Ambidextrous- Suggestions/Feedback Please

hi brahan,

glad to see that someone has started a topic on lefty/righty...

well, even I am sailing in the same boat.....my 5 year old daughter could be a lefty......but am also very confused, because at times, she starts shifting to right hand....but we have mostly observed that her left hand is more dominant than her right, even while eating....like when she had to eat noodles, she finds it difficult to use the right hand, but when we try to correct it she changes to right, but I feel very bad for her....because its like taking away some natural ability away from her.....but when she has to use her hand to eat, she uses the right hand....in most other cases , its always the left...

one of the kindergarten teachers whom I happened to mention that my daughter is a lefty told me that.....it seems people say that try to wake up a kid from sleep and ask him/her to hold something immediately....and the kid will first give out the hand which is more dominant for him/her.....not sure if this really works...have still not tried it out....but as it was mentioned by a montessori teacher, and they have some training in kids learning...thought it could be right....

but we personally dont want to change her left hand habit, although she may be able to use her right hand, but not as comfortable.....and i have heard several people tell me not to change this habit, although there are are some who try to confuse me....

but how I was able to decide not to change her habit was when I realised last year that she was not willing to move a finger even an inch, when she was given some homework to write her ABCs.....and I have even mentioned this in another forum....i waited for nearly 2 weeks but gave up....and after reporting this to her teacher, we came to understand that she could possibly a lefty...and the reason why she used to cry and make fuss when I asked her to write was maybe because we were asking her to do something which she was not comfortable with...

so somehow I have decided to follow my heart, and let things be as it is...if her left hand dominates...so be it is what I have decided...this used to worry me a year ago a lot, because we dont have many people writing with left hand in my family...so I was very apprehensive how to handle this.....but taking the comfort factor of my DD, and the fact that there are people whose left hand dominates, though the ratio may be low compared to the normal way of writing....i decided to stick on to her left hand practice....

sorry I may not have answered your query, but even I am looking for inputs from other ILites who may have similar experience.....as this post quite resembled my situation, just thought to drop by.....

 

My dad was ambidexterous and found it very helpful for many tasks including surgery. He used his right hand for writing. I really don't think that folks should change this on kids...let them find their way.

 

My dad was a veterinarian so yes he was a surgeon. But he was also doing a lot of other things with his hands such as woodworking and had above average motor skill.

 

Hi Brahan,

Your son seems to be naturally ambidextrous.Thats rare and very useful :thumbsup

 

brahan and outofthebox,

I believe my son is ambidextrous today..initially since he had other issues related to his brain growth and also was a special child, we did not seriouly concentrate on his hand motors skills..he was more left oriented, but coming from a orthodox joint family setup, he was forced to use right hand which did create a lot of issues.. it took him a lot of years to settle with his hands..today he writes with his right..but he is a left hands batsman and a right hand bowler..which is a rare combo...

and yes he is extra intelligent, and also due to his brain issues his brain works 2x times faster than his motor skills...so we still have to fight it out. I believe that if we had allowed him to settle with his hands on his own, he would have been a lefty and his handwriting would have been better...his strength is his left..

so answers to yours..



a. Is my conclusion that my DS is Ambidextrous right?
some children do take some more time to settle..your child's motor skills will settle around 5..so it is a 60:40 by me..

b. Will this have any adverse effects for him?As of now he is very Intelligent and grasps things in amazing speed(His teacher herself has told lot of times that he is Simply a "Little" Genius.) No. only adverse effect i find is the non-acceptance by the people around and the confusion we cause..if every body around understands and does not make an issue, he should be fine.. i do not have any study that states that ambidextrous children are intelligent, but from what i have seen it is a yes. their grasping power is high, their memory power is equally good,
c. I am just making (Not exactly Forcing) him to use his right Hand for writing.Am i right in doing this?i would say, tell him to use the hand which he is actually comfortable..i would say not even make him use his right hand..this is not an advice, just my experience and my fights for my son..let him decide..he will definitely come out with the hand he is comfortable once he starts writing..you just need to observe and see if he is confused..if he is confused, either he is getting pressure from the school, family or he is confused seeing others..if the later is the case, you need to tell him that it is ok to use the hand he is comfortable..and you can also show other ambidextrous people..this is the longer plan..

all the best..

 

brahan,

thanks for starting this post....! good to see replies coming in...

Shanvy,

ok, i was not even slightly aware that in joint orthodox setup left hand is taboo ...! this is news to me...
but some of my relatives used to say let her choose whichever hand she prefers...

& as you mentioned in your post....i wouldn't say pressure, but i think people from my DD's daycare used to tell her to write with right hand...last year she used to go to school and also daycare...and her school teacher was already aware that she is a lefty....but in daycare it didnt strike me that i should inform....and one day my DD was teling that someone in daycare was asking her to change to right hand.....anyway, it was almost nearing the beginning of summer holidays this year...so i didnt have the need to proceed with further action of intimating daycare...

now she is in a new school, and i have also informed her teacher, but i get some mixed responses from my DD, but as her school has provisions to communicate thro diary or PTMs, i prefer to inform them that we would not want to forcibly change her writing style....even today she was teling me that "mamma please tell ma'am in school that i write with left hand...".....maybe she is not able to be open up to teacher...but i am glad that she is trying to open up to me than getting succumbed to anyone's remarks...

and also, you had mentioned that grasping power is high & memory power is good....well, right now as she uses both hands...maybe she could fall in the ambidexterous category, but like you mentioned, maybe we will "go with the wind" to see how she handles.....also her teacher had mentioned that she has good grasping power....which even we realized...because we hardly used to give her any training....just we make sure that she does the homework on time......and teacher was teling that if i tell anything, she is able to immediately pick it up.....hope to nurture that as her strength.....

and also, we are also continuously reassuring her that its ok to write with left hand...and almost regularly we tell her that in case anyone asks u to change please tell us...which she has sometimes informed....

thanks for your inputs.....atleast it is comforting that some of you have gone thro similar experiences...and are sharing your thoughts on this thro this forum...

and also, in case anything that we need to look forward to....something that usually right-handed people may not be able understand ? if you or anyone know...it would help us.....

thanks again!

 

outofthebox,

first i have to mention my son is 14 and is in 9th standard..so i am talking of times before the extensive information at the press of the button, and little more conservative thinking orthodox..

Even today if you are a temple, the pujari asks you to take the prasad in the right hand if you show your left..he embarasses you in front of everybody,as if you do not know..