The effects of making a left-hander write right-handed
Natural left-handers should always be left to develop in their own way and be allowed to write left-handed if that is their choice. Forcing them to change hands and write right-handed can have very bad effects in later life as well as being traumatic at the time and ruining their handwriting!
The dominant writing hand is not just a physical thing to do with controlling a pen but a mental thing to do with the way the brain is organised and where certain functions occur. The brain is "cross-wired" to the body so the left handed side of the brain controls the right hand side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left. Changing the hand used for writing causes great confusion in the brain and can have a lot of knock-on effects.
Here are some articles we have written on this subject:
- The effect of changing left to right handed
- We had a massive response to that article and did an update including the best of the comments
Update on changing left-handers to right - Brain organisation and major functions on each side
Bad handwriting- Bed-wetting
- Stuttering
- Nail biting
- Shyness and being withdrawn
- Defiance and provocative behaviour
- Poor concentration
- Bad memory
- Reading difficulties
- Problems with spelling
- Neurotic personality
- Physical tiredness
These problems will not definitely occur in all people who have their writing hand changed and of course they can arise due to many other causes, but there does seem to be an association between all of these issues and a forced change of writing hand. Our correspondents have also mentioned being bullied at school as a result of these effects.
Forcing a left-hander to change and use their right hand for writing is a very bad thing to do - please don't do it!
We received an email recently with a personal story that really shows the serious impact this can have on people and made us think about this again. It is included in its entirety below:
From: Tonya
Subject: My mom forced me to write right-handed
I was looking up this subject because I've been trying to teach my right-handed son to tie his shoes, and since I tie my shoes left-handed I'm not much help to him. I also eat with my left, and when I was in gymnastics my left side was my dominant side. Yet I write right-handed, and can recall my mother snatching pencils out of my left hand and saying, "No! We write with our RIGHT--see? That rhymes. Use your right hand!" I remember it feeling weird, but I did as I was told. I had a bed-wetting phase but always thought it was due to other things, such as being angry with my parents for other matters but in our household children were not permitted to express anger. I've suffered anxiety and bouts of clinical depression my whole life--and PPD after the birth of my 1st baby--and until reading articles about it today never thought it could all go back to being left-converted. Wow. As an adult, I do get mentally tired easily, and fatigued sometimes for seemingly no reason. As a child I did not stutter, but as an adult I find speaking very difficult--I can write well and easily express what I want to say in writing....but I search for words when speaking and get all tongue-tied. I'm very introverted and soooo socially awkward. Oh and I flunked out of typing class in high school! Hahaha. Never could play the piano, either. So, after reading some articles, I can see a connection, for myself, between the studied effects and my own conversion to writing right-handed. Definitely.
 | For more information on this and all aspects of being left handed as a child and how to help left-handed children get past some of the basic challenges they will face with writing, cutting and other activities at school, download Lauren's book "Your Left-Handed Child".Also covers:* Development of left-handedness * Pre-school development * Strategies for everyday life * Left-handedness in school * Sport * Music * Practical and educational resourcesDownload Lauren's book "Your Left-Handed Child" |
Please add any of your own experiences or links to related material as comments below.
We would also be very interested in your comments on changes in the other direction - natural right-handers being forced to write left-handed as a result of physical problems such as an accident or stroke that means the cannot use their right hand (assuming nobody would have the audacity to change a right-hander to write left-handed just because of prejudice, religious views or some sense of what they should do to be "normal"!).
Comments 367
Before school he always showed signs of hyper-intelligence.and then once he started school, he started to struggle alot, showing signs of dyslexia, poor concentration, day dreaming. He only stopped bedwetting age 7. Age 7 he also got diagnosed with dyslexia.
My husband tells me how we just have to move on from the consequences of this and get on with life but the fact his teacher may have caused my son all these issues is just so devastating to me and I look into his future and fear for him and the struggles he will face now.
He still shows signs of his left hand preference eg. He plays guitar with his left hand and if I throw a ball at him out of the blue, he will catch it with his left hand.
I'm at a loss about what to do. His havd writing was appalling before and we've really knuckled down with this and now his hand writing is the best in his class, his teacher says, and I worry that if I make him revert back to being left handed, it will set him back again and knock his confidence again. Before he used to always say that he's the bottom of his class but he really tries at school now and is average I'd say, but it takes a lot of effort to keep him there. His spelling is absolutely appalling still though and he still struggles with reading fluently.
I wonder if I should try and revert him back whilst he is so young. I look at videos of him when he was younger, my special little leftie, and it makes me really sad.
It is indeed appalling that a teacher should force children to be right handed - though the lack of handedness training as part of Teacher Training in almost all countries has been something that we have been campaigning about for over 25 years & is why we are supporting the survey on handedness - see https://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/survey
When you read the stories of others on here, and speak to those that were subjected to forced change, the vast majority feel that they have suffered as a result.
We do cover the subject of changing back here https://blog.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/being-lh/children/changing-right-back-to-left/ but I would take this opportunity to repeat the final paragraph of that page in this reply:
"So, there are definitely some cases where the effort to change back has proved worthwhile, but we know that the vast majority of changed left-handers never get to do that. As noted before, we really cannot make recommendations on specific cases or offer any individual advice, but we hope you have found this helpful and we would really appreciate it if you would share your own thoughts or experiences by adding them as comments below."
Please also take a look at https://blog.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/kates-journey-update/ - Kate is fighting the cause in Australia - not just in her home state but across the whole of Australia. Perhaps some of her story will resonate with you?
I will follow this up with an email to you directly
I hope someone can help me. My son was born left handed and was highlyintelligent.
He is now 7 years old. During Reception, his teacher made him to change to his right hand. I assumed that was just what happened once children started school. He started to struggle with reading, writing, concentration, he bed wets etc.
I happened to be speaking to my sister-in-law about him being an ex-left hander and she was mortified that his teacher had changed his hand preference due to the all the associated problems that can occur. My child exhibits all of them listed above. He is currently undergoing an assessment for dyslexia.
I'm obviously devastated that changing his hand preference may have caused these complications and struggles for him.
Is it worth trying to change his hand preference back? He struggles with his hand writing, for the obvious reason, but I'm abit worried that trying to teach him to write with his left hand again will set him back even further with his writing.
I encourage him to try and use his left hand as much as possible. He still seems to subconsciously use his left hand for things. Eg he plays guitar with his left hand, if I unexpectedly throw a ball at him his natural reflexes cause him to catch it with his left hand etc.
I just don't want him to reach adulthood with all these struggles which may have corrected of I simply changed him back to being left handed.
TIA
Given your email address I assume you are in the UK. We have been asking the UK government to include handedness as part of the teacher training curriculum for well over 25 years and as yet this has not been actioned but that is no excuse for this teacher's behaviour.
In my opinion, you should be making urgent contact with your son's Head Teacher - asking that (for example):
1) the teacher involved should receive additional training in this matter - perhaps using the resources available on our site (e.g the training video) - see https://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/left-handed-children-training-video-usb
2) your son be actively encouraged & supported to write with his left hand - again we have the resources on our site to help him
3) the school ensures that this sort of thing never happens to another child
If you would like to talk to me directly, please use the contact us link on our site - see https://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/about_us and bottom right of the screen you will see "Contact us" - click on that & you can get a message to us & the team will make sure I receive a copy
Ian
Owner
Anything Left-Handed
Until the day my dad asked about it, no one apart from my grandmother had known that my mom was born left handed, and not even she herself remembered it. But unfortunately it had many long lasting effects on her. She always had difficulties with reading, or rather understanding what she reads. She's very intelligent and was actually quite a talented writer while in school. But she just couldn't understand she was reading unless she could visualize it. She has gotten better at handling this as she has grown older, but even now it's still an issue.
She can't ride a bike- she tells me that when she tried to learn to ride one, the left side of her body would suddenly go numb and she would lose control. She says that when speaking to people she don't know well, her mouth would sometimes go crooked and she would start to drool. She has trouble telling faces apart, and she can't tell apart cars at all, not even our family's own car which we have owned for years. There are other things too.
