Age you noticed handedness?

[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

[jemima]

Thanks heaps Hoobley. You are always a wealth of knowledge

[paradise lost]

Liz did you know if BOTH parents are left-handed there's still only a 26% chance their child will be.

Interestingly in cultural groups where using the left hand is saved for "unclean" activities left-handedness is not heard of. Everyone uses the "proper" hand, rather than the preferred one. Clearly God was right-handed, since he kept his favoured saints "at his right hand" and took Adam's left side (opposite God's right hand, also seen as the lesser or unimportant side) to make Eve...

My brother (a dyspraxic premmie) was also a lefty forced to be a righty. He laughingly considers himself antidextrous - crap with both hands... Interestingly he is brilliant with computers which use maths but don't differentiate between hands in operating...

Bx

[T&GsMum]

My DD is very much a left hander and she favoured this hand fairly quite early on. You could tell very easily when she was a toddler.

She has always had great fine motor skills, and it has not slowed her down at all really. She has some very experienced teachers in her Montessori Kindy, and they are helping her establish correct pencil grip for a lefty, and sitting opposite her etc, to demonstrate activities etc. She has always been a detailed drawer and her writing is very good and she is not even 4.5 years old yet and she can write many words if you spell them out to her, but she does have a tendency for mirror writing and that will be common place until she is in about grade 1 or 2. She will grow out of it, but it is a natural thing to do, as that is the way she is wired. She can write whole words in mirror, not just a few letters. Sometimes, this can be mistaken for dyslexia, but it is not. It is just one of those young left hander things and they will grow out of it. Actually, it is quite rare to have the skill to write entire words in mirror too. I think it is 1 in a few thousand (I can't remember the exact number I read). Many young lefties do a bit mirrored, but entire words is a bit different. It is a skill that Michelangelo & Leonardo Di Vinci had. Di Vinci in particular was renowned for his excellence and perfection in mirror writing.

But Hoobly makes intersting points and that is along the lines of what I have read too.
Interesting about the birth experiences as being an apparent reason for left handedness too. I have come across that, but don't know what to think of those findings. I have also read that transvaginal ultrasounds are said to contribute too. But who knows?..Maybe it is just one of those things and that is also what I have read as well. But we're all happy here and my DD has no worries at this stage. We are fortunate that she has some very cluey and experienced Kindy teachers who have already gotten onto the correct ways to teach a lefty how to do things like reading and writing, lacing (they do this as part of the Montessori programme, so she has already been learning quite early how to tie bows and do laces etc as part of the practical life section etc etc.). A lot of her activities at eth kindy are hands on, and this works well for her development and her left handedness has not been a hinderence at all.

[Liz]

Interesting.. I can write in mirror writing! I used to take notes that way just for the novelty LOL. I'm not a lefty tho, maybe I'm just weird LOL.

[T&GsMum]

Interesting.. I can write in mirror writing! I used to take notes that way just for the novelty LOL. I'm not a lefty tho, maybe I'm just weird LOL.

Perfect mirror writing has been attributed to genius ...

It is more dominant in the lefties to that, as that is the way they are wired naturally, but righties can have the skill as well. My maths teacher did, and he was a rightie. He was a very very intelligent man

[dust]

all the lefties i know are all doctors, whom i used to work for.. anyways
DD is 5 and still uses both, however the left more less so..
DH regrets his prep teacher telling him to "JUST CHOOSE ONE" and wishes he could still use both, understandably so.

[Liz]

LOL - would love to know the field that I'm a genius in! Nothing is apparent so far! LMAO. So far it's just a party trick

[paradise lost]

I can do it too Liz, also upside-down-and-back-to-front. And i can read upside down as fast as i can the right way up too. I think some of it (how it feels to me) is about spatial awareness, it's just about rotating what you want to read/write through space in your head.

Dust i was ambidextrous too and eventually "picked right" but if i practice just a little bit i can still write with my left hand - feels awkward though, especially because the spiral-bound notebooks i favour have their wire where it gets in the way of left handed writing. Your DH's brain might be a bit rusty but practice will bring it back.

I am left-eye-dominant, so clearly my brain is a wee bit ecletic when it comes to some things.

T&G'sMum Montessori are an excellent resource for children who are left-handed or indeed have any kind of difference. The method relies on looking at the individual child's needs and not on teaching in a "lowest-common-denominator" way which other schools are unfortunately forced to do.

Bx

[Liz]

Yeah DH is amazed at my reading upside down. I'm good at those spatial puzzles and things too.. guess I'm one of the few girls that CAN read road maps! LOL.

[T&GsMum]

T&G'sMum Montessori are an excellent resource for children who are left-handed or indeed have any kind of difference. The method relies on looking at the individual child's needs and not on teaching in a "lowest-common-denominator" way which other schools are unfortunately forced to do.

Oh yes! We have been so impressed with Montessori and they way in which they cater to the individual child's needs and interests. My DD just adores her time at Kindy too. Love it!

[Cricket]

Just curious about something ladies - I read a while ago that right-handed children generally have a strong clockwise crown in their hair, whereas left-handed children have either a counter-clockwise crown or no clear swirl in the crown at all. This sounded strange to me, and I haven't been able to prove or disprove it. All my kids are right-handed, and have a strong clockwise swirl.

I always figured God used Adam's left side to make Eve because that was where his heart was....?

[leebee81]

I suspect Oliver will be a lefty - he almost exclusively prefers to suck on his left hand, and tends to grab for things more often with the left or both hands rather than the right. Hubby is a lefty, I'm right handed.