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VanessaVH
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| Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 11:07am | IP Logged
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How do you tell if your child is Left or Right handed and any recomendations for teaching proper hand grip on pencil?
My DS4yo seems to favor his left, but really switches all the time. I am trying to show him the correct way to hold a pencil/crayon, but it isn't clicking. I have also had him try both hands and ask him which he likes better, but he doesn't know....
Any suggestions? Does it matter right now? I just don't want him to cement bad habits.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 11:15am | IP Logged
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he's probably too young to be able to manage the correct pencil grip. And he may not find which hand he favors for a bit yet too.
Just set his pencil or crayon or whatever you hand him toward center so that he can grab equally with either hand.
And work on other types of fine motor skills.. using a pencil is hard work.. but things like playing with the small legos (under supervision if needed) or moving small things around.. will help develop the coordination that he'll also use for writing.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 11:28am | IP Logged
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You could set a small ice cube tray out with a few small items - little wool puffs or small acorns - and have him pick up these items one at a time using a pincer grip.
Demonstrate this first for him. You don't need to say anything, just slowly and meticulously transfer everything...empty the tray and then slide it in front of him.
Tweezers/tongs work well also in this activity and build on fine motor development. These activities are great for dinner prep time while you're working there in the kitchen!
Or build a little basket of open/close items - a small jar with screw on lid, a snap, a little zipper, a velcro closure, a container with snap on lid...look around your kitchen and in creative places for these. When a son ripped a pair of pants beyond repair, I trimmed the pocket off because it had a velcro closure. I did the same with a snap pocket.
I focus more on this and development of fine motor at 4. We haven't yet approached how to hold a pencil properly. Just watching the hand he favors in transferring small objects and doing some of these Montessori activities will assist you in seeing the hand he prefers to use. 
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Angel
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| Posted: Aug 26 2009 at 6:57pm | IP Logged
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My 6 yo was like this, too, and finally decided on his left. Apparently this is common in lefties. I don't worry about pencil grip at 4, but when my ds started favoring his left hand, I started organizing any materials he was working with (like, say, water for painting) on his left, instead of making him reach across to the right.
Of course, whenever I would say that my ds was lefthanded, he would correct me and say he was "both-handed".
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Aug 27 2009 at 6:03am | IP Logged
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Angel wrote:
| Of course, whenever I would say that my ds was lefthanded, he would correct me and say he was "both-handed". |
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My ds7 has said and done the same thing! He's "picked" his right hand.
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ALmom
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| Posted: Aug 27 2009 at 1:15pm | IP Logged
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The other thing to mention, is to buy real quality left handed scissors. I thought my lefty here was right handed for a long time - but he just went to the right hand for scissors because of the way the thing is screwed together. You'll see what I mean if you try to take a right hand scissors and cut left handed - you cannot see what you are doing. Scissors labeled as either left or right handed are really right handed scissors with both blade edges sharpened. It is frustrating for a lefty and many lefties give up and learn to cut right handed.
We finally figured he was truly left handed with the scissors. Everything else, it just seemed hard to tell and he wasn't neat either way, so ... Suddenly he could cut when we got real, left handed scissors.
Also, we tend to reinforce right handedness by always handing things from our right to their right (and throwing and....) One of the beautiful things about how Jennifer described the ice cube tray is that if you are unsure of the handedness, set the tools up in the middle and try to make sure it is just as easy to pick it up left as right. Also, sometimes hand things from your right to their left. When you throw or roll the ball, send it towards their left equally as often as you go to the right. My left handers actually started out eating with their right because I subconsciously handed it to them that way - and they only saw all of us right handers using the right hand.
Janet
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ekbell
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| Posted: Aug 27 2009 at 8:00pm | IP Logged
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As a left hander I will second the recommendation to be careful with scissors.
Any righthanded scissor where the blades wobble is actually painful to use lefthanded for any length of time as you are stuck using an unnatural grip to keep the blades pressed against each other. The only thing that is more painful are right handed scissors with molded finger holes. (I can tell right now that most cheap scissor are wobbly and many are molded 
I have lived with right-handed blades for so long that I'd likely still look to the left of the paper I was cutting even with a left handed pair of scissors.  I've never found that to be a major issue, I just rotated what I was cutting if necessary.
Just don't give me a scissor with molded handles or wobbly blades. Please!
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VanessaVH
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| Posted: Oct 23 2009 at 3:42pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for all the replies. I am sorry I forgot to post back to you!
We are concentrating on other fine motor skills as recommended. New this week has been lacing :-)
We are also going to a one morning a week Montessori Atrium where they are doing Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we are on the third week and he loves it!
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Left or Right Handed?