Of course we don't know for sure if all those things are because she was forced to be right handed, but it seems probable. Especially considering it was done at such a young age. It's bad enough with young children, but I can't even imagine the damage that would've been done to a baby/toddler whose brain was developing so much. I'm very glad that attitudes toward lefties have improved since my mom's time, because the effects of forcing someone to be a righty are awful.
I will be working with only my left hand from now on to make things correct for my brain.
Thank you for this article and information.
I am a female and disabled veteran currently trying to address issues with ptsd and anxiety. today I attempt to do things purposely with my left hand and I am noticing different things specifically dreaming and I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that I am trying to switch back to being left-handed don’t get me wrong I am naturally left-handed. I was also punished in the Army for being left handed and was burned but the weapon cartridges because I was told to use the weapon without a brass deflector.
I use my right hand for most things but I cannot write in my right hand I can only write in my left hand and I can do so sideways. in addition, most sports I play like a righty and serve lefty or both. it’s very awkward to most people but to me it’s natural now that I’m having problems I need help I am diagnosed as PTSD anxiety depression and I would like to know what to do perhaps you can shed some light on my experience. I am looking for information on how my brain must feel. I hardly ever dream. I have been dreaming and coming up with many creative movie ideas. I am suffering because in my earliest years specifically from age 9 to 180 I was a poet I wrote a book with the final poem being written on my birthday when I turned 18 then I stopped writing I publish that book when I turn 40 I never wrote creatively poetry and the writings that I started or books that I wrote I never focused on but I presume I was meant to be a creative type not an IT specialist I don’t want to carry that burden to my grave. I’m interested in your research.
I stumbled across this website and now I see why.
Lefties are creative, as am I. Thank goodness for this redeeming feature! More presidents were lefties than righties; the masters such as Van Gogh? Lefties.
However I was shocked to read what others have written, that in the late nineties and in this Millenium, lefty-ism is still frowned upon. Having been a teacher in the 1960’s, we were never taught to “switch lefties to righty”.
My lefty kids flourished as lefties in my classroom. Shortly thereafter, studies clearly indicated that lefties should be left lefty. So my summation is that those educators that brutally made righties out of lefties did so out of their own vendettas.
I really do wish I'd been left alone, for my brain to develop as it was meant to. I only stumbled across this article because I wanted to see if others had issues too. It seems that it's not just me.
I just want to tell you little bit about myself: I was left handed and I had to change due to the school system in the USA at that time of 1966 NO one could be left handed or you got hit on the left hand with yard stick many times in coat closet when you started Kindergarten. You were told you were bad for writing with your left hand.
I was the only one who was left handed in a family of 8 kids and some half brothers sisters totaled 13 children. ( i was only left handed person in family )
I started school in kindergarten and was in fear of the teacher, when I sat down at my desk the 1st day I remember thing how happy I was to be in new dress and I can learn to write. Then my friend who was boy and very big for his age ( we both knew each other was left handed ) Sammy went in the coat closet and you could hear the teach yelling at him -he was bad person to write with his left hand and we all could hear the yard stick hit his hands . When he came out of the coat closet all of us were so quite & he was holding his hand and you could see the blood drip from his hand. Sammy had no tears but the teacher yelled him to clean up the drops of blood off the floor. He walked by my desk to get as he went to get tissue form teacher desk and bent over to my ear and said” write with right hand”. I was so afraid my hands were shaking. I picked up my pencil and tried to write, I could hardly hold the pencil.
When that day was over which I cannot remember the entire day but i do remember the the fear. I ran all the all way home and fell on driveway with stones and hurt my knee. My dad came over and picked me up and helped me in the house . As my mother wiped my knee and all the stones in my skin. She said, ‘stop crying and I told her why I was crying not because of my knee.” My mother told me with smile and soft voice as she got up and went over to the counter and gave me a sheet of paper with a pencil. She went on to say., “ just write with right hand!” She then went back to do whatever it was she was doing. I was so stressed. I then went over to the kitchen table and started to learn to write with right hand. IT was so hard my hand did not want to do it. I cried and cried but My mother kept saying
“ Put your mind to it and you can do anything! ‘ well that 1st year of school was so hard for me but I did master writing with my right hand.
As a teen it was fun I was the only one in my school who could write and draw with both hands ( if they ever knew I was left handed they would have laughed and call me names they made fun of people who wrote with there left hand)
Since that day of my mother telling me to just do it Write with my right hand I have kept journals of my entire life and what I seen. I also wrote books when I was 12 yrs old in my journals, I also have kept dream journals which were all packed away Never to think about all of them. IT was something I learned to keep writing everyday of my life since I was 5 yrs old
I have to say this life change since that day I had to write with right hand: I did make a big change in me, when my mother was in the hospital fighting or her life with leukemia she asked me to publish the children books when that wrote when I was 12 yrs ! REALLY I thought this was the strange request. BUT she went on to say, she read my journals and she loved the stores I wrote: You Know MOMS really do read their kids journal when we are at school.
I did go home with my kids and found the boxes which had the journals and I brought them to her in the hospital, Where I promised her after I read the 1st two books in the series and I explained all the pictures in the book I am going to have published. She made me tell her I will publish them. I did get the 1st two books published ( all the same words and pictures i told my mother that day)but she passed without seeing them in print. She did tell me she loved reading my journals about what i saw and felt . I know how much she wanted her story told being adopted and having 8 children and living on a farm in USA. My mother was gifted Person with so many talents in her own right she could have been a great writer but her wish was to be a dress designer.
The day I had to learn to write with my left hand was so difficult beyond’s words but fear of being beat and laughed at by others made me very strong .
I learned to write everyday and kept journals everyday of life. I did get my children's books published in year 2020 during the shut down. I am not saying all was perfect, I did wet the bed but my mother thought it was from the flu, I did have body issue getting it work together which my ballet and tap teacher had to work with me like a Physical Therapist does to get my body to work together. I have all ways been active with running, ballet & tap along with ice skating and yoga. I was on the little side and seem to be sickly lot and tired. I was always smaller than other kids my age and mother would say it was because I was me. To this day I am only 5’2 ‘ and 3/4
I also was diagnosed with seizure disorder after my kids were in there teens and alway felt weak but thought that was from my thyroid surgery.
now that I have read the issues in this article and I think I have had all of them and beat most of the issues with help.
I stopped wetting the bed at around 11 ish . That was very hard issue .
I was weak and my coordination /i was all over the place but my ballet teach aided with that issues. And I learned to ride a bike at around 6 or 7 yrs old I have alway pushed myself to do things, if others can do them, I can and do more ( Mother always said “if you can think it you can do it”)
I had history of head aches which no one knew where they came from to this day I get them but with rest helps me .
I am now 62 yrs old and only write with my right hand but do everything else with my left hand : TO this day my kids said ‘ they had to ask other people to teach them how to tie their shoes because I taught them wrong ! To funny I never thought because I do everything left handed and they are all right handed IT would make a difference too funny
I wear my watch on my right wrist.
I developed the love of writing and keeping my journals all these years helped me cope with life’s issues which we all have no matter right handed or left.
To this day I keep a Journal which I call the Ruthie’s (today is day 777-)Covid Journal due to when My Husband who is Doctor walked in our home at 3 pm March of 2020 and said “ they closed my office and it was closed for 40days “ I started my new journal of my life and all I experienced each day.
Learning to write with right hand change me and my way of life. I was not longer me but I beat it and stayed me but only right with my right. But again I can write with left too.
I do al thing with left hand.
At my age of 62 and learning to write with my right hand was wrong but I turned it into something that made me better, yes I developed slower with moving my body for ballet was so hard but I did, I grew slower I think, useless DNA I am only 5’3.
It hard to tell if I developed, wetting bed, depression as teen, seizure disorder, thyroid issue, headaches along with coordinating issues. I seem to beat most all of these medical issues of past.
I strongly believe When a person is born they should be who they are born to be. Why change how a person hand to writes. I never knew why they did that all of us. I wonder if I would have had all these issues as kid if they let me be me, a person who is left handed. I enjoyed this article and Hope all children can write with whatever hand they want. Learning to write the English language along with be 5 yrs old and starting a new life challenge of going to school is a lot stress. Not to add living in fear of being beat on the left hand being told you are bad!
