Age you noticed handedness?

[~Kim~]

Me too Cai!
Many generations of women in my family are left handed. Darcy (yay) has shown an obvious tendency towards her left hand for a long time and she's just 2.

[~clover~]

I can already see in Jesse at 3 1/2 months that he'll be right handed. He has alot more control with his right hand.
Jaz is ambidextrous. Can use both. Mostly uses her right, but can use her left. She's using the left hand less & less though. I'm completely useless with my left hand.

[tan32]

oh dear Hamish is 4 turning 5 this year and he still doesnt seem to have a favourite hand.
He constantly swaps, picks up with one hand then will change it half way through what he is doing.

Perhaps he isnt going to have favourite but thats ok with me. I tend to use both hands although i am stronger with the right. Hamish hasnt lent towards either.

[paradise lost]

Quote:
DD is still using both hands, but i always pass into her right hand, to encourage right-handedness (if she's left-handed i can't change it but if she's between the two i can),

Really? Why?

Because it's easier and safer to be in the 90% of people the machines, roads, equipment and ways of doing things the world is set up for, primarily and also a little because the way a left-handed brain processes information makes learning a less flexible affair. It's incredibly handy to be left handed if you're in a car crash because things like motor and language skills are more spread out, over both hemispheres (rather than in one hemisphere) so you're unlikely to have more devastating effects from head injury, but equally you're more likely to be in a crash if you're left handed because the cars and roads and other drivers expect you to be right-handed.

I have nothing against left-handed people, but i think for her sake she'd be better off right handed IF she can choose. If she can't of course that's perfectly fine too.

Bx

[jemima]

Oh Gosh now I am worried about both my boys being left handed .

So why does it making learning harder or should I say less flexible if you are left handed?

[Curly]

I was prepared to swear DS was a lefty by the time he was about 4 months old - he really seemed to favour the left. However he is now 21 months and most definitely a righty. When I gave him textas and crayons to draw with at about 12 months he went straight for the right hand and never draws with his left hand. He also throws things with his right hand, not his left.

Interestingly, when he kicks a ball, he favours the right foot but not nearly so obviously as with his hands.

I think left handedness is cool but I understand it can make life a little less convenient given that most things are built for right handed world (think about the way your fridge door opens, the button that opens the microwave door, etc etc). I have read a little about it though and there is no need to "worry" about lefthandedness, studies have shown that lefties are no more accident prone or have a higher mortality rate than righties.

[paradise lost]

Jemima in most schools the teacher will stand at the front of the lesson teaching. When writing on the board, doing maths or writing skills, he or she will turn his back to write on the board. A teaching assistant will sit beside the child to help (if they have a teachers assistant).

A left-handed child is thus trying to do what is being done in front of them backwards, because they lead with their thumb when writing, not their little finger. To teach a left-handed child a motor skill (like shoe-lace tying or writing), if you yourself are right-handed, it's best to sit opposite them, make yourself their mirror, and they won't have any trouble. But people don't. They tend to cater to the majority and try to teach the same way. Left handed people i know ALL had problems with skills like tie-tying, lace-tying, drawing, any fine motor control basically. They ALL caught up eventually. Some studies suggest that the fact that motor control in left-handed people is in both hemisphered makes them less-apt at such things, but i truthfully think it's down to how these things are taught that makes a difference.

Life is set up for right-handed people. It's not just little things like tools - if you go to hospital for an operation it's VERY unlikely you'll have a surgeon who operates with his left hand, even if he IS left-handed because ALL of the tool, implements, medical machines, beds and operating theatres are set up for right-handed people.

In addition left-handed people's brains ARE concretely different to right-handed people. They tend to be highly creative rather than analytical, and do well with verbal skills and maths, perhaps because their right hemisphere, where such tasks are dealt with, is more active because of their motor centres being in that part too(?), BUT they frequently have problems with written expression (for the reasons above) and some studies have suggested that the teaching styles in mainsteam teaching are less useful for left-handers than right. Again, it's not insurmountable, it's just irritating for them to have to deal with.

There have been studies which found left-handed people are over-represented in both high IQ and autistic/developmental delay groups. Because the left-handed brain is less hemispecific than the right-handed brain it could be that SOME left handedness is BECAUSE of brain damage, whereas other left-handedness is not. If that makes sense.

Left-handed people are also in SOME studies, over-represented in dyslexia, but i do wonder to what extent that is poor teaching style which doesn't work well for the left-handed child. Prematurity and difficult births are associated with a slight increase in the likelihood of left-handedness, it's hard to know if a difficult birth causes the left-handedness or if the left-handed brain approaches birth differently.

Basically, to re-iterate, if DD or any of my kids turned out to be left-handed, that's totally fine by me, but i was ambidextrous as a kid (very handy when i broke my right wrist at 11) and for all the reasons above if DD is the same i will teach her to favour the right. It will make her life easier, that's all.

Bx

[Liz]

You can make lefties become righties. DH is a prime example. His mum made him righthanded by making him use his right hand for everything. Which explains why his writing looks like he's using the wrong hand LOL.

And in the good ol' days, left handed kids used to get hit with a ruler and made to use their right. So you can influence their handedness if you really want.

I don't really care if DS is left or right handed but if he's a lefty - he got it from his dad.

Just remember - only left handed people are in their right minds