Left-handers treated differently?

[Lozario]

Looking at primary and prep schools for DS1 or reception entry next year and saw one yesterday that made left-handers kneel when they were writing as apparently that helped! As a left- hander myself I was quite surprised at this, DS1 is also left-handed and I don't like the idea he might be treated differently in front of the other kids!

Has anyone else encountered this? Wasn't keen on the school anyway to be honest but now wondering if this is something we'll see elsewhere. TIA!

I've not heard this. Apparently DS1 will be shown to hold his paper at 45 degrees.

Yikes! That sounds uncomfortable. And humiliating.

Wtaf? That sounds awful.

I have two left-handers and they've never been treated any differently than anyone else to my knowledge.

The DCs' school encourages left-handers to turn their paper at an angle and I think put a strip of masking tape on the table where they sit for them to line their paper up with so that they get into the habit. But that's all. The head teacher is a left-hander herself.

Yes I used to just turn the page too. It's good to know this is not the norm!!

I would have been mortified to have been made to kneel when everyone else was sitting normally.

DD is left-handed and AFAIK, not treated "differently". She was encouraged (at least by me) to angle the book the right way for herand I remember her telling me about swapping seats with a right-hander because they were getting in each others way with elbows, etc. Probably had LH scissors at school and we have them at home.

Not heard of this. Dd is left handed. I'm not aware of her being given any different instructions or guidance. She just seems to naturally turn the paper to one side. Has beautiful handwriting - but best if using non smudge pens jut in case.

never heard of this! dp and i are both lefthanded, so far only one of our fibe children are, ds3. we havevshown him.how to angle the paper.

the only difference at school (and one i had to insist on) was that he doesnt use those little white board and white board pens. they seemed to use them a lot in lower years fir writing practise. they are little a bit smaller than a4? size and each child had their own. but fir ds3 they were impossible, no matter what angle he held it at or how he held the pen he smudged/rubbed off his writing as he wrote! he really struggled! i pointed this out and after discussion it was agreed he could have a clipboard with paper and a pencil instead.

So do they kneel on the floor for the whole time they're writing?? If so, that's absolutely bonkers - how do they think left-handed adults who have to actually sit on chairs cope? I'm left handed and I absolutely do not agree with left handers being made to do anything hairbrained to "help" with writing. Being left handed isn't a disability and most children learn to deal with it themselves, usually just by angling the page.

I'm glad to hear so many people saying their left handers these days are encouraged to angle their paper. I used to get told off for it at school but it's the only way I can write legibly. Luckily I was a stubborn child and I used to just let the teacher push the paper back the "right" way, wait till she was distracted, then push it back the way I wanted it. Why they were against me angling the page I have no idea - without it I just could not write straight or clearly at all. The adults I know who were forced not to angle their paper as children curl their hand around in what looks like a very uncomfortable position.

Am reading this post with interest. My DD has just started reception and she is a left-hander - there are none in our family so the tip about angling the paper is very helpful.

She is holding the pen correctly now but doesn't apply enough pressure. I have noticed she is less interested in drawing/colouring than her sister because she doesn't have the control just yet.

Right-hand writers and left-hand writers need different position as well as position the paper differently when they are writing. Especially in a very early age (in Reception) does not mean they need to kneel (but probably this method just helped for the children), but definitely they need to position their whole body differently than a right-hand writer. Otherwise they writing will be messy for years until they can sort out the best position for them by themselves. Left-handed is really not disability, just because you use your other hand you need different position to get the best writing you can. It is not as important for adult as important in KS1, because an adult practiced a whole life with left-hand writing, but these little children just starting to discover writing. I think we can agree that they need to form the letters as nicely and correctly as they can and teachers need to give them the effort and possibility to help them achieve this. It is a bit like when you throw a ball with right hand you put your left leg in front of your right leg to get a stable position to be able to throw that ball as far as possible. It would be silly to force a left-handed child to put his legs in the same way (usually they put their legs the other way round), just because the majority of the class do this way.

Have you looked at the children who were kneeling? Did they seem sad, unhappy or frustrating? Did you look at their writing? Did it seem as good as a right -hand writer? If we would use the same body position for a left and right hand writer, the left hand writer writing definitely would be a lot messier than the right-hand ones.

Children have very good skills one of them, if they see something unusual happen they will ask the adult why it happen or why I need to do that, instead of just get on with it. So the teacher has the possibility to explain it the students that she is kneeling when we write something, because it is more comfortable for her and she can form the letter nicer because she uses her left hand to write. Also if they feel uncomfortable with the situation they will tell it to the teacher and they can change the position.

I am not saying kneel a child is a good or bad practice, but probably in that particular situation it was the best interest of that child (and his or her education) and probably the child was happy with it as well. Please do not forget that is the teacher best interest as well (as ours) to make sure that our child is as happy in the school as possible.

I'm left handed and I write with paper straight on in front of me not at an angle

Do right handers tilt the paper 45 degrees to the side to suit them too?
I've never noticed .

I always wondered, as a child, how right handers manage to see where their writing is going as their hand covers up the rest of the line. Maybe that's why some children's writing seems to curve if they haven't got a printed line to follow.

I don't think it helps to kneel on the floor, it can imagine it looks like a deferential position to the right handers who it on chairs.

Sounds like a load of old %&

I have a left hander - as we all do he positions the paper in the way that suits him. I would be furious if he had to kneel or any other nonsense.

Left handed scissors are useful.

Used to knock elbows with neighbour but teacher swapped them round,.

wtf.
sounds like traditional anti left hander stuff repackaged into 'ooh its to help them'
disgusting.

It's to draw them back to the right hand path...

(I'm LH so I'm allowed to say that )

It sounds shocking, tbh!

well as the mother of two left handers I would be extremely fucked off if any teacher did that to them.

Dd is left handed and it wouldn't particularly bother me if this was the set up. If it helps, and dd is happy, then no problem.

sorry but I fail to see how kneeling on the floor would aid handwriting for anyone.

Thanks everyone for comments. I didn't actually see any kids doing it because they were all at break when the teacher was telling us. I think it was something too do with getting a better view of what they were writing but if you write at 45 degrees you can see everything anyway as I was trying to tell my (right-handed) DH last night, he was trying to see the sense in it. The teacher said they had someone from the left-handed association (or whatever they are called!) come in and talk to them about techniques so I'm sure it was with best of intentions, but kids just want to fit in don't they!