getting child to use right hand

Savvy_Sue

Bargainbunny - I too get directional Left and Right mixed up; I will say or go right when the truth is left. And how about learning T'ai Chi from someone standing in front of you? I can ONLY mirror what that person does, e.g. if she raised her left hand, I would raise my right. I also wondered about when I use the sign language alphabet; I tend to point to my LH fingers for the vowels. I was always understood, tho.

Jeryth and Bargain Bunny, this directional confusion has posh name which I regret I don't know, but our techie support chap at work has it so badly he has never been able to drive and he is absolutely pants at giving directions (as I know to my cost!)

But the encouraging thing is that it has nothing to do with innate intelligence: so don't think it's because you're stupid, you're not, your brain just doesn't have that bit of wiring!

arkonite_babe

Both my children I thought would be left handed because to draw they used their left hand they later switched to right handed although one daughter sometimes still uses left (only 4 now) I would urge you to leave him to develop naturally if he remains left handed, then make sure his nursery & school when he starts are aware of it as I understand using right handed scissors can be very difficult for someone who is left handed.

My daughter was also like this, but now uses her right hand for writing altough will still use her left from time to time for drawing.

It's a natural process which you shouldn't try to interfere with, as it can cause major problems down the line as other posters have pointed out.

As longg as your child is healthy and happy, I wouldn't worry a darn about it!

jellyhead

Jeryth and Bargain Bunny, this directional confusion has posh name which I regret I don't know, but our techie support chap at work has it so badly he has never been able to drive and he is absolutely pants at giving directions (as I know to my cost!)

But the encouraging thing is that it has nothing to do with innate intelligence: so don't think it's because you're stupid, you're not, your brain just doesn't have that bit of wiring!

oooh, a posh name :-) i can't drive and have trouble with joystick/controller games, can't play playstation to save my life. i can't do directions. at school though i was considered intelligent and i got a degree so i suppose it doesn't affect too much unless you want a job involving driving. as far as left handedness goes the left handers in the school class i help out in are actually the brightest children in the class although it probably varies, it certainly doesn't mean they're less intelligent than right handers anyway. i don't think it's much to worry about except that left handers sometimes have problems if they are also dyspraxic etc. because some things are that much harder to get your fingers around. for a child without any difficulties i don't think being left handed is a problem :-)

VickyA_2

I'm very bright. ;D

In the school that I'm teaching in as part of my course, there are lots of different cultures represented. One of the mothers of a Year 1 child in my class asked my class teacher whether she could force her (girl) child to write with her right hand, instead of her left. The class teacher said that it wasn't up to her which hand the child writes with, just so long as the child was happy etc etc (and all the other arguments from above).

robnye

my eldest daughter is left handed.


she is more artistic and musical than i can ever hope to be.... she is mature for her age (most of the time), we allowed to her to use what ever hand she was comfortable with....she did have some stick in junior school, but now she is in year 10 , there are no problems.... in fact her hand writing is 10 times better than my ugly scrawl......
My Nan was left handed and forced to use her right at school, she remained ambidextrous until her death, my eldest brother is left handed and has never worried.

my middle daughter is right handed but lays cutlery at the table as though for left handed people.

At the end of the day, if your child is hapy using left or right.... dont worry...... in this day and age it doesnt matter......

Davesmum_2

Well said Robnye!!!

[move][glow=red,2,300]LEFTIE AND PROUD!!!![/glow][/move]

Davesmum x

ribenagirl

I'm a leftie and proud of it! ;D

It's interesting to consider whether lefties are predisposed towards certain skills. Certainly as a child I was highly musical and have always picked up languages very easily.

I am now a speech and language therapist, and call it co-incidence if you will, but out of the 7 of us on our team, 4 of us are lefties This is compared to an average leftie percentage of about 11% in the general population.

Typically, the opposite side of the brain takes charge of the opposite side of the body and is therefore said to be 'dominant', i.e. in right handers, the left side of the brain does a little more of the work and vice versa for lefties. The left side of the brain also has dominance for speech and language if you are a rightie and usually if you are a leftie too.

However, studies which have performed functional MRI scans while asking subjects to do certain tasks (like listen to music, or read aloud) have shown that lefties tend to have more bilateral language representations - both sides of the brain are more likely to show activation.

What this means in practice, is that because left handers language skills are spread about, if they were to have a stroke it is less likely that they would have a severe loss of language skills because they're not all in the same part of the brain. But conversely, there is more chance that they will have some language deficit because if language tasks are spread around the brain, there's a higher chance that one of those spots will be affected.

I have to admit that I too was a little disturbed to read the original post. However, having thought some more, I remembered that in some cultures eating with you left hand is considered very rude because that's the hand you're meant to wipe your bottom with!! ;D

If this is a consideration for you, most children when old enough will understand this as an explanation and will see it as a part of 'table manners' to use their right hand if eating with their fingers in company.......but this is very very different from forcing a child to be right handed.

And in fact, it is IMPOSSIBLE to eradicate left handedness, ever. Many of my elderly left handed patients were brought up in an era when they were made to use their right hands to write, but will still open jars or pick things up with their left If you're meant to be a leftie, you'll be a leftie

One last thing, I am typing all of this one handed at the moment. Why? I am off work, having broken a finger in my right hand - not v. happy about it cause it hurts, but chuffed to bits that it wasn't my left hand!!!! ;D ;D ;D

Dan29

It's interesting to consider whether lefties are predisposed towards certain skills.  Certainly as a child I was highly musical and have always picked up languages very easily.

My girlfriend who's left-handed speaks several languages and plays several instruments.

Working in the media, I've noticed that at least 30% of my colleagues over the years have been left-handed - much higher than the national average.

jellyhead

me too, very musical and one of only 6 children at school to be 'allowed' to take both french and german. the others were lefties too actually, all 6 of us in the german class, we sat along the same table and teachers always used to put the lefties on the same table but the german teacher had all lefties so didn't need to re-arrange us. there were only 6 people in the music class too (out of a year group of 250!) and 5 of those were out of the german class, the other was a right-hander.

Jeryth

Still reading this thread with interest..............

I belong to a Live Action Role Playing group, and asked there about LH representation. Among many silly answers, one serious reply suggested that, in a poll, LH made up 1 in 4 of that population, rather than the national 1 in 7 or 8. There must be something in it!