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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

What age do you see hand preference?

16 replies

izzybiz · 22/12/2009 18:14

What age do you start to see what hand your child will write with?

Ds2 is 15 months now and seems to do an awful lot with his left hand, is it too early to tell if he will be left or right handed?

TIA

OP posts:

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mum2all · 22/12/2009 19:55

Its still a bit early to tell usually nearer pre-school age before they finally settle. Even if he does most things with his left now he may switch again in a few months. Especially once they really start writing/drawing they tend to confirm which hand they prefer then. Was convinced DS1 was going to be a leftie as almost always used his L hand then suddenly at nearly 3 he just stopped and is now a very confirmed right hander.

LadyGlenChristmasPresent · 22/12/2009 19:57

DD3 didn't settle on a hand preference until she was almost four - she is now lefthanded.

SleighGirl · 22/12/2009 20:05

My dd was ambidextrous until past 3 and now writes with her left hand, will draw & paint with either - which ever is nearest the colour she wants to use and is def right footed...........

moocowme · 22/12/2009 20:58

i remember being in school in year two and could write with both hands but being the nervous child i was decided to go with my right hand as that is what everyone else at my table was doing and i did not want to be the odd one out.

i can still write left and right handed but right is quicker and neater.

wb · 22/12/2009 21:21

I was told usually by 5. Ds1 (4) still uses both - my mum is ambidextrous and I'm starting to wonder if he's inherited this. Ds2 (22mo) by contrast almost always favors his right hand.

jollyma · 22/12/2009 21:21

You can usually get a good idea of preference by the time a child is 2 or 3 but they will often still continue swapping for some activities until about age 4. Some children take until they are about 7 to finally establish dominance but this is unusual. For now keep watching but make sure you present anything you give to him to the centre of his body so that you don't accidentally influence his eventual hand dominance.

jalopy · 23/12/2009 17:43

My daughter was totally left handed until 4.5 and then, out of the blue, changed to right handedness permanently.

jalopy · 23/12/2009 17:46

Forgot to add, she's 9 now.

bruffin · 23/12/2009 22:01

DD was totally left handed by the age of 2. She burnt her left hand when she was 2.3 and couldn't use if for 6 weeks,used her right when she was bandaged then went straight back to left as soon as she could.

Lio · 23/12/2009 22:08

ds didn't settle until almost 6

5inthesleighbed · 23/12/2009 22:11

DS1 is left handed. From very early on he seemed to prefer using his left hand for everything, chewing toys, eating, drawing, etc. DS2 is righ handed and favoured his right hand, and Ds3 who is 13 months seems to favour his right hand as well, so think he will be right handed as well.

DontCallMeSantaBaby · 23/12/2009 22:15

DD was pretty much ambidextrous until shortly before starting school (at 4.6). She still uses a spoon in her left hand, although DH points out that kind of makes sense given that you use a fork with your left.

confuddledDOTcom · 23/12/2009 22:47

They say you can tell in the womb, I've also been told that they tend to suck their dominant thumb - both of mine suck left. My eldest was using the left side in the incubator (preterm) to try to suck (couldn't coordinate it) and remove the googles. If food was put in the right hand it either was swapped to left or ignored. Now appears to be ambidextrous, can write with both hands although drawing is totally different between the hands, left-handed drawing is circles with arms and legs, right-handed drawing is scribbles.

MollieO · 23/12/2009 22:50

Apparently a good way to tell is to roll a ball to them for them to kick. They will kick with their dominant foot. Ds (5)is right handed for writing but left handed for lots of other things.

mimsum · 23/12/2009 22:53

dd always reached for things with her left hand right from the start so by the time she was 10 months or so I was pretty sure she was going to be left-handed. She's 7 now and very strongly left-handed but weirdly is right-footed ...

She had real problems with her ballet exam a few weeks ago as they had to hold and shake a tambourine in her right hand and she kept complaining it felt really odd!

ln1981 · 24/12/2009 10:28

mimsum- i am left footed but right handed!!
ds1 is a leftie but he would swap frequently between the two til he was about 3. im surprised that he is a leftie though as my mum and my gran used to take things out of his left hand and put them in his right- it used to drive me nuts!! they also did this to me as a child, so i can do some things left handed but i write with my right.
he is now 5 and although he writes and does most things with his left hand,he does try to use scissors in his right hand-with left handed scissors!!
people are really surprised though when they see him writing, in fact my grandad always comments on it but i know quite a few people who are lefties. i dont get why they should be surprised?!

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