Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Ambidextrous and Gifted?

"48.9% were ambidextrous at some period of their development."

I don't know if I would agree with this since it has been proven that all children go through a phase of ambidextrous during infancy and early toddler years but chances are parents aren't paying that much attention to it. I wish I had the article and I will definitely look for it and if I can locate it, post it here. But what I remember from the article is that there is a specific brain development that is linked to the preference of left or right hand usage and as infants go through major milestones such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling (if they do this part) and walking; their preference for hand switches. IE. If they are grabbing everything with their right hand and then master sitting up they should switch for a little while to their left hand. When DD was a baby I watched for these changes during her major milestones and she did just as they described. Found it very interesting, but I already knew about the information from the article and was watching for it, but most parents would not be paying that much attention to it.

Grandpa, PG, ambidextrous
Dad, PG, righty all the way
Me, PG, mostly lefty
DC19, PG, E2, mostly lefty

We seem to fit that trend very well. The others in our family have been a mix of righties and lefties (mostly MG).

DS6 started out left handed and then at about 3 changed to right handed (I was bummed. I am left handed - the only one in my immediate family). I can write with both, though I prefer left handed. And I do most everything else, besides throw or kick, right handed.

Dd11 was somewhat ambi when younger, but is a right handed person now. She and I can both use our left hands and do for things like eating, but we both write right handed. We had an OT who evaluated dd at the suggestion of the GDC tell us that her lack of preference for one hand over the other in stringing beads, for instance, indicated a pathology/dyspraxia at age 7.5. I'm not tremendously convinced of that, though. Dd is probably HG, but not PG.

My DD7 is a gifted and a little ambidextrous. As a toddler, I put her on the computer and forget she was a lefty. She never complained. She still does the mouse with her right hand. She has always been very adaptable.

Just had a teacher/parent meeting today and discovered that DD cuts with her right hand, though she is left handed and writes with her left hand. And interesting point onthegomom. My DD has been active on the computer since before age 2 and we have never changed the mouse up for her and she has never complained.

DS9 MG definitely some of this - writing with left, throwing ball with right.
DS7 HG no sign at all. Totally a right handed kid.

DS11 who is more normally developing (possibly 2EMG, though maybe just ND) eats and brushes his teeth left-handed but does everything else right handed. DD8 who is HG used to play sports left handed, but switched to right-handed when she was 6.5, and does everything else right-handed. DS6 who is MG is completely right-handed.

Interestingly, I've always heard that left-handed people have a higher rate of LDs. I don't know if this would apply to ambidexterity, though.

Interesting anecdotal discussion!

One thing I forgot to say - DS colours with both hands. It's quite funny, watching his eyes dart from time to time as he handles 2 colours at a time, reaching out with one hand for another colour while continuing to colour with the other hand!

My entire extended family (which includes varying levels of gifteds) is right handed, except for my niece who is a lefthanded gifted artist and me who is ambidextrous. I write right handed, but everything I do naturally is left handed (archery, computer mouse, track hurdles) plus I am "left-eyed" and "left eared." Since I am a pianist and a surgeon, the ambidextrous ability is very helpful!! This is a fun thread