Helping your left handed child

Some children show a slight left-hand preference from birth – for example, they might fist their left hand more tightly, wave their left arm more vigorously or suck their left thumb. The direction in which they prefer to turn their heads also can be a sign – 60 to 70 percent of babies turn their heads to the right more of the time but those who turn to the left are somewhat more likely to be left-handers.

But up to the age of about 18 months to two years, the vast majority of children tend to switch back and forth between their left and right hands when it comes to hand preference. At around this time their muscle control and strength increases, and she becomes more likely to use her preferred side. And by three years or so, as she starts engaging in more more complex fine-motor activities, such as using crayons and chalk to draw with, stringing beads, and cutting with scissors, your child’s hand reference will become more obvious. Even at this point, though, it isn’t set in stone and your child will still switch between hands. And any preference she shows for her left side could fade by the time she’s four, which is when handedness tends to become much more firmly established.

It’s thought that around round 10 to 15 percent of children are left-handed, and it’s more common in boys. If you’re left-handed yourself your child has a 42 percent chance of being left-handed too, but only about two percent of children with right-handed parents are left-handed. If your child isn’t showing a hand preference by age four it may be a sign of delayed development – she may benefit from some sessions with an occupational therapist to help improve her coordination.

How can you tell?

If you’re not sure which hand your child prefers, there are a number of tricks you can try to work it out. Offer her a hand puppet to see which hand she puts it on, or a pegboard to see which hand she uses to pick up and push in the pegs. She’ll reach out to catch a ball with her left hand, and also use it to throw the ball if she’s naturally left-handed, and when she’s presented with a screw-top jar or a wind-up toy she’s likely to try to screw the lid on the wrong way, and twist the wind-up key in the wrong direction. At lunchtime, watch to see which hand she uses to pick up her spoon or fork.

Helping your left-handed child

Back in the day it was normal for left-handed children to be forced into using their right hands for writing… and many of them ended up with the kind of appalling penmanship you usually only get on a doctor’s prescription! It’s better to let your child use whichever hand is naturally dominant – otherwise you’ll be forcing her to use her weaker and less dominant hand, which could affect her strength and learning and make her efforts clumsy and ineffective. It also will require far more concentration and effort that would be involved if you let her use the hand she prefers and the difficulties she’s likely to encounter will lower her self-esteem and make her feel less capable than she really is.

If your child is left-handed there’s no reason why she should be at any disadvantage, either at home or at daycare, preschool or kindergarten. In fact, left-handed children excel more than their right-handed peers in some areas. They’re more likely to score highly on tests of their creative and verbal abilities and tend to be better at math. However the downside is that left-handed children seem to be more likely to hurt themselves simply because he world is built for right-handed people, and this can put them at a disadvantage.

And simply because so many of the everyday tools she encounters are designed for right-handed people, your child may run into difficulties when it comes to practicing her fine motor skills. She’ll also be naturally inclined to things differently – for example, if you’re right-handed, you’ll write with the pen moving away from your body but if she’s left-handed your child will want to write with it moving towards her body.

Here are some ways you can help your child to learn it left:

If you’re right-handed, stand opposite your left-handed child to teach her how to tie shoelaces as this effectively reverses the image for her so she can copy you using her left hand to lead. The ‘mirror image’ technique is also useful for teaching your child to write from left to right.
Place cups next to her left hand and make sure you position her spoon and fork there too. The one thing you don’t need to do is put her knife on the left side once she’s old enough to try cutting her food – left-handers still use the knife in their right hand, as the dominant left hand will be needed to scoop up food with their fork or spoon.
Invest in a proper pair of left-handed scissors for craft activities – there’s no such thing as universal scissors and if she’s having difficulty using standard scissors your child will miss out or end up thinking she isn’t very good at cutting out.
Place paper to the left of her rather than directly in front when she’s drawing or writing, so she doesn’t have to hook her arm around too much. It’s common for left-handed children to start in the right-hand corner of the paper and write from right to left, so it’s a good idea to pencil in a dot or x in the top left-hand corner to remind her to start there and write in the proper direction!
Ensure she has left-handed implements to use at daycare or school and ask that she not be seated to the right of a right-handed child, as there will be an inevitable lash of elbows!

The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.

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Last Modified: 12/04/2009

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