I will tell you it was so stressful ( i did-not want to go back to school )I can still hear the yard stick hit my friends hand and seeing him walk in front of the classroom dropping blood all over the floor, No he did not get any help for his hand except a tissue, when the teacher yelled at him to pick up the blood off the floor.
Kids now days have to much stress in their life’s, let them at least write with the hand their mind wants to write with .
If you would like to learn more about me and little book
Disclaimer : I am not selling my books I am am a person who was born to be left handed person and the world I lived in would tell me it was BAD! And change me to right but really they did not I still do it all lefty and only write with right hand ! This is not a website to buy books it is a Gallery who I am and I talk about how they changed me form left handed to right .
Check out my Gallery.
www.ruthiesbooks.com
Look at the Book "Hidden Handedness' by Samuel Randolph available on Amazon - see also my comments below.
My mom was a righty, my dad a lefty.
It was traumatic being forced to change. It felt like I was writing with my feet. I remember having to vice grip the pencil and push really hard to make letters. Students would always say something about how dark my letters were.
I couldn’t switch voluntarily. I kept using the other hand. So they started tying down my right hand with a thick rope to the desk every day. When I look back at that I just think what a bunch of morons.
I learned to read earlier than most but I remember significant struggles following directions. Simple things like folding a paper…etc. plagued me through school as a youth. I was always asking the kid next to me what to do. I’m not sure of all the negative effects but the stress of learning to write with the physical handicap on top of learning the info was definitely a difficult experience.
Now he is 8.5 years old in 3rd grade. Still now I'm facing problems with his concentration, misunderstanding of some Alphabets,memory power.. What can i do now?
Let the student try both hands. If mom complains let her know having the skill to use both hands well is an asset.
I was born left handed but my parents forced me to be right handed. While eating they used to tie my left hand with the chair and force me to use my right hand. In school, I thought it is only allowed to write with the right hand. My handwriting was and still severely bad with my right hand. I was bullied by teachers and students for not being able to write or even hold the pencil correctly. Everyone forced me to adapt to be right handed, and they used every means for that like scolding, slapping, ... . I have developed mild stuttering. I am 22 and just fully realized that I was using the wrong hand all the time.
Please don't do this to your kids. You put them behind the 8 ball thru no fault of their own and they can become frustrated and angry. There's nothing wrong with being left handed.
Still its a bit hard for me coz most peoples right is my left and vise versa..and it gets confusing especially when being in medical field and during some examinations the senior doctors do correct me saying use your right hand(though i think in medical texts its given so because most people are right handed, but i don't argue, i need my marks)
Thanks in advance.
She succeeded to point I was able to learn to write right handed and everything else left handed.
Many of the issues this article mentioned I came down with.
I always thought it was me until I just read this article. I always wondered how my thinking and speaking was so different than other people. Now I know and it's just heart braking . Peace
I was born left-handed. I was very young, during my pre-school days when this happened.
It was a fateful moment when this teacher succeeded in taking away this in-born trait. She flogged me and punished me as little as I were.
I was not even conscious of this situation, but told because I was very little. She did this without anyone's awareness.
My family got to know through the apparent change that took place in me. I was told it affected my memory, consciousness and speech for a great period of time. Moreover, they didn't do anything about this which gets me gloomy at times.
Also, while reading this article, it made me realise that it affected me such that I bit my nails(hand& toe) as a result of this. This nail biting took a lot before it was stopped.
When I remember this, I try not to feel bad and wish I can use my Left hand properly in every areas together with my right hand as an addition.
Nevertheless,please can a remedy be recommended for those who have a similar situation with me; to use their Left hand properly and active again?
I would get a beating when I didn't practise writing with my right hand. I had most of the above problems, but nothing a little discipline wouldn't solve. Now that I'm older, I asked my parents why they did that. They said that the world was built for right-handers, and didn't want me to have a hard time using things that are made for most people.
Honestly, they didn't force me to change because it wasn't normal, they made me change when I was young, so I could live an easier life growing up.
after reading your article I would say I have all ways been very shy in company and no confidence, slow at responding,poor at spelling was no good in school seemed to go above my head but good at working things out to repair e
etc been lucky to have a very happy marriage met my wife when she was 14 and me 15 so cant complain.I suppose everyone thinks the same but I feel I could learn so much better now not being quite so shy Thanks for interesting article
Gordon
In Latin the word left is sinister. Perhaps this explains why using the left hand was considered evil.
Unfortunately , I did same thing for my son although my wife vigorously protested. I did not realize it could be detrimental because my thought was left handed practice will make my son slow in writing . But once immigrated to Canada then realized a nice education system already in place . I came to know all the scientific explanation, health and mental effect about changing left hand writing to right hand . Once understood it is too late and my son already adapted right hand writing nicely as I did my self in my childhood . But he had to struggle to change his habit in his early life when he started to learn writing .Now my son completed university degree in Canada but will not be able to rectify the old mistake . Both of us do everything by left hand except writing .
Lesson Learned:
No one should force their child to change Left handwriting habit to right hand. It may have some other health related effect .
If some one confused then discuss with health practitioners and read related books and articles published in the authentic website to get proper knowledge .
Thank you so much for your site. I found it by searching “consequences of not letting a lefty be a lefty”.
I have, for decades, believed that I am a lefty and was forced by my mother to be righty. The only memory I have that would affirm this was when I was a pre teen I sprained my right wrist after falling awkwardly on it when roller skating. I did my homework left handed which was very easy. The lettering was a little wobbly but consistent and uniform unlike my righty writing. My mother had a fit when she saw me writing left handed. I’m sure it was rooted in the Roman Catholic belief that left handedness is Satanic.
To make a long story short. I just turned 64. My life has been a disaster. Although I am intelligent, talented, handsome, strong, loving, caring and loyal, all these traits attributed to me by other people, I feel as though I have been existing in an alter universe. Meaning, all the things that you would do to have a relatively successful life has had the opposite affect in mine.
I believe I am now on the right track, finally. As part of my rehabilitative (not from drugs or alcohol, but from doing everything as a righty) I again started writing left handed, which I had done in the past but didn’t continue.
It makes sense to me that if one’s brain is organized so that the individual functions as a lefty and they are forced to approach the world as a righty, only less than optimum results will occur.
Your site has affirmed what I have believed for all these years. It ain’t over ‘till it’s over!!
Thank you!!
David L. Stephens
At 59, and a Master Degree later I am a good writer, but still struggle with spelling, and pronunciation.
energy levels - it wasn't until 2017 that I "joined the dots" and it is devastating.
As long as my left hand is the one carrying the glassware, playing the guitar chords, cutting on lines, coloring and painting, etc. my anxiety is gone and i don't drop anything. No more blisters on the sides of all my right hand fingers. Unlearning is much less stressful.
My daughter was obviously left handed but a teacher at school wont let her be too.
Now she is seriously deteriorating memoey wise.
Please how can I help her now that she is six?
Do I help her get thw grip of her left hand back?
I am willing to take the pain.
I suffered from bed wetting, nail biting, stuttering for years, severe loss of confidence, confusion when speaking - could not express clearly and the hearer wouldn`t understand what I was trying to express. I can even now get confused when trying to express verbally.
I am socially very awkward. One of the worst and lasting effects is, poor sense of direction. When I was little I would get lost going to school which was nearby. I still get lost very easily.
I am now in my 70`s and about 8 years ago, I reclaimed my left hand, as I love to write and study. Even now I am still not completely fluent with left, but a distinctive style is emerging which is fascinating for me to see.
This is probably the most eye-opening article I've ever read online. I was forced to change in my early years. I was a natural lefty but my parents felt my writing was not "fine" enough so they decided to change me to right. This has had negative impact in my life. I'm experiencing poor memory, poor concentration level, shyness, lack of self confidence and the likes... I feel terrible Everytime I remember this.. I have a creative mind but I find it hard to explore my capabilities. If you're thinking of changing your child please do not, you may ruin his/her life. I will very much appreciate some tips that can help cope with or improve the quality of life of those who suffers from this. Thank you!
