Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Cross dominance a problem?

So this post is inspired by the extracurricular thread. My DS9 is right handed for writing/eating/etc but left handed for sports activities.

There seems to be some suggestion (from a quick review of online sources) that this is actually problematic and related to learning disabilities. Yet, I can't really determine the legitimacy of this.

Any thoughts or experiences with this?

I think it doesn't mean that just because a child is cross-dominant they will have LDs, but instead you see cross-dominance as a trait in some types of LDs. Our ds13 has difficulty separating out left from right, north from south etc, and he does not have a dominant hand/eye etc (according to his neuropscyh evals). For him, they are symptoms associated with dyspraxia. His neuropsych also prefers to call it "lack of dominance" rather than "cross-dominance" because in kids with dyspraxia and related challenges, it's not a case of both sides being *strong* but rather a case of a child never fully developing a dominant hand/eye etc.

polarbear

There is definitely a processing glitch in my brain about left-right in terms of VERBAL automaticity... that is, I can do it VISUALLY just fine, but there is always a little hiccup when I hear left or right and have to determine which that is.

Oddly, I'm like a human compass and watch, though-- NO problem telling north-- anywhere-- and I'm often within a few minutes of the correct local time, even without any external cues.

The left-right thing is bidirectional, too-- so if I'm giving directions TO someone else, or writing them, I have to pause and figure out which VISUAL direction represents which.

I have very pronounced cross-dominance/ambidexterity. No known learning disability, though.

As I described in the other thread, I'm left-eye and right-hand dominant. Even though I naturally do everything right-handed, I'd found early on that I can manipulate my left hand more readily, yet I still have always written, used scissors, and performed other fine-motor skills as a righty. In gross-motor skills (hitting, throwing, catching), I'd always strongly favored my right, and felt extraordinarily awkward on my left... the hard thing about playing baseball was having to learn to catch with my left hand, when my body wanted to do both with the right. I kick with my right as well. When it comes to surfing or skateboarding, I'm a lefty.

So yeah, I'm all over the place. No known learning disabilities.

My DD8 manifests a little differently... she's clearly right-handed, and also right-eye dominant, yet she notes she does cartwheels as a lefty. She bats right-handed, but switches to left with a hockey stick or golf putter.

No known learning disabilities with her, either.

LNEsmom - did you find anything out re dysgraphia etc from your ds' neuropsych eval this summer? If your ds is dysgraphic, he might be using his right hand for eating/writing etc because he's never fully developed dominance in either hand. Have you checked for eye dominance and is it left or right?

polarbear

I'm right for single-handed activities and left for two-handed ones. Left eye dominant. No known LDs. My Mum is the same.

DD7 is left handed for eating and writing. She is also left eye dominant. She is right handed for everything else I can think of. She kicks with her right foot, throws right handed, and bats right handed. I'm hoping if we work with her we can at least turn her into a switch-hitter and get some good out of her being left handed but able to bat right handed.

We thought she was going to be right handed, but around 19-20 months she just switched on us all of a sudden.

As for any learning disabilities - we don't know of any for sure but we suspect.....

She is 7 1/2 and still writes letters and numbers backwards at times. She has problems with b's and d's and s's, 3's, E's and 5's. She asked me the other day if her h looked like a k. It looked like a perfect h to me and looked absolutely nothing like a k. I know this can be typical still at her age, but she has been writing for a long time now and still does this. She even sometimes catches herself when she starts to write entire words backwards. We have considered she may be stealth dyslexic and hope to find out for sure when she is tested this fall. Until being on this forum and learning about stealth dyslexia, we just assumed it was a left handed thing.

She is horrible at shoe tying and has to stop and think when it comes to which is left and which is right. I've read or heard somewhere that these can be indicators of dyslexia too.

She has also had a ruptured eardrum at least 2 times, multiple ear infections, and now tubes in her ears that still haven't solved all the problems. I've also heard somewhere that chronic ear infections and dyslexia can go hand in hand.

She struggles with piano. She still doesn't know her notes and has issues knowing which hand to play with after a year of lessons.

I may be wrong, but I think there are enough signs to be concerned. I will try to remember to look this post back up after we have our test results.

Sorry I can't give advice on the writing, but if she can bat left, she will find this to be a great advantage later on. Learn to bunt, slap and swing away...the other team doesn't know what is coming. And you are one step closer to 1st base. Switch hitting doesn't have the same value in softball as it does in baseball.

I disagree for all the same reasons you already listed. That skill is an advantage in softball the same as in baseball - at least around here it is. Our area has some serious softball going on from youth through adults.

My right handed niece has mastered a killer left handed slap bunt so she can use her speed to get on base or advance others already on base. She had to really work at it, but I'm hoping DD7 will come at it more naturally.

Hmm. I'm somewhat like your son. I consider myself to be ambidextrous in a lot of ways (not all ways, though). For example, I can play racquet sports with two hands. This gives me a pretty big advantage in the amount of court I can cover from any given spot. I can write with both hands, which has obvious advantages.

Have you asked your son if a racquet/bat/pencil/whatever feels comfortable in both hands? This doesn't mean that he can easily write or hit a ball with both hands automatically, but that he feels comfortable using both hands and could learn to use both in a variety of situations.