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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Handedness - when can you tell?

20 replies

popsycal · 29/12/2003 22:01

A friend of mine has a 4 year old dd. I told him years ago that she would be left handed just by watching her as a toddler. I don't know ow i knew, but she is left handed now
I am curious about my ds (17 months)
when do they start preferring a particular hand>
I know that as a baby it changes al the time...any ideas when the preference sticks??

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LIZS · 29/12/2003 22:05

dd who is 28 months has been favouring her left hand for over a year really since she was able to use a spoon accurately. Both grannies are left handed. However she can use her right too and can already hold a crayon correctly in either hand. Her playgroup leader thinks it may yet change.

Demented · 29/12/2003 23:19

My DS1 took ages to work out what hand he would use, I'm sure he was about four before we finally decided he was right handed (was convinced he was left handed prior to that).

A Pre-school Educational Advisor who used to visit (DS1 had a speech delay) said you could tell by which eye they put a tube to when pretending it was a telescope, a right-handed person apparently automatically closes their left eye and puts the tube to their right eye and a left handed person does the opposite. I don't know if this was a cracked idea or not but when she tried it out on my DS1 he shut his left eye and put the tube over the shut eye, don't know what that tells you.

Original poster

popsycal · 29/12/2003 23:21

oooh i am right handed but close my right eye!!!!
also listen with y left ear.....

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nutcracker · 29/12/2003 23:22

With my two dd's i couldn't tell wich hand they favoured until they were about three but ds3 is one and def favours his left hand (sisters and me are right, dad is left). I deliberatly hand him things in his right hand and he always changes them to left hand.

Chandra · 30/12/2003 01:08

It may sound stupid but I closed the right eye and put the telescope to my closed eye ... well. no wonder, until 12 I was able to perfectly write with both hands (in diferent directions of course...)
DS has favoured the right hand since he was weeks old, but for older ones a way to find out is to throw them a ball, the one they use to catch/stop it is the one...

efmach · 30/12/2003 09:15

This fascinates me. Dh and I are right-handed. Oldest child is right-handed. Second child writes with his right hand but kicks with his left foot, throws left-handedly, uses his right foot to push off on a scooter. I think they call it being 'cross-lateral'. My dd is nearly four and has always favoured her left hand for everything but recently has started to use her right hand to scribble. We're still guessing which one she'll opt for.

Evita · 30/12/2003 15:08

I've wondered about this. My partner's left handed all the way and I'm a bit idiosyncratic (eat with knife and fork wrong way round, or right way in my opinion). We thought our daughter might be like her dad as she used to suck her left thumb and showed more interest in reaching with that hand, but now not so sure.

turnupthebass · 30/12/2003 15:13

I did a test once that was designed to see how left-handed you are (as I am more or less totally left-handed).

It was questions on which hand would you hold a fork in, which are you at golf, how would you hold a guitar etc. I came out 100% left handed!
My friend who writes with his left does everything else right-handed so was only 20% left handed.
will try to find it on the Net - not really a good one for babies to take though?!

JanH · 30/12/2003 16:06

There was a thread on handedness once before - here and it included a link to a site with tests:
here .

Though as tutb says, no good for babies!

prettycandles · 02/01/2004 11:31

I seem to recall (and university was a long time ago now) learning that handedness is more-or-less fixed by about 18m, unless something happens to force the child to re-learn handedness - eg injury to the limb or brain - but even then it's not absolutely fixed for a few more years.

I'm all over the place, when it comes to handedness. Now I'm completely right-handed, but left-legged and I aim with my left eye even though it's the weaker one, but because it's the weaker eye I would put a telescope to my right eye! When I was a child I could write with either hand and sewed with my left hand. And even now I still do up the right sleeve cuff-button more easily than the left one.

WSM · 02/01/2004 11:37

DD (almost 17m) got a chalk board for christmas and whenever she uses it (every day), she holds the chalk in her left hand.

Hulababy · 02/01/2004 11:38

My DD always uses her right hand, and has favoured it since being about 12 months old. She is 20 months old now and always colours with her right, holds a spoon/fork, etc.

She seems to be left footed though - always kicks a ball with the same left foot, never the right.

Northerner · 02/01/2004 11:39

Hi WSM. My ds got a blackboard also for Christmas and he loves it. Must buy him some more chalk.

zebra · 02/01/2004 11:43

Desmond Morris (Babywatching) says that handedness isn't fixed until 3yo.... but agree, anecdotally, most parents reckon they can tell by 12-18 months.

Roscoe · 02/01/2004 11:47

Did any of you 'lefties' have problems at school with teachers trying to get you to write right-handed? Dh was forced to do this and I just wondered when this practice died out? Dh is 37.

turnupthebass · 02/01/2004 11:53

School were very good with me - remember having special left-handed scissors in the infants! I am 30.

My grandad was naturally left handed but they made him use his right - to the extent that in later life he was completely ambidextrous.

Ailsa · 02/01/2004 13:05

Roscoe, I'm the same age as your DH, I had an evil teacher who made me write right handed instead of left. To this day I still use my knife in my left hand, if I go anywhere for a meal, the first thing I do is swap the knife and fork. DD1 is also left handed, I remember her reception teacher saying that she must learn to get better control with scissors, I, very nicely reminded her that DD is left handed and they only have right handed scissors in school!

Hulababy · 02/01/2004 13:07

Dh's grandad (in his 80s) is naturally left handed but was forced - literally - to use his right hand at school.

Mu mum and DH's dad are both left handed - in their 50s - and were fine at school but got no 'special' equipment at all, and they just have got used to coping I guess now.

Hulababy · 02/01/2004 13:09

This site was advertised on Radio 2 once as being really good.

suedonim · 02/01/2004 22:51

I have two left-handed children. We reckoned dd1 would be left handed at about 15mths while dd2 seemed to be going the same way from about 9mths. As well as handed-ness, there is eye, ear and footed-ness to consider, too. Anyone can have any of the possible combinations.

Ds1 was ambidextrous until he was about 5, while ds2 plays cricket l-handed. I've also read that it is possible to tell from birth which hand a child will favour by observing the direction they turn their head when asleep on their back.

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