Did your daughter continue to write with her right hand? My son had a accident with his left when he was 4 and subsequently became right handed. 5 years on and we are struggling with excessively poor hand writing and a stammer that appears to be related.
I can relate to so much of what I've read.
Answers or contributes a lot of reasoning as to why I am like I am.
Going to try research further.
Dr Billy Levin
We learn to use utensils at different ages. Loosing a skill can tell us where in the brain the lesion might be located. I write right but am left footed and left eyed. One day I grabbed a fork and with my left hand turned it upside down like the Europeans and began to eat. My body had an immediate
visceral response of peace and relaxation. Often times I will use a knife or spoon before I will use a fork. It has been an interesting journey.
I also get lost in shopping centres.
In order to survive I pretended, tried to be like the others. I became an outsider, but any friends were close friends. I kept quiet, and lost myself in books and nature. I got into trouble with teachers for asking too many questions they didn't want to answer. I left home as soon as I could and moved to the city, drifted,smoked dope, worked did a bit of travelling. Had miscarriages. Now, I have been in counselling for for nearly three years. I have had health problems all my life, but only diagnosed fifteen years ago hence all the miscarriages. I now know the nuns forcing me to write right handed has profoundly affected me. I have always thought myself to be quite a spiritual person, caring and thoughtful, but I now know that things done to young , open, curious loving children Do have an everlasting affect on their lives. And this is one of the biggest.! Never do it. Thank You
My original laterality bias was left but was forced to use right hand.
I have on occasion wanted to go back using my left hand. I am forty years old. Is it too late for me to go back to my instinctual left dominant hand and relearn writing?
Thanks
Like many others I was forced to write right-handed. In year one of primary school my teacher forced me to switch. She gave me raffle tickets as a sort of reward system when I wrote right-handed instead of left, I thought it was cool at the time because free raffle tickets right? But when I look back I realise she used this as an incentive to change my writing hand. I wish I didn't change.
I have depression and anxiety currently and I'm not sure if this is related to the switch but I'm deciding to use my left hand again. It's quite tricky as school requires me to write a lot so I have to use my right in some cases as it is faster than writing with my left currently. Not sure how long it would take but this would slow the process considerably I guess.
Thanks.
But here is the thing: I have problems that were described in the article, and by many lefties who were forced to switch from left to right hand:
• I was always shy, and even though I fought it, and actually became a teacher (every day on stage… ), I was always uncomfortable with it. I find it difficult to socialize, after being having been bullied during most of primary school except for three years when we were living abroad.
• I was always moody as a schooler, had little or no faith in myself. Hated sports.
• My handwriting was always bad, and my school reports always had this remark “… should try to speak loudly in class and improve her handwriting”.
• I am unable to find my way in malls that I frequently visit, and have no sense of spatial orientation, which makes driving a stressful experience (gps saves me).
• My short-term memory is practically nonexistent, albeit repetition helps partially.
• My mother says that I was always quick to become tired, and during the school year I became exhausted around end of first term. Exhaustion became an issue as I became an adult and I was diagnosed with CFS.
• I have a habit of peeling skin off my lips since I was in primary school (never bit my nails, though).
• I think, perhaps I was right handed who was accidentally switched to left hand writing, which may be associated with my bed wetting until I went to school. It seemed to my mother that the teacher’s instructions temporarily switched me from left to right hand writing, and may have influenced the bed-wetting for the worse. It stopped when I was 7-8 years old, but on occasion, it happens even now (60 plus years old…).
• Never had reading problems or grammar/spelling difficulties, but I have interchanged letters in words, or made mistakes such as “righting” instead of “writing” which I did earlier in this post, and corrected later. I also never stuttered.
Now, check this out:
• I do almost everything else, other than writing , with my right hand, albeit I can do all or most of them with my left hand to varying degrees.
• I can’t remember when I began to practice writing with my right hand, and I hadn’t done it on a regular basis, but in 2009 I broke my left wrist, so I wrote on the whiteboard with my right hand… That annoyed my students quite a bit. I can also write, more slowly but very clearly on paper with my right hand.
• I use scissors with my right hand, but I believe that, I will be able to use scissors adapted for left handed just as nicely.
• I eat with fork in left, knife in right. I can eat soup with my both hands and sometimes I shift the spoon from hand to hand and back during the same soup session.
• Brush my hair with the right hand.
• Tie my shoes like a righty.
• Brush my teeth with my left hand but can and sometimes do brush them with my right hand.
• Prefer heavy lifting with my right hand.
So am I left handed, or right handed forced to become a lefty? The jury is still out on that one.
And father was a lefty, I was born in winter, December 22,I've noticed that still my left side is stronger than right. Thank you.
And please don't tell me just to let him be who he is. I remember working in a pizza place where we had to braid crust and trying to teach a left-handed employee how to do it. Talk about a nightmare for both of us! Everything was backwards!
she says 'you can change handedness you can't change brainedness".
a have been trying to change back to lefty because i think i can be more creative. I know i sketch better and a lot more.
I remember him hitting the dinner table with his fist: eat with your right hand!
So I had to use my right hand. I remember breaking a lot of glasses, which in return made my grandfather yell even more: it was like a circle.
But finally did it! I learn to use my right hand. I remember watching myself using my right hand and being proud.
I'm extremely clumsy and my hand-writing is horrible. I'm shy, depressive, I stutter a lot, have bad memory, etc etc., all the things you mention (except I don't have any reading difficulties, and don't remember wetting my bed), I tried to change back but just couldn't.
But I'll tell you something new, something I haven't read here: whenever I exercise (like lifting weights or similar) my left arm muscles develop faster. Also, I can hit harder with my left hand.
I researched online to find out if there was any implication of such a thing.
Lo and behold, some of the implications describes me.
I use to wet my bed till I was 14.
I was to be creative with my hands. I could mold clay into beautiful things. I could draw nicely. Now, I can't draw at all. I tried molding clay and it was terrible.
I get tired in my brain easily.
I've suffered depression.
I'm always tongue-tied when I'm speaking
Very shy and introverted
I bite my nails.
The only place i score is that i have a good handwriting!
I am also very socially introverted. I can't stand being a large crowd like going to a sports game. Even movie theaters make me nervous. Same thing with writing and speech. I didn't flunk out of Jr. High writing, but I know that level class was probably not as demanding as a regular class for adults. And I never have been able to correctly reach the numbers and other characters that are very far away from the center of the keyboard. I have to look down to type a number. And I type with lots of typos, especially now that I get older. And I tend to use a word repeatedly within the same few sentences.
The more I discover on this site, the more sense it makes. One thing I have not read yet, or mentioned to my dr. because I am tired of getting blank looks on their faces, is that occasionally my arm or leg kind of "jerks" like a spasm. It seems to be random and not triggered by anything I can tell. That could just be a quirk, but who knows? I am also obsessive about correcting mistakes even if I don't have to, and sometimes, even if it's impractical. I think that may come from my mother's necessity for me to be "right" all the time and to shame me proper if I am not. I also have a few different medical issues that have cropped up over time. Like PTSD, fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder, and other immune-related issues. Which now makes me wonder if at least some of this could be related to being forced to be right-handed and all the stress from doing things "wrong" and always having the feeling of never being able to do things right (correctly).
Hmmm.... sure makes sense to me.
I come from a very creative family and inherited many creative traits from my mother. As a child, I was always very curious and started reading and writing and drawing, at an early age. I was left handed, before I started school; then everything changed. When I started school, I was forced to use my right hand. My handwriting was atrocious for years. Strangely enough, even though I learned to draw with my right hand, I had trouble drawing hands until well into my teens.
When I entered university, as I had trouble spelling and remembering grammar rules, I was tested for dyslexia and scored positive for mild dyslexia. My sense of direction is also horrendous as, if I walk out of a doorway, everything looks very confusing; so much so, I have to remind myself to turn left to keep going in the same direction. As a direct result of this, I do not drive.
