APD: Hemisphere integration

I still often research APDs out of sheer curiosity to see the experiences of others and what's being done in the field, so today I ran across this... I found it interesting because while I'm not fully ambidextrous, I ate left-handed as a kid and my mom thought I was left-handed until I picked up a pencil with my right hand.  Most of the time, I've been right-handed, but have encountered many instances where I've confused people because they think I'm right-handed but I'm doing something left-handed... like shooting a bow in gym class, for example, or putting (golf) left-handed some days and right-handed others, or forgetting I'm right-handed and jotting something down with my left hand because the paper is to my left.  I seem to go through cycles of intense wordsmithing, logic and organization with random bursts of artistic streaks - even in music, which I generally suck at.  I've known for a long time that the two hemispheres of my brain cannot match the standard idea that one must control one set of skills and be dominant over the other, because... they /don't/ do that.  I have skills across the board that bubble up and then disappear, one second as if I'm naturally talented at something and the other, like I can't even do the basics of what I know I've done.  It's beyond mood although I call it that to avoid confusing people; it's either can or can't, and it changes.  And it can change fast, too, depending on how much "fuel" was spurring me on.  As if the ability has a tank and the tank feeds the ability until it runs out of gas, then too does the ability, and suddenly a new one pops up revving its engine.  It can last minutes or hours.

So, to read this little blip below, gave me a moment of ponder... but I think they may have oversimplified it, if there's anything to it at all.  I have excellent long term memory about some things, as Dale will attest to... right down to the chalk under a table, things people pissed me off about as a kid who wasn't speaking well yet, and the now-faded images of a 300-page-book I memorised by the time I was eleven or so.

All that said, however... I /will/ say that when I've been studying music and sounds for long periods of time (weeks), I notice a reduction in how bad the APD is.  People start to make more sense.  But, it's not permanent... the more computer-oriented I get, the less I can "get" people again.  I was also reading somewhere recently that right-hemisphere APDs often mean that the affect child may talk "flat" or "monotone" - bingo - and have difficulty discerning tone or meaning even if they understand the words themselves.  I found that interesting, too.  The thing that always bothered me about APD, though, is that I have always been a STRONG reader and an excellent speller.  It's the audio portion that sucks ass a lot of the time.  Apparently, I've been doing what many professionals do - shoving a list of symptoms at myself, comparing, and going, 'But they don't match up exactly.'  The thing is, it's not exactly a disability.  It may be classified as one, but I've compensated naturally for it, worked around it, and frankly, find it amusing... even though I still dislike crowds and still say the wrong thing often enough to be endeared to people as quirky, strange, and geeky even if well-intentioned.  Not everyone with auditory processing problems fits into a neat little box.  Some of us leak out and spill our rays of sunshine all over the other neat little boxes, whether the other neat little boxes like it or not.

ANYwho... the blip:

The next area of auditory function we need to assess is long-term memory. Can the individual learn auditorily and retain that information? If a child is having problems remembering math facts, etc. this is usually associated with what we call auditory dominance. We have found that to have good long-term memory, an individual should have all skilled functions on one side of the body, thus establishing what we call a dominant hemisphere of the brain. If the individual is right-handed (and the individual should have a dominant hand for all skilled activities and not be ambidextrous), then that individual should be right-eyed, right-eared and right-footed. Note which ear the individual uses for the telephone, which ear does that individual turn towards you to hear more clearly, to which ear does that individual bring an object to hear slight sounds like a watch.

Lack of a dominant hemisphere of the brain causes reversals, whether visual or auditory, and stuttering and long term memory problems.

-nv