Lefthanded Children in School

[Robins]

Just a bit of a general query really at this stage as I have only just started to think that my just turned 9 year old daughter may need some help in the classroom with her lefthandedness!

Do any of you have lefthanded children that have struggled with anything in the classroom but with particular reference to handwriting? I have done a little research on the net and know there can be difficulties if the proper support/teaching methods are not used and I now want to bring this up with the school. (I have done tentatively after listening to one or two moans from my little girl!)

My father who had the most wonderful handwriting and always used a fountain pen was left handed (no hook). If I have to cut along a line I find left handed scissors a must but general cutting whatever is there works fine and yes I can cut straight slices of bread with a bread knife.
Sarah I used both hands until I broke my left arm so perhaps there is a degree of ambidexterity

I still use a fountain pen by choice - no hook grip, paper slightly tilted

being left handed is NOT a disability or an impediment
it is just different - like skin colour, eye colour, height
but has the added fun of not actually being genetic

"BUT I grew up watching people getting on with being left handed
my dad writes with the stupid hook grip
my mum does not, nor do I, nor does DH
scissors / rulers / can openers - you just get used to holding them differently"

I grew up getting on with being left-handed too, and learned to manage with right-handed tools, but realised as an adult how much easier it was to use left-handed versions - with the exception of doing very fine cutting out where I have got so used to craning my head round and looking at the far side of the scissors that I still find it easier to do! Very straight lines I can only do with left-handed scissors!

Hi Robins:

This is very dated, but left-handed writers have a well recognised 'battle of the elbows' - brief article in Times Education supplement here: www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=77602

Surrey County Council actually has a policy on left-handed students: www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/lookupwebpagesbytitle_rtf/if+your+child+is+a+left-handed+writer?opendocument. A rather enlightened and helpful document for those of us in LEAs where no such document exists.

This section from the document is particularly useful:

Writing with the left hand is not the same as writing with the right hand with only a change of hand. Although left-handed writers should not be made to feel different they do have different needs from right-handed writers in developing their handwriting skills. These are often overlooked and need to be actively taught.

Left-handed writers have to push the pen across the page towards their body. This is a tiring and awkward movement. Instead of the flowing outward movement of the right-handed writer, where the elbow can move outwards, for the left-handed writer the movement towards the body tends to make the elbow come into the body, restricting movement and creating tension. If the hand is hooked over the top of the writing, the writing can be smudged and the hand will tire quickly. Also, if the hand covers what has been written the left-handed writer will have to stop more frequently to review the content of what he has written, whereas a right-handed writer can maintain the flow of writing whilst reviewing what has been written.

However, with support there is no reason why left-handed writers should not achieve a fast, fluent and legible hand.

-----

I have one of each at home - and my feeling is that a bit a sympathy for the needs of the left handed person (seating position, letting them chose the hand to use in sports/ with instruments/ in sewing/ etc... and universal scissors) seems to make a lot of difference. Teachers that ensure situations are also left-hand friendly just make school-life that much easier. Interestingly, my younger DD is right handed and her issues stem from copying how her elder left-handed sister or her left-handed father do things. It's sorting itself out now she's a bit older, but right isn't always a breeze either.

You can get all these things nowadays at this mail order Of course it is easier to use implements for left handers, but you can manage without, it isn't a disability.

The thing that I find the most difficult is taking a register-I wish they had the names down the right.

My niece had problems at school because her teacher insisted on straightening her paper and not letting her write at an angle.

My dd has taken until year 9 to produce neat writing. The side of her little finger was permanently black and her work smudged because of being lh.
These are both lh issues that right handers don't have.

Right handers should also tilt their paper/books at an angle when writing (left handers should write down the angle and right handers up www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000005.pl?REFPAGE=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.anythingleft-handed.co.uk%2Facatalog%2Findex.html&WD=cap&PN=left_write_mat.html%23a229 ) and yes they can and do get inky fingers too.

But a right hander's work is not smudged because their hand is trailing across their work, like a lh unless they have a real weird grip on the pencil.

No they find other ways of smudging work

I am left handed and never had any problems with writing, cutting etc I did always have an ink smudged pinky but didn't see it as a big problem.