As I grew older, I made myself learn as much as possible about grammar rules etc.. This with the hope of fulfilling my dream of becoming an author one day. To date, my grammar and spelling is still an issue, however, I have written a book and am in the process of hiring a professional editor to edit it. I do not have any concrete proof that my being forced to change my dominant hand from left to right caused my dyslexia, though as far as I know, it has not quelled my creative ability.
I welcome any information you can send me on this and thank you for taking the time and interest in me.
Kind Regards
My parents always forced me to write with my right, but now I can do both! I've been trying to train myself throughout the years, and it's been tough, but I'm still dominantly right handed which makes me quite sad. Developmentally I've found it hard to concentrate on certain tasks. I might add that I used to be rather creative as a child, and my brain is constantly buzzing with ideas, but I always start and never finish on a creative project.
I don't know if there's a "cure" for this or if it means that you have to try to reprogram your brain again to keep up with simple daily tasks but I'd love to know more!
Thank you for putting this out there, I know as a parent now, I will accept whatever comes my way :)
"I shared my other problem only with one of my colleagues who became psychologists. I shared as this man has a son also. And he caused a greater trouble to his son which could be avoided if he would not be obstinate. His son was only one-year-old when he "diagnosed" that his son is left-handed.
I am an expert in this and I had to say to him that I used to learn in the college -where I learned the method how to teach mentally disabled children - that a one-year-old child uses both hands. I asked him to wait for diagnosing whether he is left handed or right handed. But I could not convince him. His one-year-old son used both hands as every child of same age.
But he didn't let him use his right hand. If he found out something he insisted on it. When his son got the spoon with his right hand he put it in his left hand. It was terrible for me to see. Then I asked this psychologist who used to be my classmate. She said to me that it's easy to diagnose whether he is left-handed or right. I knew that forcing a child to change the hands and write not dominant-handed can have very bad effects in later life as well as it can become traumatic later on.
She told me to go home and give a coke bottle to the boy and show him to screw the cap off. If he screws off with his right hand he is right-handed.
I did and he screwed it off with the right hand. I told his father this. But he didn't believe he didn't let him drawing and eat with his right hand.
So he became left-handed.
But when he was six years old they wanted to learn to play the violin.
They bought for him a left-handed violin. And the problem happened then. The boy was unable to use the bow by his left-hand. They had to change the violin for a right-handed violin. Then the mother told me that you were right as my son really right handed.
I crossed my finger for him that he gets away unharmed. Everything was okay till he became eighteen years old. But the problems appeared when he went to university.
I began to read case studies and I saw that the problems with him are same than adults who say the parents didn't allow them to use their dominant hand. Bad effects will not definitely occur in all people but this boy didn't get away with it.
Recently I met accidently this psychologist with whom I had shared this problem. And she was taken aback and told me:
I have never heard that forcing a right-hander to change and use their left hand. Only this happens, on the contrary, forcing a left-hander to use his right hand. Why did he force him? I could not answer only I said to her it's a good question.
I have never put this story into English. Nobody dares to face the truth. This very smart boy has every kind of difficulties. He left his university and he doesn't find his place in the society. He is at home and he lost his friends and he became a very lonely young man.
I am heartbroken. I can't help him. They did not accept any piece of advice."
Daddy doesn't like it n I don't either.
No one uses left in my family and non from my hubby's. I think she learnt from my help n also from her toodler class teacher.
Should I control it now?
Do u think she will change with time?
I could never play any sports whatsoever, so i was,ridiculed and bullied because of it. This also led to me being completely non competitive, and despising sports all my life.
Some things i do every dsy, i still don't know what hand to use ? Its not that i am ambidextrous, but rather, non dextrous.
And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg.
All i can say us, it changed everything, mostly for the. negative
Also, I was wondering if anyone has heard of a right-forced-left study and its effects? Would like to read up on the opposite, as it is something that we don't hear about, in such a right-handed-oriented society.
Nevertheless, all my life, I've felt that in terms of my potential, I've been driving with one foot on the brake pedal, and I wonder if the forced dextrality had anything to do with that.
On to the present: a few years ago, my godson taught me how to pitch. After some coaching, I thought I'd try pitching with my left hand, and it was perfect: I threw the ball right into his glove, straight and fast.
Thusly encouraged, at age 56, I'd like to try to regain some fine motor ability in my left hand. Any tips?
...That's all I have for now, I will return when I have thought of more tip.
I read the current newsletter, especially with regard to the kiddos starting a new school year. I wish all those great tools had been available to me starting school in the USA in the mid 1950s. I am in the middle of helping to purchase school supplies for a kindergartner, two 1st graders and a 5th grader in my family. All are righties except one of the 1st graders who is ambidextrous, but it dawned on me that even if they WERE lefthanded, here in my community all those great left-handed items would not be allowed! All supplies that are purchased by the families for use in the classroom are pooled together and shared (of course they would be allowed in their own homes). We haven't made much progress after all in accommodating lefties in the classroom in the last 50 years!!
My problems were not with handwriting as my mother made sure my teachers knew I was a lefty and she did not want them to try and change me, since she saw the suffering her brother went through. My problem came with telling the time. I often used to sit with my mother as she tried to teach me, but I just couldn't grasp it. What made things worse was being sent out of the classroom into the corridor to report what time it was on the clock out there. I used to be so upset as the numbers meant nothing to me so I would end up guessing and then suffer the indignity of being shown up in front of my classmates.
My three children are all right handed, but it is possible my grandson may be a lefty.
My dad went to school and told the nuns not to change me.
I was called out a lot by the nuns but I learned to live with being left-handed. A friend of mine was turned by the nuns ,this person has had several mental problems.
In the very early 1970s when I was in second grade and we learned penmanship, my school teacher took the time to /support my left-handed writing and adapt the instructions, which I'm sure she did for any other left-handers in class.
I remember her clearly and in fact, had very good penmanship. I wonder now if that was considered progressive or forward-thinking 40 years ago?!
And now so many years later,at 18,I do realise there's so many things wrong with my coordination. For instance,I find it very difficult telling the difference between left and right,I do everything with my left hand like brush my teeth,drink,brush my hair,and hold about everything with my left hand,whereas I use my right hand to do all the dirty stuff like use the toilet,etc. Which I find rather strange. It's affected my social life as well. Even though I'm good looking and smart,I lack concentration, bite my nails,and the skin around my fingers and I'm good at everything I do,but excellent at none
Anyways, when my first child was born I was waiting to see if he is left-handed or not and he was, and still he is, because I never asked him to write with right hand. Intersting part of my story is that my son is left-handed but his right side is dominant in sport. For example when he plays football he kicks the ball with his right leg. Do you think this is the effect of what had happened to me?
Now my question is that what people like Tonya and I can do. Is it too late to do anything? Sometimes I desperately try to write with my left hand and if I know it helps, I will practice more to find peace in myself.
I was an unremarkable child in classes for the mentally disabled.
It was like I just awakened in my third grade classroom. I remember the day well. We were learning to read and I read very well that day. The teachers reaction is what I remember most. She had me come to the front of the class and read many things which I did without error. The next year in fourth grade I was in the gifted program and tested out of a college level.
I feel very strongly that these hand tests changed my brain patyerens and forced new pathways that turned me from an IQ of about 90 to an IQ of over 140.
Does anyone else have a similar experience. If so shoot me an email and lets talk. I really want to understand more about this and if as I suspect, if it did in fact alter my perceptions and my life.
In my early years at school I was shy, reserved, and noticeably slower (often pointed out by other students to my dismay). Though I am aware that other factors contributed to some of this, I would guess that a lot of my 'slow-but-sure-nature' stems from being forced to use my right hand, effectively needing to repeating some of the development one goes through before entering school. But I notice that with some things I am still slower, mentally and can seemingly confuse myself which worries me to some degree. And Im never one to finish an exam within the time given, needing more time to just think. Its definitely not due to lack of intelligence, its simply needing a Little more time to process Information sometimes.
During my teens they discovered that my left side had less muscle tone, put down to not using my dominant side enough in a right-handed world (This is not uncommon in right-handed people, but it appeared more obvious with me probably due to the dominant side being neglected). And later on we noticed that I have a lot of trouble with my left side. Inevitably if there is any kind of pain or accident it occurs pretty much exclusively on my left side.
