TweedleWink Testimonials from Parents
When it comes to right brain classes, many parents are always eager to see results in their children after attending right brain classes. To put things into perspective, let me first ask: when you send your child for music class, do you expect to hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony being played after half a year of music lessons? When you send your child for tennis lessons, do you expect that your child will be playing in tournaments after a couple of months? Likewise, when you send your child for right brain classes, you have to be patient for output.
In the meantime, testimonials from other parents and children can be a source of inspiration. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you have probably read Shichida and Heguru testimonials before. Now you can read the testimonials from TweedleWink. These testimonials are from the US because that is where the school originated. The local TweedleWink school has not been around long enough to generate the kind of testimonials I know most parents are expecting, however, the results so far have been promising. While we wait for a new generation of children to go through the local school, here are some TweedleWink testimonials from the US:
Miyuki
Mother of 3 children, Washington, USA
“My first daughter is ten years old. She is so loving and caring. No one would ever know that her reading and math abilities are high school level. She is like somebody who is practicing 1 Corinthians 13:4 : Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude… She is in the gifted children’s class… Our second daughter is seven years old. She is showing her great memory in her work. She can memorize poems, songs, forms of Taek Won Do easily… My third child is four. My mother says that he talks and behaves like an adult because he is emotionally so mature. He understands other people’s situations and feelings.”
Maria
Mother of 1, California, USA
“My parents are amazed at his ability to recognize obscure types of birds, add up sums troublesome for 10-year-olds… John has acquired is a tremendous love of active learning and self-direction using all types of learning styles and activities. He has such an intuition, passion and curiosity about life. I am constantly astonished by his knowing what I am thinking to the exact precise words and concepts.”
Caleb
11-year-old student of the program, Montana, USA
“I have been using right brain education all of my life. It has helped me a lot in school and at home. I can scan a page of information and remember a lot of the facts that were displayed on the page. This form of learning is GREAT! Because I have been using right brain educational techniques since I was born I was reading at the age of two. I am very glad to have been exposed to this type of learning at a young age.
From Paulina (Caleb’s Mother)
Caleb is a 4.0 student in 6th grade at a college preparatory school.
- His speed reading, depending upon the material is: 360-480 wpm (Novels are faster, resource material is slower)
- At 2nd grade, he was reading at 9th grade level.
- He can mentally image projects from beginning to completion accurately enough to modify plans, in his mind, and start again until he has, what he thinks, is a working model.
- His memory is very strong, but I have not tested the digit span lately. Last year is was 250 sequential memory/40 images all-at-once (my goal is to make this a relaxed program and testing can interfere with that.)
From Caleb’s report card:
“Caleb’s abilities are well beyond his years. Is he a real sixth grade boy? I keep looking for wires and plugs, but can’t seem to find any!” -English instructor
Dr. Celeste Miller
Education Department Chairperson, Winona State University, USA
“I have seen young children identify and match dozens of upside down math, language and picture cards. I have even seen babies match cards using their feet to indicate their choice. I know of a child who at a young age could routinely guess the correct number of jelly beans in a jar.”
These are just partial TweedleWink testimonials – I’ve included only the main portions that most parents seem to be interested in. You can find more testimonials on their website.
More information:
Nurture for the Future 
Alamak….this means I should sign up again at TW?
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Nope. It just means that whether you sign up at TweedleWink, Shichida or Heguru, you can expect results if you follow right brain philosophy. I have heard some comments that TW program is not truly “right brain” and I understand the arguments, however, the results seem to indicate otherwise. So I guess the fundamental message is love your child, believe in his abilities and practice right brain education and you will see the results. At least that is the message I understand from all of this.
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That is really interesting i didn’t know you could results like that. How great.
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Actually I was thinking about myself?! Maybe I try to do it myself first and then easier for me to teach Ben.
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Yeah, that was what I thought of doing – use the Wink program on me. I did a bit of it but so hard to find time! I keep thinking if I can speed read then I would save so much time reading parenting books! But the problem is finding the time to learn to speed read! :-p
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Hi Shen Li, can u pls share bat the comments why TW is not truly right brain? Is it because it does not have the program that he guru or shincida have?
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PC – From what I understand, the reason why TW was considered to be not truly right brain is because they incorporate Montessori and other philosophies into their program – not just Shichida’s philosophies. While that may be true, I do not believe that it lessens the value of their classes for right brain development. The fundamental principle of right brain education is relationship and love. It is when a school that calls itself “right brain” focussed neglects that principle that I get worried because if you don’t focus on love and relationship, it is no longer right brain, it automatically becomes left brain.
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Shen Li, hv u heard BRAINet?The company supplies right brain education tools to Shichida (the salesperson said).I’m wonder can I just invest a set for my son, without send him go to Shichida..since Shichida is using that tools..what’s ur opinion?
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Leena – yes, I have. But I have not purchased anything from them. These are the reasons why I still think right brain classes are good if you can send your child even if you do right brain practice at home:
– radar effect (Shichida said that if one child’s right brain abilities emerge, the other children quickly follow). This is something that won’t happen at home, unless you have more than one child.
– resources. No matter how much you do at home, it will be difficult to match the resource capabilities of the right brain schools.
– experience. I know I can’t flash the cards as quickly as the senseis at Heguru.
By all means, you should do as much home practice as you can, but I think having formal classes is still beneficial even if you practice at home. Although I am sure that any dedicated mother can still help her children develop their right brain potential without the classes, it is just easier and the success rate higher if your child attends classes.
