Anybody ambidextrous/got ambidextrous dc?

[1mouse2]

Dd1(16) is ambidextrous, it can be disconcerting when you see her drawing a picture with a pencil in both hands(one of her party tricks at school.is to draw hearts with each hand drawing one side)!

I understand that only about 1% of the population is truly ambidextrous and am wondering about other peoples' experiences.

Things we noticed with dd1:

can hit a ball with a bat equally well with either hand( made her popular in rounders as it confused fielding team.)
can use a knife and fork in either hand( it took her a while to remember how to lay the table)
can be typing on the computer with one hand while drawing with the other
will automatically start doing something with which ever hand is free
can colour in a picture with both hands at the same time( we first picked up on this at 6/7 as it's not unusual for young children to use either hand)

Yes, DS2, but his presents as no dominant hand so he swaps. Same with his feet. He’s also severely dyslexic, and at the moment, rather stroppy. He’s 8.

That's interesting as dd1 has aspergers and dyscalculia, there are some studies which suggest a link between being ambidextous and problems with maths or even adhd.

I spent nearly a year with my right arm in plaster when I was a kid and so had to learn to use my left hand. By the time I got the plaster off, I could write, use cutlery etc with my left hand just as well as with my right. But it was an "either/or" situation. I could either use my left or I could use my right. I couldn't use both and do different things the way your DD can. So I suppose what I had was simply something that could be learnt ("muscle memory"?) whereas your DD seems to have her brain wired that way.

Over the years, my ability to use my left hand has lessened, but I can still write fairly well with it.

Do you have any links? He also is diagnosed with ADD (inattentive) but I’d never thought about it being linked to his handedness, or lack of! He’s hypermobile too.

DS1 is right handed but left footed. He does gymnastics and he always twists his jumps to the left instead of the right. He does other things too, if he taps his feet to music he would tap his left foot or if he’s hopping he’ll do it with his left leg.

I'm hopeless at doing links but if you google ambidextrous and adhd reports come up for scientific american and webmd.com

I am. So was my paternal grandfather.

I prefer to write with my left but will sometimes start writing with my right without noticing. Handwriting is bad either way. I do all my (forced) neat writing with my left.

I do most other things right handed as I’ve been taught to... golf, scissors, knife and fork etc. Opening doors, brushing hair and all things either or, I do with either or.

I’m useless at giving or receiving directions verbally though I do have a good sense of direction overall.

I’m ambi but I wouldn’t be able to do that drawing with both hands at the same time thing. I write mainly with my left hand but everything else is interchangeable- my DH still finds it amusing that I’ll swap my cutlery during meals. I can use chopsticks with both hands too which I’m rather smug about, and when climbing I can belay both ways.

Yes I am ambi. Writing I use whichever hand is nearest the pen. Essays in school were easier as when one hand got tired, would start using the other.
Change cutlery hands all the time, lay the table however I feel at the time - everyone is used to it.
Sports yea, actual running I was shit at, but the batting was great to confuse.
Instruments like Violin can play either hand.
Typing and writing has also been very useful over the years.
Same with home improvements, cooking and countless other things.

Mine stems from being a leftie and it was deemed as evil. When I was caught using my left I would get the ruler or something over my knuckles. I'm also hyperactive and have a lot of adhd traits which the mh team who are assigned to me have also mentioned.

I think DS is... I don't think has ADHD or Aspergers but I have suspected both in the past, though no longer think so

I am ambidextrous, I write with my left hand but I can't also write with my right. Most other things I use my right hand for due to years of just adapting to right handed stuff. I paint and colour with my right hand and do intricate things with my right but calligraphy is with my left. I give up telling people I'm left handed really, I just don't have a dominant hand and that confuses people.

Dd finds that when she writes with her left hand she sometimes reverses e and s, no other letters and not all the time, do others find this?

Maybe my middle DS also can be an annoying twerp.... does everything rt handed except writes with his left but didn't settle on that until almost 6yo..... I am deffo RH but can do most things pretty well with my LH... can only snap my fingers with LH.

I can write forwards with my right hand and backwards with my left hand at the same time. Does that count? I can catch pretty well with my left hand and can do lots with it although I am right handed but I don't feel like my left hand is almost useless like someone I once know said. I have aspergers too. I wonder if there is a link.

My 9 year old dd is. She usually prefers to write with her left hand but can write equally well with either. She’s totally interchangeable with everything else although is always right footed when playing football.

DS can write with either hand, and basically do any job with either hand interchangeably. But I don’t think he can write with both hands at the same time. Or colour or whatever. His writing and colouring is as neat in either hand though, he seems to just swap hands as the mood takes him.

I am I write with my right hand although can use my left and do most things left handed. When I was much younger I could use both to write with (I'd get half way across a page with me left then switch to the right) my school told my dm that if I didn't choose they make me write with one hand behind my back and apparently my writing was neater with my left hand 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm classed as mixed handed, ie not completely ambidextrous. I can write with both hands, but find that I will use a preferred hand for certain tasks. EG I will use my right hand to hold a spoon when cooking, but prefer to use my left hand to hold a whisk or spoon when beating stuff in a bowl. I'll use either hand to butter toast, eat with the knife in my left hand (but can use both).

This is interesting! My DS used to use both hands for writing. With his right hand he wrote his name correctly, with his left hand he wrote it in mirror writing. He chose to exclusively use his right hand for writing when he was about 7 but has never been able to master neat writing (now age 17). School gave him a laptop for written work to enable him to express himself to his full potential. Typing is not a problem for him, he can do that quick double-thumb texting thing, also juggling and solving a rubix cube in each hand without any apparent effort. His handwriting still looks like that of a 6 year old.. no aspergers, adhd, dyslexia or anything

I can write with both hands at once, easier if I'm doing mirror writing with my left. I slightly more often use my right hand in other things, although dm reckoned I'd have used my left hand if it had been a left handed world. Things like I play tennis with my right hand, but my (double handed) backhand is much closer to a forehand with my left hand. I don't think I would struggle to change to the other hand if I had to. I also have some signs of dyslexia. And for some reason the computer is not recognising the enter key on the keyboard and refusing to let me use paragraphs. It's okay not on MN though.

I am cross dominance.

I am generally right sided but can use my left for most things quite well.

Few things I've noticed; pour stuff with my left hand. Use spoons left handed and use a racket left handed

I’m ambidextrous and have dyscalculia - didn’t know they were linked! I can relate on the laying the table thing; it took me till I was in my 20s to remember where the fork went. I prefer to write with my left hand but I play 4 instruments right handed. And I switch hands for tennis/rounders which really annoys people!

I tend to do some things with my left and different things with my right. I also swap hands when writing if my wrist starts to ache. I was at a campsite once, ironing a top in the laundrette when someone said “oh you’re a leftie too” - I actually had no idea until they point that I ironed any differently to anyone else!

DB is. I learned fairly quickly never to play him at pool!

Yes, can swap hands and am trying to teach myself to write more neatly with my non dominant one (the writing is quite legible anyway but I would like to concentrate on it). Disappointed at drawing ability with it though. Diagnosed with a couple of 'dys-es'. Would make great sense to me if there is a link. Also - think about how you are taught writing and which letters you would classify clockwise or anticlockwise. This becomes interesting if you think about how that works (or not) between hands as things become easier the other way round if you change.