This was only really connected to the left-handed conversion when I mentioned my concern about the problems all contained to my left side, alongside the fact that I was forced to write right handed.
Its comforting to know that there are others who experience various difficulties from a forced change in mental thought Patterns. And I will end with a few positives - even though they may make me a Little slower than if I was left a lefty.
- I studied architecture and can draw with both hands rather than experiencing the awkward crossing of arms to draw on the left side of the straight edges. (Bonus, I just swap Hands and have neat lines)
- I love art and also often find that subconsciously I Switch to my left hand for drawing and painting. This is also nice for sewing and embroidery - just swap hands when one is tired or if feels less awkward to use the left. Same with cooking or baking, and even sometimes when I find Im having a bad day with tennis with my right I simply Switch to my left.
Now I guess I should focus on balancing the muscles out to make full use of this Situation :) Though I do wonder what life would have been like had I been left to my left-handedness.
All my life, I have stuttered. I used to wet the bed as a child, and I had problems with concentration and memory. In my teens I had epileptic seizures, and I am still not sure if the that was the cause of the fits, too.
I've had a lifetime of being a very insecure and easily intimidated person - I am never sure if I'm doing the right thing. Confidence is deeply lacking.
Everyone else in my family is musically talented, I'm the only one who lacks the ability to play an instrument. I've tried to learn dance, and fencing. Somewhere in my brain is a place where they both make sense, I can "feel" what is supposed to be happening, but I have to consciously tell my body what to do, how to move. Where do I put my feet, my arms? When I'm holding a guitar (upside down), I have to stop and look to move the fingers to the new fret position. I lack "free-flowing muscle memory".
As I entered my adulthood, it was apparent I was also impotent.
Can I attribute all of this to my grandmother's trying to force my hand? I'm not sure, but it certainly explains a good part of my life.
My Grandmother died in 1995, and my Dad died three years ago. I wish that someone had told me long ago that this was why I was so messed up. Did they know that was the cause of all my peculiarities? Did they realize what she had done to their son?
I always knew about the forced-hand thing, but never really put it all together until just a few years ago.
I'm writing to you today because I am left-handed and I am trying to become right-handed (it's my choice). I love being left-handed, but unfortunately, over the past five years I have developed a problem in my left hand which prevents me from writing : my hand immediately goes into spasm mode and pain begins and I can barely hold my pen so even writing one word is so difficult. This makes me so physically exhausted and frustrated and now when I even think of having to write something, I become so anxious and try to put it off. I have seen a couple of doctors and one of them thinks that it's writers cramp but a haven't begun any treatment. I'm desperate to write again (I used to love writing) and now my daughter is also learning to write and I want to help her (she is left-handed too) but I think that my solution is now to become right-handed. So I'm wondering if you have any advice for people like me. Are there any exercises that I can do? Could this have a negative effect on my mental well-being? I would really like to know. I have started trying to write with my right-hand and it's hard and not at all natural... but at least it doesn't hurt and I can hold a pen again! Thank you.
I was born as left handed. But my teacher force me to write with right hand.
Now i can do all the activities with my left hand except writing.
I would like to switch back to left hand. from 6 months i am trying to writing with my left hand. But still my hand writing is not good and i am very slow in writing. Some times i cant even read what i am writing.
Anybody can tell me the possibilities of switching back to left hand writing? I am now 24 years old.
How long it will take to completely change back to left hand?
What are possible problems when switching back to left hand?
Some tips?
I never experienced bed-wetting or stuttering or nail-biting, and thanks to my calligraphy classes I've been told I have nice handwriting, but I grew up terribly shy and withdrawn until my 20's. And I still have the worst memory out of everyone I know, and I have to write everything down. I joined the military at 19 hoping they would fix my shyness, and for the most part they did. I now feel comfortable speaking in public and graduated college with an engineering degree. Lefties can be good at math too!
To this day I do many things with my left and right hands. I write and throw with my left, but hold a bat and bowl with my right. I kick and hold weapons with my right (like handguns and rifles in the military), but I play drums and eat with my left. I also play guitar with my right, and drive/steer with my left. When I was stationed in Japan, driving on the left side of the road came very natural to me.
It's nice knowing there are others out there like myself, and I'm not the weirdo I once thought I was.
I have two questions: am I right?
and what else can I do to overcome this problem.
In meditation I realized that I am afraid of my left side. When I think of writing or drawing with my left hand I have a strong sense of fear.
I'm now 29 and my friends see me as intelligent and witty but I can't help but get angry how I was made to feel like a dumbass for most of my life.... All the times I never tried because I thought I was stupid. All because someone thought I should be right.
I noticed that he has trouble writing with his left hand. In watching him and I see that he favors the right side. IE. he uses the mouse with his right hand, he eats with his right hand, his right side is stronger etc..
I think what happened is that when he was young, his older brother is actually left handed and he imitated his older brother so he was going to be left handed too.
Since he's now 19 years old. Is there anything I can do?
some how as time goes by i still make use of my left hand and sometimes write things with my left hand which i find with so much better hand writing and so much understandable. i am 24 now, until just today, i was bored while at work, and i tried drawing something out of my imagination. But surprisingly, my drawing with my left hand was incredibly much better than i do with my right hand. somehow, it helps me think creatively as well.
i just am not sure it does confuse me because it makes me think faster, and even work faster. do you think theres something you can say about that?
Now that I'm in my mid 30's, I'm going to try and challenge myself to be left handed again.
Growing up, when playing cricket I always batted with my left hand, (I didn't realize that until in high school, when a classmate asked me "if your right handed why are you batting with your left hand?") I was so SHOCKED, I thought right handed people batted that way. Also when my dad was teaching me how to swing a golf stick, I would turn to my left, and he'd always tell me turn to your right, that's the right way. I naturally always turned to my left. Also at the dinner table, i held the knife on my left hand and fork on the right (I thought right handed people ate this way) only to find out from a friend, just last year that no, right handed people eat the opposite way.I was so confused with life, until my elder sister told me one day that I was actually left handed when i was little. That's when things started to make sense. Thank God. i thought there was something wrong with my brain.
From there, I would realize more things that i did with my left hand. Like, I usually have my phone on my left hand and text faster on my left hand. I can also text on my right hand, but i naturally prefer my left. i answer my phone calls on the left ear. At the metro station walking into a train, i realized i always like to walk in and turn left. It's like my brain just prefers everything left. Also i prefer sleeping on the left, or if I'm resting my head on someones shoulders, I would rest the left side of my head on their shoulders.
Another thing i realized is, I'm so slow writing with my right hand, compared to my other classmates who are 100% right handed or left handed. Their using their natural hand.I'm naturally left handed.
I really wish I was never switched to right handed-I think that's the reason why I can't draw. like honestly. Cause I'm really into arts/music, i have a wide imagination, and i wish i could draw my ideas but i can't. I also read somewhere that,that part of your brain that senses fear is on the right hemisphere of the brain-I reckon this is so true, cause i get scared easily. i haven't got my drivers licence yet cause I'm so fearful of driving. My country the roads are designed for right handed drivers. I guess the switch from left to right has caused so much confusion in my brain. Left handed People who weren't switched from left to right, I've realized don't have a problem driving on roads designed for right handed people, its easy for their brains to adjust.
To end, I hope to learn more about left handedness and hopeful spread the awareness for parents not to change their left handed kids to right handed. It will have an effect on their brains.
I need help as my son can't concentrate in his study and doing his school work etc. I just notice he used right hand to write as actually he is left handed boy. He just told me my father in law told him to use right hand when he was little boy. He is now 10 so can I convert him back to left handed.
Your advise is much appreciated.
Regards
Rachel Ong
Thanks,
daniela
When my son started school he was using both hands and we were not sure which hand he wanted to use. His teacher watched him and concluded that he uses right better. He is 7 and still can not spell well though his reading has improved a little. He is shy and lacks concentration and write slowly. He uses his left hand to eat at times.
