Any advice on supporting a left-handed five-year-old with handwriting?

[ProcrastinatingCat]

My 5 year old DS is left handed. I discovered at the end of the summer term that he has been in a small group having extra "lessons" for his handwriting as he is a bit behind others in his class with his handwriting.
I didn't really think much about it until I mentioned it to my Mum (who is also left handed) a couple of weeks ago, and she said that it didn't surprise her as the way left handed people write and form their words is completely different and "unnatural" to what they are taught at school.
Being a right handed person, this had never occurred to me before, and I took it for granted that writing and forming letters would be exactly the same 🤦
However, it has now made me think that maybe I need to sit down with him and take the time to help him learn how to write and develop his writing skills which is more tailored to his left-handedness.
I am not sure whether his school are adapting their teaching and taking into account he forms letters etc differently - I will mention it to them when he goes back next week.
Just wondered whether anyone else has had any experience with this, and if there are any books/websites etc they would recommend to help with this?

There are guides online and links to books. You should also purchase a left handed pen to help. This link will help start the search

https://nha-handwriting.org.uk/shop/writing-left-handed/

By all means take advice, buy the books and help him practice but don’t overthink it.

My daughter, her father, his brother and my brother all left handed. They all write and form their letters well. No additional help or anything …
All of them hold a pen normally & write with their wrist in a normal position just like right-handed people.

Twinkl has resources for writing for left handed children.

I’m left-handed. Everyone is different but I found that turning the writing paper or exercise book by about 90 degrees and writing from top to bottom rather than from left to right was easier for me.
Also I hold the pen or pencil between my thumb, forefinger and middle finger with thumb and forefinger on one side and the middle finger holding the pen in place on the other side of it. I think that is how most people do it but I have observed some left handed people hold the pen between the thumb, forefinger, middle and ring finger with the ring finger on the far side of the pencil.
Just observe how he writes and if it looks as if he is finding it awkward, with his hand going over what he has just written (which might smudge when he is writing using ink or biro) suggest trying something different. As I say, turning the paper/book worked for me.
My late grandfather was also left handed and was forced to write with his right hand at school. Thankfully those days are long past but his handwriting was dreadful, barely legible, all his life..

I’m left-handed and also have some experience via my job in letter formation and help for left-handed writers generally. IME left handed pens are crap! I also hated left handed scissors- everything in the world is geared so much for right-handers that the southpaws mostly adapt.

Saying that, a few tips- turning your child’s paper or book to an approx 45° angle clockwise when they’re writing is a good start to help them write comfortably.
In terms of letter formation, only a few things are needed to be done differently. A right handed person will usually form the horizontal strokes of f, F, H, I, J, t, T from left to right (pulling away from their body) whereas left handed write these right to left, a ‘pushing in’ movement. Being aware of this differentiation is useful, but as I said above we generally just get on with it and find our own adaptations. Wiro-bound notebooks are bastards though.

Another vote for writing at an angle. And I was horrified to discover that teachers still don't know this, it has been known that it helps since at least the 70s.

I do think left handed scissors can help, I could adapt but my cousin (also left handed) said he couldn't use scissors until he got left handed ones as an adult. I've just bought DD1 left handed scissors, tin opener, corkscrew and bread knife (serrated knives are right handed and make left handed people cut at an angle) for going to University. Left handed rulers are great as well.

But most importantly, don't treat him like some kind of freak, get your Mum to teach him how to do things like tie shoe laces (I do it backwards, DD has her own unique way of doing it), knit and crochet. Make sure he has room to the left of him at the dinner table, always put his glass on his left and when laying the table put his dessert spoon the correct way for him. There are lots of left handed architects and scientists so don't be all 'my child is left handed and special and so artistic' (literally saw this on MN once 🙄).

It’s a trivial issue. Let the kid sort it out.

I am left handed have very nice handwriting. I hold my hand in a normal writing position and tilt my page slightly (there are diagrams on Google) it stops me from smudging the ink with my hand. Other than that I don’t think I needed anything special to learn.

Slightly off topic, but I don’t think lefties need proper left handed stuff. I text with my right hand, use a mouse with my right hand and use right handed scissors etc.

Yes, a sensible lefty learns to use scissors in their right hand.

I was forced to sit on my left hand when I started primary school, to make me write 'properly'. By the time they relented we had to use old fashioned ink pens which I smeared across the page.
However I managed to write this.