Left handed 5yo - what to expect from school

[PyjamaFiend]

Just that really. My DS2 is 5 and in year 1. He is very definitely left handed and always has been. His writing is coming on and is legible but is clearly weaker than his contemporaries.

The biggest issue is with spelling tests, we religiously learn his spellings each week. I know he can spell the words (we learn them on squeebles and then tackle the writing later), but he often scores pretty low marks on his test. It’s getting to the point where his confidence is crushed. He has just cried his little heart out over his writing and I’m at a bit of a loss.

School are being pretty inflexible and I know that they will be wanting his writing to improve, but it seems reasonable to adjust their methods when it comes to him proving that he can spell. There really is such a massive difference between his writing ability and his knowledge and understanding.

I guess part of me wonders if this will eventually show as dyslexia, but I also guess the mechanics of writing might make it entirely normal for a child who is left handed to take much longer to get the hang of good pencil control and letter formation.

My biggest worry is that neither of his class teachers seem to have any strategies to help. Surely being left handed is not that unusual!

Honestly I don’t think being left handed has anything to do with it.
Find motor skills take time to develop.

I suggest looking up hand exercises on YouTube. OT Closet do lovely ones.

I am not convinced that being left-handed is the problem here. I’d focus on fine motor activities to strengthen the hands and lots of practice at writing to increase speed. What sort of spellings is he having to do and how long is it taking him to form one of the words?

Does he know what the letters looks like, but takes ages to write each one? Does he complain that his hands hurt? I’d consider going via the GP for an OT referral.

I wouldn't mention left handed as an issue I think that us a red herring. Possibly part of the reason but possibly not.

I would contact school and tell them "ds is very upset at low scores in spelling tests. He is crying and very demotivated. We practice spelling and I know he does it correctly in house or out loud, it must be something about the test that is the issue. Could he spell out loud or have more time?"

Also reassure him tests scores will come,, he knows the spelling which is the important thing writing speed will come.

My ds was a slow writer, nursery recommended playing with plastercine to build strength in fingers. (Play dough is softer)

The gap between the writing and knowledge would make me also question your theory of Dyslexia I would ask the school to consider this there are specific methods of teaching to support kids. My pair are lefties, first lad struggled a lot, a teacher gave me a list of tasks to help, drawing the words in shaving foam, in sand, practicing at home slowly during the week with crayon pencil and chalk on a black board. If I remember correctly it was to support muscle memory as well as his actual writing. We had help from the school who did a bit about famous lefties and confidence building. Sorry you son is going through struggles. If it is any consolation it came together I think around aged 8. My lad is now flying in secondary and has clear writing.

I think maybe I haven’t communicated so well. There is literally nothing wrong with his spelling ability, and his reading is really coming on too. His comprehension is top notch, and his maths ability is good. He surprises me daily with things he has remembered, insight he has drawn from different pieces of information.

It really is just the writing. So he learns his spellings, trots off to school, and tanks the test. Every single week. By now even the thought of a spelling test is very triggering for him.

It’s interesting that some of you think it might be more generic than being left handed. I’ll be sure not to lead with the left handed ‘issue’ (I came to the conclusion because he was complaining that he can’t see what he has written because it’s under his hand). But it could just as easily be a fine motor thing.

I don’t think he is excessively hyper mobile, but I am moderately so and so is my dad. He does do quite a bit of tiptoe walking.

Most of all I’m just really grateful that you’ve taken the time to share your experiences. It’s been one of those days (beginning with news of a restructure at work) and that you’ve tried to help with this is really jubilating. Thank you!

This makes for sad reading. Poor little lad! Ds2 is left handed and seems ok. I hope you get more support from school, or get this sorted somehow.

I've read all your posts OP but not the whole thread. I'm sorry this is happening to your son and it must be upsetting for you all. I'm a left-hander but I'm able to see what I've written because, unlike a lot of LH, I don't curl my hand round the words (I think you said he can't see what he's written?) - would it help if he was encouraged to keep his hand straight? Apologies if I've got it wrong but losing your confidence over school at 5 is very worrying.

Bring left handed doesn’t automatically mean shit handwriting.

I’m left handed and use a fountain pen every day. My writing is clear and neat.

Just get your DS to rotate the paper to the right and it makes it much easier to write without smudging.

The problem with spelling tests in Y1 is that children are often easily capable of learning spellings and then regurgitating them accurately in a test, but that doesn’t mean they will use those spellings correctly when they’re writing them out of the context of a spelling test. Often they don’t.

I think it’s a bit much to expect your ds to be tested separately. He’s in Y1 now and he needs to be able to write. If he can learn the spellings easily, then use those words to practice handwriting at home. There is plenty that can be done support him getting better at handwriting. You could buy him a little pot of play dough and do dough disco on YouTube with him regularly which will help his fine motor skills, and keep practicing writing. The school should be able to help in finding the right pencil grip for your ds if he needs one, and helping to find the best position for his paper on the table in front of him, but other than that is all about practice and you can provide that 1-1 support at home much more easily than they can at school.

I had a really good but really brief chat with his teacher this morning. She’s going to swap his side of the desk (he is elbow to elbow with someone). We’ve agreed that he can spell (I reiterated this morning that verbally and typing he knows his spellings). So will work out what to do after his test re: a different testing method.

None of that stops him needing to learn to write but hopefully it will disconnect the idea he has between writing ability and ‘cleverness’ or success.

We will do more practice at home, but probably of non letters to begin with.