Reading your article now made me feel that might be the cause. Can we still change him back to left. Or what can we do to help him?
Thanks
Like so many I was made to change from left to right hand writing, and recall being made to do it on the blackboard in front of the class at school.
Has anyone else got epilepsy? I was only diagnosed 6 yrs ago at age 46. In hindsight I have always been clumsy, prone to bumping into things and so on, it has developed to the full range of epileptic seizures.
Also I occasionally find it hard to distinguish between my left and right hand when I look at them.
I still write right handed, but when I want to concentrate in a boring meeting I switch to writing left handed. Most interesting I guess is that since my first full seizure I find I can do mirror writing fluidly with my right hand - it doesn't feel any different from writing 'normally'.
Being left handed is a stinking curse, and I think it's best to get rid of it, and become right handed.
Have you received any advice about reverting to left hand writing for your daughter? I see many of the primary issues for switched handers starting for my son and want to help him. Is there any lasting damage to two years of writing right?
What can I do to help her?
I was forced to write ,brush , eat in right hand during my childhood.Everything else is left handed for me..
Few things I am having difficulty with :
-I have a problem of expressing myself.I am unable to make other understand what i was trying to say.sometime while explaining i myself get confused.It has happened a lot of time.
what I am trying to say.
-I am bad with numbers and calculations.I get confused while doing calculations or in day to day life where there are more than 1 digit.
-My hand writing is bad.
- I stutter but lots of words arises while writing but not while speaking.
-I sleep for 10 to 12 hrs most of the days in week.
now I m right hand ..but I m still using left for more activities..but it is not strong.. in cricket I m right handed ..
I feel I loose my Memory some times and a little problem with ma speak..also I m some weak in maths and calculations ..
what about ma brain ..plz tell me what to do ...
The reason why I ask this question is because I really do think that I can somewhat make my left hand dominant, because over the years I trained myself to bat both sided, bowl both sided. And I think if I try really hard I might even be able to write with both hands ... so please leave something in the reply, anything will help.
Thanks in advance :)
It has a lot of negative side effects, but it also has some good things. I believe we´ll never be the same, all those years probably made permanent changes on our brains and now we are just the way we are. Not lefty, not righty but just weird and cool ;)
I had reading difficulties as a young boy, and handwriting never looked neat until I forced my self to make it more legible. I was also shy and withdrawn, and didn't start coming out of this phase until well into University.
Is it possible to be switched by accident? I started school at the age of 4 (UK boy here), and it's just rather interesting to me.
side note, my mother is left handed and I have taken many of my physical traits from her (my personality is a hybrid of my mum and dad :v )
i just want don't know whether to leave as it is....or i could stop him.
Once i say which hand.....he'll automatically use his right hand....i just need some suggestions on this.....
I was an active child as a left hander(my mom says) as I began to walk and speak early. I was a real talker that time. things changed after changing my hand. As far as I could remember I looked traumatised and avoided being with people. I always liked to be alone and dreaming. I totally lost my communication skills and I feel awkward to be in a social place. Friends dont get me involved in their talks because I could feel that I am different. I feel like my memory is totally lost. I cant remember many of to-dos in everyday chore. my mom has to remind me to do each thing.I have completed my masters degree in computers. When making some presentations I just dont have any words in my mouth. Its really hard for me to talk and express what's in my mind. (Verrrry aaaawkward!!)
Now that I know that these changes are due to changing hands at an early age, I cant help but show anger on everyone. anyway I have to live my life this way. My dad totally disagrees with this reason and still strongly sticks to use my right hand since it concerns with my culture. oh god!!
If at all I give a glass of water to dad with my left hand (unknowingly--instinct) I had to listen to loads of advice about manners.
So, I request all not to spoil any child's life by changing their hands just because of some stupid concerns of manners or culture.
As I read the article do you think it had affected my memory coz I'm always forgot nearly everything?
-Uriel
I do have number dyslexia -- untreated, it may have contributed to my not learning math well.
The one thing I cannot do properly with my right hand (never tried my left) is check a woman's cervical dilation during labor! I am a midwife and of course, that's a very important skill! I also realize I have small hands (but I do wear a size 6 1/2 surgical glove) -- so maybe that's it.
I have always been shy and feel I never have anything to say to anyone -- making conversation with a stranger (or acquaintance) is difficult for me. But I can prepare and present my curriculum to nurses when required.
Of my 4 children, 2 are definite dominant left-handers (and both have issues with nail-biting).
My daughter was really ambidextrous -- but a kindergarten teacher had her practice writing right-handed, as so she is. She does not bite her nails.
My last child of my husband who is a lefty & I is a dominant right-hander, no nail-biting. So go figure . .. !
Thanks
I can write without much thought backward left handed as I do forward write handed, however trying to write backwards right handed is very difficult as I have to think about every letter I try to write. All of this is in cursive. Although I find being able to write backwards left handed is unique, the part that amazes me is that the handwriting is the same despite using the opposite hand that I I normally write with.
I also discovered, with a bit more thought, while writing, that I can do both at the same time (right hand forward & left hand backwards) ...again resulting in the same handwriting. What's going on with my brain to be able to produce a backward mirror image writing with the opposite hand that I usually write with?
PS one thing that is universally made left handed are sewing machines, I am very experienced at using these!!
When I was a teenager I used to always have people ask me the question "are you left handed?" during meal times if really drove me crazy!
I can write with both hands but here comes the strange part, when I'm writing with my left hand it has to be in a marker only. I end up laughing at this all the time.
Please don't force your child to use her right hand if she is borne left-handed. My sister-in-law did that to his daughter some 15 years ago. Practically everything had to be used with her right hand. I saw that my niece was an introvert and was poor in her studies. Not sure if they had to do with the 'switches' that was forced upon her. Finally, she ended her life last month due to depression at age 17. Please, parents, do not defy nature and God's gift for our kids. My ex-GM is left-handed and is she is equally successful in her life and career.
I'm a leftie and in the asian world, lefties are bad. When I was younger my parents tried making me to things with my right hand. Use chopsticks with your right hand, if you're drinking soup, soup spoon on the right and chopsticks on left...etc.
My brother I believe was also left handed but he somehow got the hang of changing hands so he's a righty now. I remember when he was younger he wet the bed up until he was late elementary lol. I remember making fun of him lol.
Anywho, I'm a leftie but a majority of things I do is right handed. Gymnastics, tennis, softball, kick with my right foot.
I'm only left handed when I eat and write lol.
But this article seems odd... Since although my brother may be naturally a lefty, The only issue he had was the bed wetting. He's amazing at debate, always awake and energized, etc. Maybe another issue is the bad handwriting department but I always just assume that men generally have bad handwriting ...
At least all the men I know have terrible handwriting.
I know people have tried and successfully changed their children in the past from left to right, but thought that had disappeared over the years. Today I found out that two of my co-workers have changed their kids. I was surprised because I don't understand people wanting to change who their kids are, and it makes me sad for those kids too.
I don't feel that I have the left-brain traits that show creativity. I can barely draw a stick figure, but I still consider myself a Leftie and wear it like a badge of honor.
Should stop blaming all their lifes problems on that one fact and get on with their life..
Charley D.
While this isn't saying that it is the cause necesarily, it does warrant further investigation. And simply dismissing it as a problem and getting on with their life doesn't really help if it actually does cause some actual problems in the brain being forced.
Ravi
It was also at that time I learned that given a new task I should use my left hand. Thus I use my left hand to control the mouse of my PC. When lecturing I use the laser pointer in my left hand. These do reduce mental fatigue.
I was allowed to 'be' left handed so I'm afraid I don't have any stories of psychological trauma to share.
My name is Purva and I am a 30 year old woman. I just came across this article as I was browsing internet for left and right things images for my kid.I read the list of all the side-effects of changing to right hand from being a left hander. I am myself a left hander person. I write with my right hand. However, I can't recall even a single of side-effects encountered due to that. This is all in your mind. No side effects occur if you wish to change your writing hand . Its just become a part of you. Hence, I see no reason to why will I not change my daughter's habit of writing from left to right. Although I see no benefit in that too. But please be assured, it's not at all harmful for your child. And yes, my writing is just perfect. Always been appreciated by my teachers and friends even during the college days.
