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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

Left handed, right handed, ambidextrous?

8 replies

pesha · 19/10/2006 19:37

Have just been reading the thread about what 3.5yr olds can do, a few of the posts talked about left handedness and its got me thinking about ds who is 3.2.
He seems to use both hands equally whether for eating, drawing or anything else. And he'll swap back and forth from 1 hand to the other whilst doing things.
I'm not worried about him but I know very little about handedness, if he really is ambidextrous or just undecided so far or what. Does any of it makes any difference, should i be doing anything in particular to help and encourage him? Should I perhaps try and gently encourage him not to swap quite so much and favour one hand over the other (although id be reluctant to do this, I have more of a 'whatever they're comfortable with' kind of philosophy)? Or is there a different way of gripping a pencil for left handedness that i could show him that might make it easier for him? Or does anyone know anything or have any experience at all of this that they might like to share?!

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hertsnessex · 19/10/2006 19:40

im ambidextrous. my parents didnt do anything differently. they are both right handed. i use my left for writing, but mostly my right for anyting else. i wouldnt worry. both my boys (nrly 2 and nrly 3) use their left hand alot more than their right. as you say 'whatever they are comfortable with'.

Piffle · 19/10/2006 19:50

same here - dd is 4 this weekend and can do equal things with both hands - she sucks her left thumb but that means sod all I expect
MY ds (12) is left handed and it was VERY obvious from day one
He is however right footed and plays guitar and stuff the normal way.
But writes and picks his nose with his left hand
Boys... are so lovely

fubsy · 19/10/2006 20:36

The majority of children will favour one hand for the more dextrous activities quite early, but not necessarily. Id be more concerned about a child who had a very obvious preference (with neglect of the other hand. In the absence of any difficulties, OTs I know would not be concerned until the child was well into school years, as many children will swap hands until the feel comfortable.

Youre right not to push for use of one hand or the other - just ofer toys, pencils etc in such a way that he can easily reach them with either hand. 3 is very young, with plenty of time to develop hand dominance.

FillyjonkthePumpkinEater · 19/10/2006 20:52

I was tongue in cheek on that thread, dh is l handed and has a phD but

ds is now consisyently using his l hand to draw. this is very new and has happened since he was around 3. MIL says dh showed preference very early, but that BIL (also l handed) did not til he was older.

I show up as ambidextrous on some tests (did psychoogy so had to take part in lots of these to pass course cos I use my l hand for a lot of things and also tend to kick with my l foot. But I write better with my r hand, so consider myself r handed.

fishie · 19/10/2006 21:06

i am very left handed, although can do plenty of stuff right handed - sewing, lots of diy things but probably becuase they didn't have any provision for lh at school, no scissors etc. ds at 18 months is staggeringly right handed - if i put somethign in his left hand he'll swap it straight over, even putting down something already in right hand. do you think you notice more if child's preference is different to yours?

Rosieglow · 19/10/2006 21:07

When my DS was a baby I felt he was left handed but as he got older he started to do things wih either hand. Now he's 3.10 he favours his left for drawing (although still uses his right as well) but is right footed and plays with rackets right handed. I don't know if this makes him ambidexterous or just confused!

CalistaMyers · 19/10/2006 21:14

I noticed a preference for left v. early on with ds1, but at 4.7 he swaps hands for each letter when writing (and the neatness of his writing is about the same for each), and uses scissors quite comfortably in his right hand!

We discussed it last week at Parent's evening at his school, and his teacher said a 99% successful way of telling which is dominant is to get someone to clap. Whichever hand is the 'on top' when you clap is the one. Tried it with ds1 last night and his was the left!
There is also supposed to be a lot of research showing that choosing which 'handed-ness' you are is linked to speech development, and ds1 has had a speech delay. He is nearly there now though, so have been thinking I'm sure he's going to be ambidextrous... time will tell.

VanillaMilkshake · 19/10/2006 21:43

I was ambidextrous as a child, but goaded and encouraged to use right, and am now more or less an established right hander. DH is left handed.

We though DD(3) was right handed till her pre-school asked us to work on drawing faces with her (for the Christmas teatowel (aww). Then today like an epiphany I was watching right handed scribble - and she put the pencil in her left hand and hey presto smiley facecs!
DH is really pleased.

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