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Hi Shen Li,
Sometimes, when I compare the methods of the different right brain schools, I find TW to be very gentle in comparison to say, Shichida. If you frequent forums from Singapore such as kiasuparents, you will see that the effort that the Shichida parents put in is tremendous. I am talking about new sets of flashcards 3 times a day, everyday. So, I guess home practice and parental effort is very important if you want to see results. The testimonials came from ppl with success in right brain education. Have you ever come across anybody who claim that it did not work?
Having said that, I just want to add that my DS and I enjoy our TW classes. He does act mature for a 13 month old, understands instruction very well and loves music and math, and conveys his wishes(demands) by signing instead of crying his lungs out. This are just certain points in his character that I think is attributed to early education/TW
As you mentioned, the most important factor is love and trust. This i believe trumps any form of education, right brain or not.
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Hi Jessica,
Don’t know anyone who has said that it didn’t work. Those who are skeptical are usually the ones without experience in right brain education so they aren’t really in a position to comment. And I completely agree – love and trust above all else.
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Hi Shen Li,
Thanks for all your recent posts on right brain / whole brain education. You mentioned that you were largely schooled in Australia. I’m wondering if you knew whether there are such classes / programs in Australia (Sydney in particular)? I was trying to google them, but was quite unsuccessful at coming up with any similar types of classes. Or are these just not very popular in Australia? Wonder why?
Would you also have any insights on the quality of daycares /preschools in Australia compared to say, the recent research you were doing on the Montessori preschools in KL?
Thanks very much,
Denise
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Hi Denise,
Although I did most of my schooling in Australia, that was all well before I embarked on early childhood education. I learned about early childhood development in Uni but it was a small portion of one subject that I confess I did not pay as much attention to as I should have. There is a Shichida Academy in Australia but unfortunately it is only available in Victoria – http://www.shichida.com.au/. I guess there isn’t much at present because the right brain wave has not caught on over there. I think the lack of popularity is probably due to the laid back nature in Australia – at least that was how I remembered it to be when I was there.
I honestly cannot comment on the quality of daycares and preschools in Australia because I honestly have not done any research. To be fair, I am not really in the position to do so anyway because I cannot see the schools personally (haven’t been back for a visit since before I got pregnant with Gareth). However, I would say that you can depend on the quality of care in daycares in Australia more so than in Malaysia because the criteria for running a daycare over their is more stringent compared to Malaysia. They have better regulations for these things and the authorities have a lot more autonomy to shut down centers that fail to meet the criteria.
Here is an example, I once read in a parenting magazine about a mother whose 2 month old baby suffered brain damage after falling out of a sarong at a daycare center in Malaysia. The reason for this was because the carer was in a bad mood and rocked the baby too hard. I cannot imagine something like that happening in Australia without serious consequences. As far as I know, nothing happened to the childcare center where this happened.
As for Montessori programs, I should think the options in Australia would be better. There aren’t many options for Montessori schools here. Some of the Montessori schools here are not true Montessori but a mixed bag of programs combined with some Montessori philosophies and taught by teachers who may not even be Montessori qualified. Over here, anyone can become a preschool teacher.
Not sure that this was much help, though…
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Hi Shen Li,
Thanks for your comments. It is good at least to hear your thoughts even if you cant do a side by side comparison of the quality of daycares/ preschools. From the few daycares that I had visited (early in my pregnancy, because of the long waitlist for a spot in daycare), they seemed quite professionally run. And they do have some activities for the babies and toddlers like reading, singing time etc and maybe some show and tell in certain centres, but I wouldn’t have a clue as to how those compared to the Montessori ones you saw in KL.
I must say though that I’m at least comfortable with the ratio of carers/ teachers to babies (1:4) so surely it can’t be all that bad i.e. kids being left on their own the whole time haahaa.
And yes, I did google the Schicida Academy and found only one in Victoria. Probably due to all the Malaysians in the area :p
Eventhough Australians seem pretty laidback, I think somehow the education or the society encourages critical thinking, based on what I’ve seen so far, which is really good. Hopefully, with some supplements of the minimal ‘right brain’ (so to speak) activities, it will give my child a good foundation to build upon.
Thanks again!!
Cheers
Denise
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My pleasure, Denise. A ratio of 1:4 is definitely way better than it is here. Most places here is usually at 1:6. Very uncommon to find something better than that over here.
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My friend told me that few of her friends sent their kids to shichida, but without practice at home, after few yrs courses in shichida, they didn’t not see any results on their kids.
For TW, they don’t believe in repetition, they believe repetition is left brain. I checked with the TW principle TW, she said that it is no need to purposely practice at home of what they have learn in the class unless it is requested by the kids. Most important is the kids are happy and enjoy. Right brain only works in happy and enjoy environment without stress.
Shichida and TW have different kind of concept and believe, I believe both also deliver results to the kids, just a matter of how much and what kind of results that you would like to see on your kids.
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Hi YY,
Personally, I think home practice is important. But you don’t have to repeat what you do in class. Do other things. Different flash cards, different games, etc. That is not repetition. Repetition is if you copy all the stuff you did in class.
Yes, it is often overlooked – the joy in learning. This is because most of us are left brain learners and only associate learning with effort and focus. But even when we are having fun and enjoying ourselves, learning is easier for us, too. Shichida also believe in love and relationship first. If you read Makoto Shichida’s books, you will see that he often emphasises the importance of love in right brain education. Unfortunately, it may not always be communicated so well during the classes. I think this is something that TW classes do better at teaching parents – the importance of the love and the relationship.
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Hi Shen Li,
May I have your email add.? I would like to talk to u in more details. Thanks.
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