Should I speak to yr1 teacher about potentially left handed child?

[WibbleWob]

Hello, I’m wondering what is the best course of action here. I was convinced my child was left handed before reception, but they started writing with their right hand. They were “expecting” at handwriting in their end of term report. I did explain to their reception teacher I thought my child was left handed but they were of the wait and see approach.

Over the summer I’ve noticed that when writing/drawing for fun they will use their left hand again, but if writing with me they will use their right. It does look in incredibly awkward and letters are often back to front.

I will say that the school has an incredibly rigid/one size fits all approach so I doubt my child would have felt comfortable using their left hand if the teacher demonstrated with their right, and just automatically followed what others were doing. (State, non faith school, for what it’s worth.)

I’m wondering if I should contact the school early doors or perhaps seek a private OT appt? My child is adamant they should use their right hand. We do have a large number of family members who are left handed but it emerged towards the end of infants- I suppose things were less pressured then.

When you write with your left you are often pushing the pen away from you across your body. Whereas with the right you are pulling it. Try writing a page of little o or similar with both hands and you will see what this means. If you write with your left it would be more comfortable to write from right to left.

My DC describes this. So does my DP, who is lefthanded also.

Also in the late 80s my parents moved me to a different primary school as the teacher was forcing me to write right handed and wouldn’t allow me to write left handed.

My youngest is left handed and in yr1 still got letters back to front (especially d and b). I questioned it with many teachers inside and outside of her school who all said perfectly normal for her age and development. Nothing to do with which hand she uses.

She will always use her left for everything and swaps cutlery too.

perhaps your DC is still working out their dominant hand.

my eldest didn’t really master/enjoy handwriting until way into the juniors and now writes very neatly. Give it some time, but do make the teacher aware that you feel they may be ambidextrous

@ReadWithScepticism I get pain going all the way up my forearm if I have to write a lot, e.g. an A4 page. DH is the same. I remember my wrist being really sore in exams at school. Now its worse, perhaps because I don't write as often and of course... age 🙄

@WibbleWob Our eldest is left-handed and it was one of the first things I mentioned to school when she started (she has delayed motor skills, so I wanted them to have the full picture). Other than scissors I'm unaware of her being provided with anything different to her right-handed peers. DD is the only left-handed person in her class. She has nice handwriting for her age (they don't do cursive though). I see no harm in mentioning to the teacher that you have concerns.

There are supposed to be exercises and support for left-handed children (as writing can be harder and the world is designed for right-handed people).

Having spent my entire life as left handed, I’m incredulous that anyone thinks I may need support or special exercises. Am I eligible for counselling and compensation too?

@WibbleWob I do understand your concerns but you don't seem to be listening to the teachers who have posted on this thread or me who worked in a school for 12 years. Teachers use differentiation therefore work is customised to the child. If I have a child working at year 2 level and yet is in year 4 do you think we give them the same maths tests? Destroy their self worth? Or do you think they are supported within the classroom environment?

That is what will happen when they teach the class cursive and those who need extra support in that will get it whether left or right handed. Children cannot remember an entire day and don't report everything back to parents, they are spectacularly unaware of things happening to others at times. Learning isn't linear and schools support children when they need it. Sometimes we move them all to one table within the classroom sometimes we one to one with one specific child. It may one or two children sometimes four. The 10% rule doesn't always apply to actual children in a classroom. Sometimes we have no left handed children or one and other times we have lots like when we had 10.

Speak to the teacher and ask for the left handed cursive writing sheet.

I am listening and as I have said I am grateful for the reassurance.

I have said I will mention it to the new teacher. It is a very fast paced school, children are assessed continuously and we are informed if they are behind/expecting.

i have been the child with poor handwriting, kept in at break to finish etc and want to avoid similar for my child.

As discussed, the school has high behaviour standards and I was concerned that my dc misspelling their name when they previously could might be treated as an affectation such as dotting I’s with hearts or stars. There is a seating plan in place and they are now at desks so bumping elbows etc could also be misconstrued. My child is well behaved and would find this distressing. As previously I reassured this is unlikely to be the case.

I wanted reassurance that mentioning again to the new teacher that I thought my child might be left handed was a sensible thing to do, which I have received.

Yes, b and d are incredibly common reversals, regardless of handedness. I myself (right-handed) use to write the b in my maiden surname as a d until I was about 8! ☺️

In fact, any letter reversals are common in Reception. It seems to be something a child is either prone to or not prone to but can be experienced by both left-handed and right-handed children. There's so much to take in and focus on when learning to write. Some children seem more naturally focused on how to write (ie correct formation, direction, placement on the line etc), other children will focus more on what to write (own ideas, phonics - what sounds they can hear, how to represent those sounds etc). It's quite normal for it to not all come together until at least Year 1, sometimes later for letter reversals. For children who tend to focus more on what to write, the switch to focusing more on handwriting tends to come more once they've memorised a lot of basic spellings. Once they no longer have to think so much about how to spell words, they can concentrate more on how to present their writing.

It will come, it just takes time. They're still so young, with so much to think about at once.

I'm left handed and as a child I wrote right to left. Letters and words were always backwards. I use my left hand for writing, brushing teeth and holding a fork and my right hand for everything else. Look up transient mirror writing.

My leftie just got on with it, by the end of nursery it was clear she was left handed, she’s never paid any mind to how anyone else writes.

Your child may be mixed handed (not ambidextrous) my DH is with a left hand dominance so uses his left or right depending on the activity.

This does sounds mad, DH is a leftie and has lovely neat handwriting and never needed any extra anything. I do handwriting practice with DD, I do sometimes drawn the character she’s copying at the end of the line so she can see an example because her hand covers what she’s already written but thats about it.

Hmm rethinking the discomfort i think, I think it’s the awkward way of writing. But then arabic is written right to left, I wonder how right handed arabic writers feel about that. I imagine you get used to it, I do get DD to stretch out her fingers when we are doing handwriting practice but I thought was normal, I used to get stiff fingers writing as a child.

I think writing implements are a lot more left handed friendly than they used to be, roller and gel pens have free flowing ink whichever hand is used. When I was in primary our handwriting practise was done with dip pens , and the nibs were the same for lefties and righties. My pages always looked a mess because the one writing implement that really does need to be specific is a nibbed pen.

I am a Year 1 teacher and am left handed myself. I would want to know as it affects my seating plans and I also modify handwriting activities so the model is on the right.

It is very normal for children of this age to write with either hand and it tends to settle down towards the end of year 1. I certainly wouldn't push a child into settling at this age but would and do continue to place emphasis on correct letter formation using either hand. Mirror writing is also incredibly common and I've taught lots of children who have needed a visual reminder of where to start writing.

I've never noticed children find my left handedness a challenge, though I do use scissors in my right hand because I've been essentially forced to through crap left handed options. I do have to modify how I cut, though. I don't think it's made a difference either way for any of my pupils.

That’s still 40 years ago!