The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind

Unsurprisingly, a book called The Whole-Brain Child is concerned with integrating the parts of the brain. However, Siegel and Bryson go further by treating integration as the primary goal of any successful approach to parenting. As the book progresses, they integrate the concepts and strategies, just as they encourage techniques to integrate the whole brain. Integration should ideally occur horizontally, vertically, within the self, and between the self and a larger community. Fundamentally, the structure of the book and its front and back matter reflect the focus on integration within the brain.

Integrating the left and right brain subtly refutes a common psychological misunderstanding that there are “right-brained” and “left-brained” people. Siegel and Bryson show, instead, that the right brain is active from birth, while the left brain develops more slowly. While there are certainly people who focus more on language than image, or on creativity rather than logic, the two sides of the brain are integrated as the brain develops. The concept of an upper and lower brain, which likewise develop at different rates, additionally debunks the idea that the brain is inherently split and separated. 

The understanding that neuroscience offers is that as the left brain and upper brain develop, intervention from parents and caregivers can speed or delay integration.