Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Another lefty question

Why? Does she have evidence for some kind of advantage to using only one hand or disadvantage for using both?

I'm mostly ambidextrous, but I do some things better with my right hand and some better with my left (others equal on both). I've always worked on being able to use both hands, after seeing kids in my class (and adults) effectively crippled because of a broken wrist, finger, hand, etc.

Just my two cents, with no information about your son's particular situation!

Val

My son is dyspraxic/dyslexic, and the OT feels that having the same laterality for all his fine motor tasks (writing, eating, cutting, lego, etc) will help him organize himself in space and also be better in terms of developing his muscle control. She did add that having a different dominant side for gross motor like swinging, kicking was OK.

I agree that for a child without dyspraxia, it probably doesn't matter too much. I write with my left, eat with my left, cut with my right and dial the phone with my right. I had very good fine motor skills as a child, so it didn't seem to be a problem fro me. However, I still don't know my right from left and have a terrible sense of direction and space . . . I wonder if I'd be better at this if I had a more definite laterality?

Can only answer about my own experience: In spite of using both hands, I have a good sense of direction and an excellent sense of space.

Neurobiology is so ferociously complicated!

Val

I hold it "correctly" and have awful handwriting. If he can write legibly the way that he's doing it, it shouldn't be a problem. For other things, I'm not always naturally a lefty. I throw righty and can write righty (even less legible, though). DC20 is lefty in most things, holds a pencil incorrectly, and ended up being righty for some sports... I think that lefties tend to be more ambidextrous than righties in general...

Thank you all. DS5 is very visual spatial, has expressive language disorder as well (but coming along nicely), and very creative/imaginative. He seems to becoming finally more confident in his trying more physical challenges, and wants to try more athletic activities. He has always been a cautious kid due to his visual convergence issues, and never has been the kid that bounds from place to place at the playground. That's why all of this is coming into play now, and questions being asked. I am trying to get my head wrapped around how to help him figure things out. Thanks again.

I am not quite ambi, but can use my right well. I am a lefty. My mother is a lefty, but uses her right for things like cutting (she was even a right-handed hairdresser as a young adult). You can put me in the middle of nowhere, and I will find my way out. I can tell when I am in a building with a basement, a crawl space or on a slab. I know when I am sleeping on a bunk, throughout the night. My mother cannot find her way out of a shoe box. LOL.