Early Intuition with Shichida’s Right-Brain Learning:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 18, 2008 --

Occasionally, you have the opportunity to meet an educator who is herself a gifted accelerated learner with a vision of teaching and learning far ahead of her time. Pamela Hickein is one such person whom I had the pleasure to meet in 1996. Since then, I have had the privilege of following her quiet 10-year Montana classroom experiment innovating accelerated learning strategies using various brain wave patterns, a still embryonic field of research. Eventually, she branched out and developed teacher-training materials to share her experiences with other teachers via the internet. She recently closed her classroom and moved with her family to upper New York State. Knowing that her former classroom was like none other, I believe it is time for her story to be shared. I caught up with her last month and she agreed to be interviewed publicly for the first time.

Miller: Pamela, thank you for the opportunity to interview you about your experiences with accelerated learning. Can you tell me how you first got interested in what you call right brain education?

Hickein: Thank you for the opportunity to share. Well, I had been teaching Japanese in a progressive Montessori school that incorporated all sorts of accelerated learning techniques into their curriculum. After working at the school for five years, our principal asked me to translate from Japanese the right brain work of Dr. Makoto Shichida. Shichida taught that there were five right brain abilities: computer-like math calculation, perfect pitch, photographic memory, speed reading, foreign language acquisition and ESP.

As soon as the information was translated, I was given the task to put his ideas into practice with an experimental group of children ages 0-6. I began to create my own materials and techniques to refine his ideas. The results with the children were phenomenal. The children were demonstrating high levels of proficiency at math, foreign languages and intuition.

Incredibly, I was also benefiting from each class I taught! My right brain skills strengthened to the point where I could image the exact images that the children were seeing in their minds eye without any words. It was a little disarming because no one was around to teach me about what was happening. I became a little scared at first, but I realized that one of the adults was going to have to go forward into the unknown and be the guinea pig, so to speak. The children were
already way ahead of us. So, I relaxed and let each experience build on itself. I became very quiet. I let the children teach me. I was surprised at what I learned.

Miller: Were there other's ideas you studied to build upon in your work?

Hickein: I don't think that I would have appreciated the right brain abilities without first experiencing a true Montessori classroom. Montessori taught that children have an "absorbent mind," an "inner teacher" and definite "sensitive periods for learning" that are unique to each child. Following her philosophy, the right brain lessons were presented, modeled and then placed on the shelf for the child to
choose and discover when their sensitive period for that particular area of learning ripened.

Also, Glenn Doman's IAHP (Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential) early learning program was foundational to understanding Shichida's work since his program is based on it. Doman's work is tried and true. When brain-injured infants and toddlers came into our school, we were able to help using right brain education to communicate with them and Doman's cross-pattern crawling and other exercises to rebuild and repair physical and neurological pathways.

Miller: Did having these abilities yourself help you develop your theories?

Hickein: Absolutely. Once you get into a more intuitive state, then you start to understand how really young children learn--how they see their world, and then you know how to approach learning from that point of view. I learned that Shichida's idea of the 5 right brain abilities were really just one ability--intuition.

When a 2-year-old child can answer the question, "What is 2x3x4x5x6?," it is more of an intuitive, energetic answer than one of internal calculation. If you have given them the words for numbers, then as they've input those numbers (and corresponding visual quantity concepts) they've done so in a way that is so far from our understanding that I don't know when science will ever be able to
understand it.

You see, energetically, every number has a frequency: Every color, every shape, every smell, every sound (including musical notes). Children seem to have a synesthetic view of the world where letters have sounds and colors have shapes. So, if you say, 2 to children. and show them 2 dots. Then say, "plus two" with another two dots. And then say, "equals four" showing the total four dots.” The child gets the immediate understanding of what 2 is, as well as what "plus" does. If you show them numbers 1-100 and give them enough equation examples that they see and understand +, -, x and divide, then they can do the rest. As long as they are in a relaxed right brain state-free from the meddling, so to speak, of the left brain.

I don't know if you've seen the Science Channel documentary "Brainman," but it is a marvelous illustration of what I am trying to say. It is about a genius of our time who sees each number as a shape, color and sound. He can answer complex equations quickly by listening to the equation and waiting for his brain to flash forth the answer in the form of the shape, color, and/or sound, etc. When I saw this documentary, I thought, "Amen! Now, there is actually an adult out there who can show us exactly what the children are experiencing!" How else are we going to develop these theories unless we really embrace this type of learning ourselves?

I think, and this is a personal opinion (I don't really know), but I think that the children slow down and go to more of a beta wave state because that's where we are. We pull them over and say, "This is where society is. If you don't think in a certain way, and you cannot communicate with us, then change--now!"

Miller: How do you think children between birth and 3 learn most easily?

Hickein: Through flashes of information, quickly and gently. Also through lots and lots of play. Actually, if you've got a good audiovisual resource library at your finger tips, then you can encourage a child to play, to be helpful in the home (or school with practical life play) and teach a tremendous amount of learning through background audios playing, a quick 15-minute flashcard session,
classical music, picture cards--you name it. The environment needs to be safe to explore. I really think that the mother has to be at home—she needs to be there to narrate and teach early discipline and have fun with learning with her child.

Miller: Which of these methods that you promote do you see being especially important for preschool age children?

Hickein: Alpha-wave relaxation. Because, as I said before, if a child can be in that semi-meditative state, then the absorptive mind becomes like an infant’s once again. It is really amazing. It also encourages a more calming behavior and overall loving state.

Miller: Did you use these methods with your own children? Would you care to comment on their success?

Hickein: Well, I don't like to comment on my children, but I realize that I have to because they are the ones who are really products of the program. My 15, 13, and 7 year-old sons are in the 99% percentile overall in academics in the United States. The eldest was reading at age 2. My youngest, my daughter, is 2 and has had seizure-like activity from about 8 months of age. Doman’s physical fitness program really helped in her case. I will always be grateful. Even so, she is starting to read. Her intuition is really strong.

Miller: Do you think these methods help children with reading and math?

Hickein: Yes, I do. But I have to say that it’s important to be playful. I’ve seen parents become so enthusiastic about seeing results that they forget to enjoy the process. When this happens, their child senses stress and their intuitive abilities just shut down. Then, they try to respond to their parent’s desires through the left-brain--the part of us that bravely stays open during stress. They become more serious--good learners, but not intuitive anymore. It’s really sad because there is so much inventiveness, so much creativity that can be nurtured right along with left-brain thinking. When they are harmonized, great genius is possible.

There are so many problems that we will be passing on to our children—the environment, international politics, medical threats, etc. They will need every tool at their disposal to solve them.

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Due to the limit number of words in this press release, kindly visit our website for the complete part 2 press release.

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Submitted by Celeste A. Miller, Ph.D., September 22, 2006
Winona State University
Winona, MN 55987
Early childhood specialist

More information can be found online at http://www.wink-rightbrain.com/

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