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!

This is shouting out at me.
You could be describing my child at primary. Verbally really bright, but when it comes to putting plenty to paper, drops towards the bottom of the class.
We got a dyslexia/dysgraphia diagnosis aged 9, but it could easily ve one if the other 'dys' family, or just a lefthanded child. Worth keeping an eye on tho.

Thanks for sharing your experience @ChristmasCakeAndStilton - I suspect he will need to be assessed at some point but it’s a question of when. I think now is realistically too soon, but will need to happen in the next few year and definitely before secondary (and eg any entrance exams if applicable).

Yes.

Some things in this world are easier for right handed people, writing in English is one of them.

This child is, for some reason, slower than his peers at writing, being left handed could be why. Being dyslexic could also be why.

If you look at the pens used to write Arabic or Urdu they are shaped differently to a typical pen used in the UK.

Thanks @sashh - I agree, but it seems to cause offence.

My child has been slow to make progress, but suggesting it has anything to do with his left handedness appears to be offensive. It is almost certainly part of the story, but not the whole story. This page goes into some of the why www.lefthandedchildren.org/letter-formation.htm

it’s not a new idea - The Simpsons dedicated a whole episode to this when Ned Flanders gave up work to open his ‘Leftorium’

@sashh hpw you describe a left handed person writing is actually offensive. We are not Neanderthals with sticks grasped in our hands scraping around. We can write perfectly well. In fact how you describe a left handed person writing is how I would write if I tried to write with my non dominant right hand. I must pat myself on the back that I’ve achieved so much academically when I can’t write as well as a right handed person apparently 🙄🙄🙄

@PyjamaFiend People are saying it isn’t to do with his lefthandedness because we are left handed, and have left handed family members, none of whom have problems spelling or writing. That just isn’t a lefthandedness problem, and focusing on this means that you are not focusing on getting a dyslexia diagnosis, or whatever the actual problem turns out to be.

Being left handed might mean you are slower at writing (though not necessarily), but it doesn’t make you mix your letters up on the page.

The issue seems to be spelling rather than being left handed, which won't have any effect on his spelling ability. The best way to learn is repetition. You could get him some plastic letters, use them to form the word he needs to learn, and mix them up so that he can rearrange them in the correct order. This is a visual method of learning. When he can correctly order the words using the letters, he can try with the written version.

“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”

People are saying this sort of stuff doesn’t sound related to being left-handed. Which it doesn’t.

I’m left handed, had a very high reading age as a child, literally never had anything less than 100% in spelling tests without having to practice (other kids got house points for getting 100%, I didn’t because the teacher said it wasn’t an effort for me). Communicate far better in writing than in speech because I can revise and refine my thoughts. Neat handwriting, though unfortunately in that rounded teenage girl style that goes along with circles over the i’s. Bit slow in writing-heavy exams, but well within normal range across the class. Also very verbose which probably didn’t help.

DH is right handed but dyslexic, couldn’t read until he was 7, awful handwriting. Spelling is ok now, don’t think it was great as a child. Way better now he can type - he’s pretty intelligent and has an MA, so it wasn’t lack of ability at school.

It isn’t the lefthandedness.

A huge part of the problem with this thread is that it is a year old. A year ago I was struggling to get him to write at all, fine motor issues and silly things like school having not even noticed he was left handed for the first few months were contributory, and with lockdown he missed a huge chunk of preschool and year R.

Several posters are only reading the first few posts and not seeing how things have developed over time. Right now he looks more like a child who does have some issues with eg dyslexia, but also who missed out on being taught the fundamentals of handwriting, and a school who do things like sit him elbow to elbow with right handed children (or when I point it out move him so he’s on his own facing the wall).

As a right hander he does do things differently to me, getting insight from people who are left handed shouldn’t be controversial.

As a right hander he does do things differently to me, getting insight from people who are left handed shouldn’t be controversial

@PyjamaFiend He doesn’t do things differently at all. He writes with his dominant hand - you write with your dominant hand. I didn’t realise there was still such a lack of education about this. Next people will be suggesting bringing back forcing children to write with the ‘correct’ hand.

as for @sashh comparing writing with your left hand to scraping a stick around. I have no words.

so insulting - I can’t believe you are implying being left handed impacts on intelligence and ability. Maybe you would both enjoy reading these books - luckily the rest of the world has moved on from this view.

In his 1937 handbook The Backward Child, the British child psychologist Sir Cyril Burt depicted left-handers as fumblers and bunglers who "squint" and "stammer" and "flounder about like seals out of water".

A decade later, Abram Blau, head of child psychiatry at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, condemned left-handedness as "an expression of infantile negativism" linked to rebellious stubbornness, secretive superstition, obsessive cleanliness and other unpleasant traits. It was all due, it was believed, to an unloving "refrigerator mother".

Don’t put words in my mouth @Jeffster1. You are inferring something that simply isn’t there. It is true that I sometimes have to learn how to do things the other way round in order to teach him, (eg the guitar, knitting). But actually I’m just a worried mum trying to work out how to do the very best for her child. If you want to read something else into that it’s your problem and not mine.

Haven’t read the full thread but agree this is not a left handed issue. Not one single teacher has ever noticed my child is left handed, never mind made any adjustments for them in class, and she’s 10 years old now.

@PyjamaFiend your son is struggling to write and you jumped to it being due to his being left handed. You clearly have a maybe subconscious but there bias that right handed is better or that left handed people have issues. Left handed people have a dominant left hand instead of right. That’s it. Why are you learning to do things the other way round to teach him? I knit, play guitar and violin all on right handed instruments. It wasn’t an issue and my left handedness was never mentioned when learning in school or after school classes. If your son needs all this extra help there is clearly something else going on.

Exactly!

Oh bless you. It’s horrible to watch them struggle. I’m a leftie too and actually ended being an amazing speller (I’m sure it was because I had to learn the words by heart as my hand covered them when writing 🙈)

My DS is also in year one and was mixed handed all the way through reception before finally deciding he was right handed over the summer holidays. What I found helped him was lots and lots of colouring in, maze books and scissor practice. Before that I tried lots of writing practice and he would just get frustrated so I decided to take the pressure off. So far it’s working well and his writing is hugely improved, plus I much prefer sitting with him to do a colour by numbers than moaning about his bloody letter formations x

One simple thing my left handed DS's teacher did in early years was ensure he wasn't sitting with his left arm immediately next to a right handed person, so that their arms clashed when writing. He sat next to someone else left handed, or on the left rather than right of a right handed child. It gave him and the other child more space for their arm when writing. He also used those triangular pencil aids. Hope this helps.

Dc1 is left handed. He was undecided in reception and teacher left him be, but said he has a preference for his left and is more comfortable. He went into yr1 still undecided but his teacher was left handed and he stuck with it thankfully. His handwriting is very neat however his spelling isn’t great. They have suspected dyslexia in reception but won’t screen yet, in yr3. I predominantly use my left hand including to write, but I write with my right mostly. My mum admitted that both she and the school discouraged it.