So chill out and enjoy. Cheers :)
Maybe this is only a Catholic thing but when I started school in Ireland with the Sisters of (no) Mercy they used to make to beat my left hand black and blue, something to do with a Catholic perception of left handed being a symbol of the devil. Anyway when I came home all black and blue my mum went down the next day and had war with them which was brave thing to do in mid-1970's Catholic Ireland. It stopped after that. But I have heard of this happening to other lefties who were 'converted' to right-handers by the beatings the nuns would give them. Anyone with similar experiences?
I wouldn't change now , but wish I could have been left to decide which hand I would eventually end up using.
I wasn't. I was forced to switch before I started school. However, I do a lot of
things left-handed. We're 64 & 65 , very young at heart.
I really wish I hadn't been switched......but it's probably why I'm ambidextrous,
so that's actually a good thing.
I think, too, tho, it's caused some problems. I've read that forcing someone to
switch can cause extreme shyness & dyslexia.......both of which I have.
When I use our computer, I have to turn the mouse around & then I think of it
as a pulley system. I push the mouse up to make the cursor go down & push it
down to make the cursor go up. I always have the mouse on the left side....but
I can use it right-handed & still think like a pulley system.
If the mouse is correct (not turned around), I have no control over where the
cursor goes no matter how hard I try. I demonstrated for a friend once & told
her if it looks like I'm just fooling around, I'm not. I was really trying hard to
make the cursor go where I wanted it to go.....but it wouldn't. As soon as I turn
the mouse around, it's easy .
My husbands' family is very interesting. We're wondering what the odds are of
there being 4 out of 6 members of his family being lefties ! His dad is a righty.
His mother was a lefty. Their first child (a daughter) is the only right-handed
child. Their next 2 kids are boys, then a girl.......all lefties.
I had a terrible childhood, very with nick names, no friends, the only friends that I had where books, there I had the possibility to use my imagination. Nothing else. only the library.
It was bad at home, it was bad with the neiborwood, it was bad at class and especially in school, and for what? Every body was nasty with me. Ifelt that people enjoy it
It's over. I worked hard to overcome it.
The only question that I have WHY????????
It's genetics, my father was a left handed my daughters are also left handed and brilliant.
Since then I have learned to use my right hand and write very neatly and perform most tasks this way however if I play cricket or golf I use my left hand, when I first decided to play guitar I instinctively looked at playing left handed but decided it would be too difficult because of the way it was laid out and so learned to play right handed.
Everything I do tends to be biased towards to left of my body and I immediately notice left handed people. If I do a job with someone they instantly refer to me as gag handed because of the way I pick things up or turn things etc
My son is left handed and he writes as such. It somehow makes me feel cheated that I was made to do something against what was natural to me and I do get confused when co-ordination is called for but have learned to live with it but it has never held me back
Just thought I'd share my experience with you
Right now i am 20..& i feel bad if it's all bcoz i hav chngd 2 right...& i dun hav confidence in me 1st f all...vry tensed character...
It vl bcome prob f i change again 2 left??
I can remember attending my first school in 1981 in North London and been made to sit in a set seat and made to write with my right hand. If I was to use my left hand in class I was hit on my left hand with ruler and then told to use my right hand.
This would go on during the course of the whole day, sometimes, if my teacher felt that enough is enough my left hand world be tied to behind my back on to the chair. This wouldnt stop and as a result I became lazy, not been able to focus and pay attention in class. I would also go home with headaches. This effecting my confidence and I was made to attend special needs classes. Whilst at this school my written work suffered and was very messy, often been described as a spider was walked across the page. This been oppersit to completing my homework.
On parent evenings my teacher would refer to me as been sleepy, lazy, lacked confidence and never complete class work on time. My parents went mad when they found out what was happening and after which I was allowed to be left handed.
I only attended this school for less than a school year as I started in the January and moved in the following December.
Even to this day I think that all my problems where due to the time I spent at that school.
I went to catering college and when I started working at a famous golf club in England in the late 1998, my department manager would not allow my promotion to supervisor unless I retained to silver service right handed. So even in the current times there's always someone who wants us to change.
Somehow, I see an advantage having the traits of a left hander and practicing right hander skills(science,logic etc). But I regret having changed to right hander. I'm planning to start writing again in left hand.Any idea if that helps improve what I am?? Or does it have any influence in the way I think once I make the change??
me to be right-handed. I'm 37 years old now, and how this has
effected me is obviously subjective and impossible to prove, but I
will venture a few guesses anyway. I sucked my left thumb until I was
7 years old. With nothing to do with my dominant hand, as other
children learned to write, draw, eat, throw a ball, etc. with their
dominant hands mine was left with nothing to do and thus remained in
my mouth. I think this may have hindered my verbal and social
abilities, as I've always been extremely shy and unable to express
anger properly - I used to stutter as a child when I was angry. I'm
still not good at expressing myself verbally, thoughts are easier to
communicate on paper for me, and my social skills are still lagging
behind others. I excelled in school, math and science, and sports;
ventures that require a lot of competition but not communication. I
began college with a football scholarship and majored in physics but
quit school after two years, probably due to a lack of social skills
that caused me to abuse alcohol and other drugs. I finally cleaned my
life up and at age 30 earned my college degree in philosophy with a
heavy emphasis on psychology, and then attempted law school, but I
still don't have the social skills necessary for the profession, so
I'm working in the telecommunications construction industry, climbing
towers, installing lines and antennas for cell phone carriers. I
believe having been switched from my natural left-handedness to being
right-handed has had negative side effects, and I highly discourage
the practice.
I am lefthanded as can be, but was forced to write right-handed. My mother later regretted that decision, because she thought my bad handwriting comes from there. I don't know maybe she was right. Being forced to use my right, actually made me good at both sides. My father always told me you cannot use tools with your left, but i had to, and i can say I am better in all things DIY with my left, than my father ever was with his right hand. We have a saying in Germany that someone has two left hands, when he is incapable of doing anything manually correct. I tend to say, that I have 2 left hands, but luckily I a`m a left hander. After school i did an apprenticeship as car mechanic and being able to use both hands, was a great advantage. When I learned to play the guitar I never thought of changing the way I hold it, because to me it makes perfect sense, because the left hand is much more sensitive, so when i have to choose the chords, that's what my better hand does, the strumming can do my weaker hand. In my studies, i had to learn hebrew and as sure as anything I changed the pencil to left, in order to write from right to left and it worked just fine. I actually never pondered to change my writing hand. Just a few years ago, during a coaching training I started it. I did not change completely, but I enjoyed the experience and still use it sometimes. A lot earlier i found out, that i am able to write mirror writing with my left in a perfect, neat and well readable hand-writing. It's a nice but pretty useless skill. Unfortunately in the last few years I developed MS and it affected my left side stronger than my right. I now have a foster daughter who is a leftie and of course I encourage her to fully use her potential with that side.
When I went back to college to get my degree by 40, and taught school for 25 years, I just couldn't believe that left-handed children were still being taught incorrectly! What is so difficult to learn: Whichever hand you write with, the paper is parallel to that arm!
I can't draw a picture, but use the slants to illustrate:
Left-Handed: /
Right-Handed: \
Left Handers of the world unite and: WRITE CORRECTLY!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Lucille
I'm sure the teacher had her reasons but when he was learning to write, the ambidextrous son was always told to use his right hand - he now writes with his right hand yet bowels cricket balls with his left!!
grow up...
With the new ball- and bamboo-pointed pens, I barely curl my hand at all anymore; interestingly, when I write Hebrew, I don't curl my hand at all, and I don't smudge.
I don't care - I like being different.
So, I had fun with it. But I think there's two crucial things happening:
1. It is a freewill choice
2. I have reached adulthood and my left-handed handwriting has already been established for years
By the way, I was the only child out of 8 that is left-handed(couldn't find recent ancestors that were left-handed, either).
Best regards, Robert
Please reach me through my web-site — https://www.HandwritingThatWorks.com
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