Rhapsody Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Trying to determine if my 5 1/2 year old son is left-handed. He begins K this year and his fine motor skills seem less developed than his older brother who was writing letters by 5 y/o. My older son was plodding along through Handwriting Without Tears in K after just turning 5 in September. While handwriting was not his favorite subject, he WAS able to write letters and numbers. My younger son (now 5 1/2) however is JUST beginning to write "O" and "1" and cannot write his name yet. I have also NOT spent much time teaching him to write his name because he has not shown interest and my philosophy is to not push. I also had it in the back of my mind that I would take a more 'serious" approach when K starts in the fall. Lately however, I notice him picking up the pencil with his left hand (when he HAD been using his right hand to write/color). Inconsistently. And sometimes he throws or kicks with his left hand. But it is all inconsistent. Recently I began putting the pencil in his right hand if he put it in his left hand, but I do not want to force something if I am wrong. Any way to tell hand dominance other than "time"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sputterduck Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Don't put the pencil in his right hand. Hand it to him in the middle and let him use which ever comes naturally to him. You might end up picking his less dominant side for him and that will not be good for him. As for you knowing which is dominant, I wish I had an answer other than time but I don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhapsody Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Thanks! : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Trying to determine if my 5 1/2 year old son is left-handed. He begins K this year and his fine motor skills seem less developed than his older brother who was writing letters by 5 y/o. My older son was plodding along through Handwriting Without Tears in K after just turning 5 in September. While handwriting was not his favorite subject, he WAS able to write letters and numbers. My younger son (now 5 1/2) however is JUST beginning to write "O" and "1" and cannot write his name yet. I have also NOT spent much time teaching him to write his name because he has not shown interest and my philosophy is to not push. I also had it in the back of my mind that I would take a more 'serious" approach when K starts in the fall. Lately however, I notice him picking up the pencil with his left hand (when he HAD been using his right hand to write/color). Inconsistently. And sometimes he throws or kicks with his left hand. But it is all inconsistent. Recently I began putting the pencil in his right hand if he put it in his left hand, but I do not want to force something if I am wrong. Any way to tell hand dominance other than "time"? does he have any visual motor integration issues? (requires an assesment to be sure. but it will interefere with many things until it is resolved.) I have a southpaw (and one who took his time deciding on a preference) - if that's what he prefer's, allow him to use it. Let him choose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) Don't put the pencil in his right hand. Hand it to him in the middle and let him use which ever comes naturally to him. You might end up picking his less dominant side for him and that will not be good for him. As for you knowing which is dominant, I wish I had an answer other than time but I don't. That is a trick taught to me by an OT. Also, try handing him the pencil upside down and see how he changes it. My lefty does most things with his left but switch hits at bat and uses his right hand to use a mouse. You will find most lefties do some stuff with their right hand. Some only write with their left but do everything else right. Others write with their right hand but do everything else left. The brain is amazing! edited to add: when I say hand the pencil over 'upside down' I mean with the writing end facing the body and the eraser end away from the body. Edited July 19, 2011 by redsquirrel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarfoot Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) Well, I'm a very dominant lefty, and I have 2 just like me, so I'm not much help if he's ambidextrous, but if you ask him to clap, does he mostly hold one hand still and clap into it with the other? Ask him to do this several times throughout the day and see if he's consistent. If he is, the moving hand is likely the dominant one. ETA that younger children sometimes clap with a whole-arm type movement that's pretty equal, which negates the whole experiment... Edited July 19, 2011 by Sugarfoot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 For your child to.learn to write they need to pick left or right. My son is ambidextrous but by age 4 he was taught to write with his right hand by his OT. You may want to take your son in for an evaluation. I have met so many parents of boys with such serious handwriting issues that they basically can only type everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) Which hand does he use to scratch his nose, point, etc.? If you're not seeing clear preference for those spontaneous things I'd think he's not settled. In that case I think I might consider OT given his age. However, I would not pick for him. Put it in the middle and let him decide. My child with delays in writing actually had visual processioning issues. He needed and benefited from vision therapy. It wouldn't hurt to have a developmental optometrist figure out if there is an issue. Edited July 19, 2011 by sbgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kchara Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I agree with the PPs who said let him decide. I am left-handed for writing, but I notice that I do a lot with my right hand, too. (For example, I can't cut food with my left hand. For some reason, it just doesn't work. And I can't operate a computer mouse with my left hand, even one of the touch pads like my laptop has.) It might be that he might be more dominant with writing, but use his other hand for other activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Some kids don't settle into one or the other til age 7. He has a long time yet. I have met so many parents of boys with such serious handwriting issues that they basically can only type everything. Dh and ds both have horrible handwriting (that no one else can read) but neither had issues with handedness. It's not always related. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Some kids don't settle into one or the other til age 7. He has a long time yet. Dh and ds both have horrible handwriting (that no one else can read) but neither had issues with handedness. It's not always related. How do you do any kind of schoolwork if you don't write till you are 7? I can't imagine kids going off to public/private school unable to write till 1st/2nd grade. I can just picture it now. They don't need speech therapy till they are 9 because that is when everything develops and they don't need to write till they are 7. No wonder people think homeschoolers are insane. End of my rant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 My daughter used to switch back and forth for a year or two. I never said anything, just let her do what she wanted. Finally she settled into what is now permanent: left-handed for writing and drawing, right-handed for eating and sports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 For your child to.learn to write they need to pick left or right. My son is ambidextrous but by age 4 he was taught to write with his right hand by his OT. You may want to take your son in for an evaluation. I have met so many parents of boys with such serious handwriting issues that they basically can only type everything. :iagree: If he is ambidextrous, you may just have to pick. If he has a preference certainly let him go with that, but if not... I'm ambi, but I use my right for writing and eating. I can write with both hands, but I would have taken forever to learn to write switching back and forth. It was much easier once I started only using one hand. My grandmother decided for me when I was 4 or 5 (she was a lefty and felt it was a disadvantage, so she insisted I use my right). I didn't learn with my left until I was 10 or so, and then only because I decided to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn- Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 My son turned 5 in April and still very ambidextrous. He is slowly leaning towards his right hand with his writing, at least until his hand gets tired, then he switches. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLVD Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Don't put the pencil in his right hand. Hand it to him in the middle and let him use which ever comes naturally to him. You might end up picking his less dominant side for him and that will not be good for him. As for you knowing which is dominant, I wish I had an answer other than time but I don't. :iagree: I have a lefty myself. She was very clearly a lefty from very young. Even as she first started walking, kicking a ball, etc..it was always the left hand or left foot. To make sure, I started handing her stuff in the middle and it was always the left hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellyndria Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Yep, give the pencil to him in the middle and let him pick. I'm another who is left handed for writing and mostly left handed for eating, but right handed for many other things. Both hands may be equally comfortable/uncomfortable right now, and he'll have to figure out which one is better at it. I know I experimented with both hands when I was little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 My 6yo ds used to swap his marker back and forth between hands when he was coloring. He'd color for a little with his right hand, then color with his left hand for a few minutes... I read somewhere that he would be better off picking one side or the other, so I watched him closely and thought I could see a slight preference for his left hand. I gently encouraged him to write with his left hand, and his handwriting abilities improved quite a bit. Now he writes with his left, but seems to do most every thing else with his right hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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