly. However, when it comes to certain functions and tasks, your child will establish dominance and the brain will start to specialize in one side of the brain. Laterality Laterality describes an important change in your child’s brain where it becomes aware of the two sides of the body and its differences and similarities. The brain starts to recognize that perhaps one hand or one foot is better at certain skills than the other. Eventually, you will want your child to choose a dominant foot, eye, ear and hand for learning, preferably on the same side of the body to prevent confusion in the brain. If your child shows signs of mixed dominance, for some, it could create learning challenges as they grow older. Because the brain is divided into two hemispheres (right and the left), you may notice your child living more in the right side of the brain while they are younger (creative) and eventually work toward the left side of their brain as they grow older, which is used for more higher learning tasks (logical thinking, reading, writing). Mixed Dominance If your child displays signs of mixed dominance, they typically use alternating hands, feet, eyes and ears for different tasks or they switch back and forth between different hands, feet and eyes for different activities. For example, your child may have a dominant left eye, but a dominant right hand (opposite dominance). Many children have mixed dominance and show no signs of learning challenges, but for some, this can create confusion in the brain when it comes to their learning ability  

As your child grows from a toddler to a small child, it’s fun to watch them reach developmental milestones that prepare them for learning. One of those developmental milestones your child begins to develop almost automatically is their dominance. Over time, your child will start showing signs of favoring one hand or foot over the other, which is preparatory for writing and for sports. This is what we call lateral dominance. Lateral dominance refers to your child’s preferred use, or inclination for favoring one hand, eye, or foot in skilled activities over the other side of the body.