Hi all,

My oldest child just started pre-K a couple of weeks ago. She offhandedly mentioned that her teacher had her writing with her right hand. My DD has done most everything with her LEFT hand since she was two. She could write her name and a few other things (Left handed) before going into school.

Her school sends home her worksheets weekly and I would have had no idea that she was coloring and writing with her RIGHT hand if she had not mentioned it.

We did not mention her handedness to her teacher before school started and my DD is not complaining. However, I have heard that having a left handed child write with their right hand can cause reading and other learning problems down the line.

Does anyone have any experience or advice. I dont want to make a big deal out of nothing and I dont want my DD thinking she is doing anything wrong. On the other hand I dont want to miss something.

TIA

I am in the process of taking a Psychology class and it the textbook we are using it reads quote "Parents (or in your case Teachers) should never try to force a left-handed child to use the right hand. To do so may create speech or reading problems." unquote. I would definately have a discussion about this with her teacher if I were you. HTH

Charlotte

Maybe since the teacher wasnt aware that she favored doing things with her left hand, she just assumed she should be teaching her to hold the pencil in her right hand?? ....I'd definately have a talk with her teacher. I'm actually so glad you posted this, bc my son has always preferred to do things with his left (coloring and such), and he just started preschool and I hadnt even thought to mention this to his teacher!

My MIL is from the Poland (the old country) and it was considered a curse if your child was left handed so she forced my DH when he was little to use his left. ---I find it interesting that Dordee mentioned speech problems because my DH had/has them. It's as if his brain is moving faster than he can write and talk.
Talk to the teacher and tell her that you DD is left handed and that she needs to start working with her using that hand instead of the right. She may have just assumed she was right handed since most people are.

If it was my child I would just let them use their left and tell the teacher.

I have 5 children, 3 of them are left handed. I made sure I met their teachers at the beginning of school each year and let them know the children were left handed and I did not want to change them. I never had a problem with the teachers agreeing.

This was an old practice in many different cultures. My grandmother grew up in the south in the 20's and 30's. She was a lefty but they tried to "turn her around". She wrote with her right hand, but did everything else with her left. I would definitely mention this to the teacher. Perhaps it was just an oversight.

My daughter is left handed also. It was apparent early on, as soon as she started feeding herself and coloring. In her early years of school (PreK-1st), I simply told her teacher at the beginning of the year that she's left handed. We never had any problems and didn't have to make a big deal of it. Maybe the teacher is just assuming that she doesn't have any writing practice and that she's right handed. A simple call or note to the teacher should resolve the problem. If she continues to "force" your daughter to write with her right hand, then I would schedule a meeting with the teacher and principal. There is absolutely no benefit in forcing a child to change!

Thank you all for your responses! I will ask her teacher about it on Monday.

My son is left handed and I remember when he was in elementry school there was a teacher who tried to change him. To give her "credit" she was thrown into this class when the other teacher left due to health reasons. My son who was
a student is now being sent home with notes saying he is emotionallly not "ready" for the class he's in. Needless to say, the over protective mom that I am, I went to the school and met with the teacher and principal.
Come to find out she set up the students tables side to side where my son was "bumping" elbows with a right handed student. She could'nt read my sons handwriting or the girl's next to him. DUH.
Once I made her move him,his handwriting became legible, suprise, suprise.
I guess my point is to make sure that the teacher knows that your child is left handed and for her to adapt to that, not make your child adapt to her.

Please talk to that teacher! Who knows what problems can happen when you keep a child from being who s/he really is!

Here is an amazing list of famous left handers:
http://www.indiana.edu/~primate/left.html

Encourage those lefties to be creative!

And remember that humorous old saying...
"Left handers are the only ones who are in their right minds"
(because they use more of the right side of their brains than righties, who use more left brain)

I have two children that are left handed and when you talk to the teacher make sure that you take a look at the desks. If they are tables than they are fine but they make left and right handed desks. My son kept complaining so I went to his classroom and plain as day they were right handed desks and he couldn't write properly because his arm was hanging off. There were also three other children in his class that were lefthanded that were having the same problem. I spoke to the director and they had to order new desks to accomodate these students. Its amazing the difference that it makes with the students..

also just as a note... (I am not left handed but my mom, a good friend, and other classmates were) my classmates had found a left handed store. At the time it was local but I know that there are items out there on the internet.

The one item that made a world of difference to them was left handed spiral notebooks. It has the metal spiral on the right side (but all of the paper still looks the same) so when they have the notebook open and are writing their arm/hand is not over the spirals. This actually helped make some of their writing look nice as they didn't have to fight this.

Something to think about for you mother's of left handers.

I've never seen those notebooks, that would be SO nice.

Make sure you talk to your daughter as well, make sure she knows that she can use whatever hand SHE wants to. This might help avoid problems in the future too.
Both of my boys were ambidextrus for a while, enough that it was hard to tell and as they got older we started to see which they stuck to. My youngest is four and didn't start showing a marked preference until about a year ago. My oldest is a lefty like me.

I don't know about it causing speech/reading problems, but I don't see a reason to make a child change. I would speak with the teacher-- who (as others mentioned) may not have realized that she's left-handed. OUr desks are separate from our chairs, so we don't need special ones, but I do make sure left and right handers aren't bumping each other. Hope it all gets resolved soon.