I guess there are a lot of different experiences - I struggled as a left handed child with some day to day tasks like tin openers - not at school though interestingly and it never really impacted on my life and I learnt to do most things right handed. I think some lefties get a bit put out when it is made out to be some sort of disability.

I only really realised I was left handed when the teacher said I wasn't allowed a fountain pen - it hadn't occured to me to think about it before then and I guess I am not very observant .

I suppose I am saying that it in my view it is not the left handedness that is in itself a problem (although I remember a friend of a friend who was a primary teacher expressing surprise at my neat handwriting "for a left hander" ) but the fact that she is experiencing problems should be dealt with just like any other child experiencing problems in the classroom.

Good grief. I'm left handed. Always have been!

Despite this, I have achieved grade 8, grade 5 and another grade 5 in instruments that I play 'right handedly'.

I sew left handedly having been taught by my right handed grandma.

I tried a LH fountain pen but it was more trouble than it was worth.

I can't use LH scissors because I've adapted the pressure I apply to make RH scissors work. I can't isolate what I do so I can't undo it to use LH ones. Cutting out is a bit tricky because the blade of the scissors obscures the line. But that's probably the biggest problem I have.

It never occurred to me/the teachers for me to sit on the left at school to avoid banging elbows. So I just kept my elbow tucked in and we got on with it!

I did put my book at an extreme angle but it never bothered anyone.

I held my pen in a standard RH way and yes I occasionally smudged my ink, but it was still legible (neat even) and I still passed my GCSEs, A Levels and got a first class degree and I'm also allowed to teach other people's children!!!

I do my ticks backwards and I make my class lists in reverse, with the names down the right so that I can tick them easily - which the children find amusing.

But that's it.

It's no big deal and parents who treat it as an issue irritate the hell out of me. It's not a flippin' disability. I just hold my pen in a different hand!

I do love it though when parents trot out the "yes, but he's left handed..." as an excuse/reason for everything. Sort of stops them dead when they realise I am too!

ooh that was long!

But well said Folkgirl-they irritate the hell out of me too. They make out to their DCs that it is some sort of disability, so I enjoy saying 'rubbish-I'm left handed too'. You also get DCs who think they can't cut unless they have special scissors-I point out that it is easier with left handed ones but it is perfectly possible with right handed ones.

How can it NOT be a disadvantage?

We write from the left side of the page towards the right, meaning you're writing into your body.

The way they teach cursive script is naturally the opposite direction a leftie wants to write.

If a child is not taught how to compensate by tilting the page etc, they will have problems, and it is very easy to lose confidence in school work by getting behind.

All OP is saying is that she wants her child to be supported a bit.

So chill out.

Especially you, FolkGirl

It just isn't a disadvantage unless you let it be one.

I am chilled now!

Well obviously!
I think that was why the OP posted

Or unless you want it to be identified as one...

I agree-it isn't a disadvantage unless you let it be and become a victim. I once went for a summer job as a student and had to have a handwriting test because I was left handed! The right handed people didn't, now that I am older I would have made a fuss and called it discrimination.
Lots of DCs need help with difficulties-they do not need help because they are left handed.
Products that are especially made for left handers are very welcome, e.g. I have a cheque book where it is opening the opposite way-however I can cope without it!

DS2 is left handed and has nice handwriting. He is age 9. The only thing is that his handwriting is quite slow. He is being told to write quicker by his teacher and not be so worried about being neat.

The suggestions by Riverside such as sitting on the left side of the desk are very good. In fact, I am going to ask DS if he does get bumped when he is writing or has enough space to turn his book round. He has just started a new school and is doing much better than his old school but his teacher is quite focussed on getting his handwriting speed up and I wonder if little changes would help him.

There are distinct lefthander advantages though.

At sport he has an advantage of right handed players as he can use both left and right hand equally well. He plays scrum half at rugby and he passes the ball left and right with equal speed and power. He is a great artist because even from being very small he could always draw stereoscopically looking from left or right he has no trouble with perspective and he has an eye for how things look, proportions, etc. He is also very practical and good at DT even though the tools may be right handed. ICT is also something he excels at as being a left hander and somewhat ambidextrous he has an advantage on a keyboard. TBH he already says he can type far faster than anyone in the class.

Do remember, a far greater proportion of the Worlds political and business leaders and elite sports players have been left handers than represented in the proportion in the population.