[Lexie]

My 4 -1/2 year old son is apparently late in deciding if he is right or left handed. He continues to switch all the time. Even if he is writing his name, he may switch hands in the middle. We are taking him to an occupational therpist and they have various games etc. that are aimed at getting the brain to choose a hand preference.

I am wondering if he is just ambidextrous or if we should be concerned about this. His teacher thinks it may slow his development of writing skills.

I was wondering if anyone else has a child that was late in choosing a hand preference and what your experience has been.
thanks,
Lexie

[lahdh4]

I know that this is off topic alittle but my mom and brother are/were the same way. They ended up being right handed but to this day my mom will just pick up a pen and write with her left.

[Jensboys]

My son just turned 5 and he also uses both hands to write, hit a ball or a puck etc. Although we think he is heading towards being right handed for writing he will still switch at will, and hits balls with his left handed. Although I write right handed, I also hit left handed. I read some article somewhere that talked about "ambidextrous tendencies" - we have them Its not a bad thing though ... so dont worry.

Another sign to check is to fold your hands together (or have him) - in my case, even though I am right handed, my left thumb crosses over the top, as does my sons.

[proudmommyof 2]

This is very timely!!! We are having the same issues with our son, who will be 5 in April.


His preschool teacher wasn't much help. She said that his hand wasn't strong and that he switches hands, which is a sign of immaturity. So.....

I talked to the Kindergarten teacher at the school where I teach. she, by the way, really knows what she's doing. Here's what she said:

Most kids who will be right-handed establish dominance very early. Because of this, they have from the time they are very young to build strength in their right hand. They also tend to always use their right hand for everything-eating, scribbling, etc.

Kids who will be left-handed establish dominance much later. Because of this, they may eat with their right hand, scribble with their left, switch, etc. This leads them to have left hands that are half as strong as kids who are righties, because they use their left hands half the time. She said that some of the kids who are late developing a dominance might end up being right-handed, but most will be left. She even said that many of her southpaws, even up to the age of 6, start to write on the page with their left hand, and at the visual center of the page, switch.

Things she suggested for strength: using a hole punch to make a little project. Squirting a water gun. Squeezing a stress ball. Putting a penny in the center of his left palm and having him use just the fingers of his left hand to pick up.

As for the OT, that was our immediate thought. However, we're seeing improvements by doing the things listed above. You may still want to have him evaluated, but after talking to this teacher, I had a lot of piece of mind.

[MkMw]

Thanks for the info proud Mommy.....

And Jen, I'm definately righty - and my left crosses on top too - the other way just feels weird.

We too have a son with ambitdexrous (sp!) tendencies - he seems to be left dominate however. He has much better control over his crayons and utensils with it. He naturally throws that way.

When he started swinging a golf club, he naturally started swinging it as a lefty. DH (who is also a lefty) taught him how to swing right handed, so, now he also bats righty. But throws lefty. LOL.

Matt (DH) says that he was completely ambidextrous until he started school and they made him choose a hand - he picked up the pencil with his left, and that was that. He is still far more comfortable doing things with his right hand than I am with my left.

edited to add - just checked the boys - James (definately righty) crosses his left on top. Andrew probabaly lefty, crosses his right on top.

[redhedded]

Most kids who will be right-handed establish dominance very early. Because of this, they have from the time they are very young to build strength in their right hand. They also tend to always use their right hand for everything-eating, scribbling, etc.

Kids who will be left-handed establish dominance much later. Because of this, they may eat with their right hand, scribble with their left, switch, etc. This leads them to have left hands that are half as strong as kids who are righties, because they use their left hands half the time. She said that some of the kids who are late developing a dominance might end up being right-handed, but most will be left. She even said that many of her southpaws, even up to the age of 6, start to write on the page with their left hand, and at the visual center of the page, switch.

I think that this, from proudmommy and the K teacher, is right on.

My daughter is young, three years. I thought that she would be left handed, as she did virtually everything with her left hand, until she started writing. Once she did, she used only her right hand from then on.

My sister on the other hand was a leftie always. She was very advanced but a late writer, as she had a depth perception issue, possibly related to being left handed; I do not know. My mother recently told me a story about how she and my father literally attempted for weeks to teach my sister to tie her shoes. No go, no success. My grandfather, a lifetime leftie, arrived, sat down and taught her how in 10 minutes.

If it is not a motor issue and just a preference issue I would not worry, do the strengthening exercises and let him change or choose at his will.

[Lexie]

Thanks for all of this great advice. He might be a leftie. I was convinced of it in the beginning, but then when he started writing he started switching to his right hand a lot. Now he throws left, writes with both ( but more with his right) and eats with both ( but more left I think). When I look at his writing it might look ever so slightly better with the right hand---but not enough to really tell.

My only concern is really that the other kids in class can write more neatly than he can. I don't want him to feel bad about that or fall behind the class in terms of development and writing skills. ( I know how far behind can he be at 4). We will definitely try the exercises to see if that helps--
thanks much,
Lexie

[proudmommyof 2]

Lexie-after we had our conference with the preschool teacher, I went home and watched Dennis write. I went to bed that night thinking, "Oh, no! He's actually been a rightie the whole time and I've made him write with his left! I've slowed down his development, scarred him, etc."


He's still favoring left though.

His writing is also not the neatest in the class, but when I look at the Kindergartners' writing in my school, it's also not the worst out of them. He may be sloppy.

Keep us posted. :-)

[ajjhmf]

My son is lefty, mostly. Although he does switch which with non writing stuff. He also 'choose' late and switched a lot between hands. His OT started making him stick with the hand he started with. So, if he started to write his name with his left, then he finished with his left, etc. She said one of the biggest problems with kids like J who have poor fine motor skills is their hands get tired, so they switch and never build much hand strength. Since we started this last year, J has 'decided' on his left hand and started making progress on his handwriting.

The key was to not force him to use one hand or another, but to build up his hand strength by finishing with the hand he started with. Eventually, he used his right hand less and less and started to really develop his skills with his left.