One other thing-- I don't teach the lower grades, but I have heard (and it would be logical) that it is difficult to for a right-handed teacher to teach a left-handed child how to hold a pencil and write or hold scissors and cut. This is not to say that the teacher is doing this for her convenience, but that if you or some adult you know (or even an older child) is left handed, that person might be able to help your child even more with his/her writing and cutting. Most teachers who are right handed learn ways to help lefties, but it's no substitute for really being able to show someone.

I should have said "or for a left handed teacher to teach right handed children". I guess it's just usually the other way around.

Mbelgard, I think you are smart to get someone else to help since you have someone available.

I should have said "or for a left handed teacher to teach right handed children". I guess it's just usually the other way around.

Mbelgard, I think you are smart to get someone else to help since you have someone available.

I find it so offensive that anyone would even think to change a left handed child to a right handed one! I'm left handed. People have often said horrible things to me like I'm handicapped or something. Nine times out of ten, I could draw and write better than the offending person. I usually just say, "I'm doing just fine thanks! By the way, I'm an artist, how about you? Good day!". I think you should encourage your child to write with which ever hand she chooses and let her teachers know they are not to meddle with that. Good luck!

Anna

This topic came up today at dinner with my BF, it is interesting b/c I found out he used to be a lefty. Then in Kindergarten they were forcing him to use his right hand, his mom wanted him to be right handed so she asked the teachers to keep teaching him. Evidently she wanted him to learn to be right handed so everyday when he came home from school (for quite awhile) he had to copy a page out of a book and write with his right hand until he learned how. He then did this for drawing also. Evidently the art teacher wanted him to use his right hand instead of his left also.

This also happend in baseball, he went to bat left handed and the coach made him go to the other side of the plate to bat... so now he can bat from both sides.

I found it pretty interesting. Also found out his sister was a right hander until 1st grade, then she switched to left and she has been a lefty ever since.

The things you learn about significant others after topics come up on CC... see the addiction is a good thing!

Thanks again for all your responses! I talked to my DD's teacher this morning and she said thanks for letting her know and they will have my daughter work with her left hand.

Glad to hear the teacher is working with her! I think most of the time, they just assume everyone's a righty.

Thank you again so much for posting this! I talked to my sons preschool teacher this morning and she said that she'd noticed that he writes with his left most the time, and sometimes will switch to his right when his left gets tired. She's just been encouraging him to use both. She said definately dont force him to change whichever way he chooses. It was quite funny, she lauged and said "Besides, it'll be really good for sports if he likes to use both!" I really like her, she's very easy to talk to and actually listens.

My husband went to Catholic school and he claims he was left-handed and forced to use his right. You should see his handwriting today with his right hand, chicken scratch. He had me read directions to him as he drove once (he wrote the directions) and we actually went the wrong way because I couldn't read them! LOL! It is awful, worse than a doctor.

My sister, who is about 4 years older than my husband, never had a problem with being left-handed in school, but then again we went to public school. Everyone knows how evil those nuns can be! (just kidding!).

I am a lefty too!! I won the "Best Penmanship" award when I was in elementary school so there is nothing wrong with using your left hand. Please talk to your teacher, and tell her not to push him on the right hand. This is a right-handed world, he will have enough challenges, let him write how he is comfortable....

I am one of those kids that was born left handed and was forced to change to my right hand. In fact, when I was in third grade, we were learning to write in script and the teacher would not let me go to the fourth grade until I could write with my right hand. So, I was held back in third grade. All of my friends moved on and I was being punished. I shut down all basic learning for years. I hated school. It wasn't until I was in High School that I started to make friends again and actually wanted to learn again. I had become a very quiet person, because I could not understand why I was different. My parents were bullied into believing that my life would be hard if I continued to use my left hand. I have had more trouble making my life in the world of right handers. To this day, I can not write anything on a piece of paper the normal way. I have to turn my paper completely sideways to write legible. So, my advise is DON'T DO IT. Let your child be normal. I was one of five children in my family that was born left handed. My mother has seven grandchildren and four of them are left handed. My sister teased me, my entire life because I was held back in third grade. I felt like I was abnormal. In today's world your child has a great chance of fitting into many sports being left handed and their are scissors and other tools that are made for left handed children. There is nothing wrong with being a left handed person unless you force them to be different.

i didn't read what everyone else wrote, but here's my take--

my DS is also left-handed, when he started Pre-K (& this was at a private school) when we went to Meet the Teacher he was sitting left hand towards another student & she asked or we told her he was left handed, because the day he started school she had moved him to the "outside"

about your teacher--what happened to "everyone pick up your pencils" that would have told her right there that your DD was left handed or that ANY of her students were.

talk to the teacher (if you haven't already) & good luck

I don't remember but my mom tells me that I was left-hand dominant as a child and she always used to switch the crayon or pencil to my right hand. Oh how I wish she wouldn't have done that! I've always thought that left handed people are so unique! My dad is left handed and I always thought it would be cool to be like him. Interestingly enough, whenever I golf or play softball (which isn't very often at all...!) I am left handed. It just feels natural to me and the times I've tried to play as a right-hander feels very awkward! Good that you spoke to the teacher and now she can correct herself instead of your daughter!