Whoever it was who suggested checking which side of the desk he sits, thank you!!! A massive improvement this week in both his writing and his score on the spelling test. A much better end to the week.

OP-have a read up about dysgraphia.

My 8 year old son is left handed. We've always had similar issues with his writing. He would always be able to spell his words out loud perfectly but then get low marks at school. He will say great sentences out loud but then miss half of it out when hes writing. I've never associated it with his left handedness though. I think its to do with him writing so slow and his brain is way ahead of him. He has just always hated writing even though he has always drawn beautifuly.

Anyway we have had recent progress. He strated keeping a journal and thereforewroting at his own pace just for fun. As his writing got faster through practice his results have improved in school. He is now in the top spelling group after previously always being in the lowest group. He is writing loads in school because he can write faster now.

Basically what I'm saying is don't worry too much at this age and just reassure him with practice writing will get easier. The inportant thing is his wee brain is understanding the spelling.

Dd9 is left handed and her handwriting is messy. She hardly could write any letters at the end of the reception. The teacher showed us her writings in reception but she said that even though the letters hardly resembled letters she was making progress. She is in year 5 and her friends write neatly but she is ok because she is otherwise doing well at school.

I am right handed and I had the same problem at school. My writing is ok now but it took several years to be nice and readable. I think the problem was fine motorics.

Yes. I think I don’t have a problem with his writing being slow to develop. I’m annoyed that his writing seems to be connected to his self assessment of his intelligence and self worth. I think this is a school thing because they put so much emphasis on neat handwriting.

Often, it’s a question of how the writer angles the paper, as well as taking advantage of pencil grips or other aids that may be available. Could he use a slope to rest the paper on? It isn’t a given that left handers drag the pen across their writing. It is possible to write with the hand under the paper as a leftie, but the angle needs to be correct.

He should sit on the left so that he isn’t bumping arms with a right handed. Some lefties hook their hand around to avoid smudging, but that needs to be corrected. Being left handed doesn’t have to mean awkward and untidy. Remember that lefties are very often creative people in many ways. It’s something to celebrate.

Hi,
I myself am a leftie. Seeing your post makes me think you are pretty anxious. Being left handed is common and have the belief that your child will cope fine.

Make sure you let him know that 6 out of 7 is 86% - so he is very intelligent.

I doubt his left-handedness is the root of his speed, my son who is very intelligent (predicted grade 9s) is right-handed and was always told that he was slow and needed to speed up.

Don’t let him worry, and make sure he loves reading!

My DS is left handed and in year 3. His writing is surprisingly neat when he's not rushing it! School have helped by changing the side of the desk he sits on (I know you've already had this changed), he angles the paper differently and he also has one of the left handed stabilo pens provided by them.

We're all right handed at home so when I show DS things like demonstrating with cutlery, shoe laces etc I do it when I'm opposite facing rather than side by side and he seems to grasp it quicker. I think there are degrees of left handedness and that's why some people just write with their left hand but do cutlery etc with their right. My DS seems very left handed in comparison to some of my friends!

My ds1 is a leftie and also struggled at school. School had him in a group that got extra help by doing finger exercises. I looked up loads of things he could do to help, I think called Funky Fingers on Pinterest, and we did them at home. He is year 6 now and has very neat writing.

Fellow leftie here . No issues at all for me. Just the way I hold things. Apparently I have beautiful writing for a leftie 😁

I am left handed and have two left handed children. Boys take longer to develop fine motor skills than girls and that particularly affects the qriting of left handed boys.

1 Get him to draw or play with lego or do jigsaws or playdough or whatever he enjoys that requires manipulation to improve the strength in his hands and his writing will improve.

2 Teach him to angle the paper when he writes so the top left hand corner is higher than the top right (about a 45° angle). Then he will write down the paper which he will find easier than pushing the pencil across the paper. Tell the teacher to encourage it as well, most teachers know very little about howto make things easier for left handed kids.

3 Stop treating being left handed as some kind of weird disability, 10% of the population are left handed including most arhitects and many scientists. Left handed people have much better spatial awareness than right handed people. I have seen so many osts on here over the years from right handed parents worrying about their left handed child, seems like the historic prejudices are still around.

What makes you think it’s in any way connected to the fact that he’s left handed?

Woah, this post is a year old and has a sudden influx of responses.

why do I think it has anything to do with his being left handed? Mostly because the mechanics of writing favour right handlers - when writing with your right hand you use a ‘pull’ action and are writing away from your body; lefties have to ‘push’ the pencil across the paper and are writing towards their body. It’s not as easy or smooth to form the letters in this way, and although there are some lefties out there with wonderful writing and no issues, I know a few grown up lefties who will attest to finding writing hard at school.

I wrote this post when absolutely at my wits end with school. I’d love to say that things have improved, but they have and they haven’t. We have a different (better) teacher, but he’s still struggling. the teacher had him sat elbow to elbow with a right handed child, so he didn’t have room, but also seemed to have absolutely no strategies on how to help him. So I had to work that out myself.

In his case I’m pretty certain he’s dyslexic, and maybe has dysgraphia. So this is not wholly a left handed issue. But I also think his writing ability was so behind his peers when taught to form letters he couldn’t grasp it then and so still has trouble with letter forming.

but actually it’s more than that. He seems completely unable to get his thoughts onto paper. He’s very articulate but cannot seem to communicate via writing. He’s spent ages practicing this week’s spellings, but he still doesn’t know them if he has to write them (normally does much better verbally).

*the previous teacher had him elbow to elbow