Over many years we have been encouraging teacher training organisations to give more consideration to the requirement of left-handed children and providing information to help raise teachers' awareness of the issues. There are a few simple things teachers can do in the classroom to make a dramatic difference to left-handers in their early years at school and avoid problems as they develop through the education system.
These are basic things such as:
- Sitting a left-handed child on the left side of writing areas so they do not bump elbows with the child next to them
- Demonstrating a correct writing grip and encouraging an effective writing position
- Having left-handed scissors available and know how to use them.
- Understanding that left-handers will form some letters in a different direction to right-handers.
Unfortunately, we know from the huge amount of correspondence we get as well as responses to our surveys and comments on our website that these things do not happen as a matter of course. Often it is only when the teacher is left-handed or the parents of the left-handed child really push for changes that the left-handed children get the proper advice and help they need.
Understanding the needs of left-handed children and how to help them is supp0sed to be a part of the Teacher Training Curriculum in the UK, but it seems to get little attention in practice.
We are very keen to raise awareness of this issue and to encourage teacher training organisations around the world to actually DO the small things that will make a lot of difference. We are going to use this year's International Left Handers Day on 13th August 2012 as a platform to get publicity about it in print, radio, TV and online media around the world.
The starting point is to pull together information on what is currently happening around the world and then to create an action plan that we can push to have included in all teacher training courses and be distributed to all teachers, and we need YOUR help!
If you have any knowledge or expertise in this area or would be willing to do a bit of research in your country we would love to hear what you can find out. We will bring it all together on this web site and keep you informed of progress and further work we need to do. We are also keen to hear about your personal experiences and those of your children.
We are particularly interested in younger children as it their early school years that can make a big difference, but we are going to include education right through to university / college level.
So, if you can help with any of the following, please add your thoughts and links to any information you can find as comments to this post (preferred method as others can then share it as well), or contact Keith Milsom direct on this page:
Contact Keith about teacher training on left-handed children.
- Teacher training guidelines and course content relating to left-handed children
- Checklists or notes given to teachers about helping left-handed children
- Any research or surveys on left-handed children in school
- Your own personal experiences or those of your children - good and bad!
We look forward to hearing from you.
Comments 238
Today I am still left handed. I have two sons that are left handed and now a grandchild that is too. Thank God they will never go through what I did at school.
Things have now changed and for the better. I would never wish any child to go through what I did when I was a child. Back then, I was an alien who really tried to change.
KERALA, INDIA-is a worst place where even the most educated keep "apartheid" against left handed. Irony is that KERALA boast educated status in India and Keralites speaking Malayalam language can be seen in every part of the world. KERALA is also known for the first “ELECTED” communist Government, in the world. But most in KERALA get their left hand aversion from their foolish reason that right handed’ s use left hand for cleaning the buttock after defecation. Many show (and express in words) disgusting face while left handed eat with left hand. Elders demand parents to change this “habits” (habit???) of their left handed kid. My parents too thus did this to me. The aversion is more against left handed girls. But I rather feel really offended when teachers and well educated and well-travelled do this as well as trying to justify this “apartheid”.
Teachers and kindergarten helpers many a time force kids to eat with right hand by shaming them and making them feel inferior. Teachers’ mostly accept that writing with left hand is right, but seems to give no support to kids in developing the required writing position, speed and neatness (should sit left hander’s so that their hand will not be obstructed by the right handed sitting next to them).
I have not seen this in no other part of India I traveled too, and have seen lot of left handers peacefully eating with left hand unnoticed along with right handers.
ANIL KUMAR M V,
(I am a converted right hander) having a left handed daughter facing trouble most of her day in the society.
I've only just found this website, and wished I'd found it earlier. I'm a teacher in the UK, working at a Steiner Waldorf School (but I'm neither Steiner-trained nor an Anthroposophist). To my horror, I discovered last Wednesday that a class 1 teacher, with the help and support of the Learning Support Teacher/SENCO, decided to force a class 1 pupil to switch from being left-handed to right-handed. He's been given a "special stone" to hold in his left hand in order to prevent him from using that hand for writing and drawing. I questioned the decision. I have yet to find out if this is legal, but it is definitely discrimantory. I've also researched this kind of action, and was shocked to find out that forcing a left-handed child to switch causes learning difficulties, notably speech problems (stutter). This is not surprising as hand-mouth co-ordination lies very close together in the brain. I'm a foreign language teacher, and studied socio-linguistics as part of my teaching degree.
I will not tolerate this kind of cruel action at my workplace. We are collectively responsible for the children we teach. I will do whatever it takes to spare this poor boy from more pain.
For the record: I'm right-handed, but am used to being around left-handed people as both my best friends at school were left-handed. And I was allowed to sit next to them as they could sit to my left! :)
I would be very grateful for any feedback. Thank you!
That's one thing that concerns me. I'm sure that eventually we won't even need to be able to write anymore. We won't have to sign our name to anything because we'll just use a thumb print. How much longer will handwriting be taught? With more and more schools turning to ipads, writing will eventually become obsolete.
I do know that I've become more ambi over the years. It's just learning to adapt. I believe that my first job actually helped me become more right handed. I was a cashier and most cash wraps are designed for righties. The register is positioned so that you type with the right hand, while the merchandise is pulled across the counter with the left. I can actually use the 10 key on the keyboard because of this. I also mouse right handed, which I find easier anyway. I can write with my left hand and continue to mouse with my right. That makes more sense to me. Why wouldn't you mouse with your non dominant hand so as to write with the dominant hand? That way, you don't have to keep moving your hand back and forth.
As for knives, well...I can't cut cakes or pies straight regardless of which hand I use. LOL! Although I think I cut with my LH. As for cutting meat, I use my right. Mom tried to teach me to use my left, but it was uncomfortable. She also tried to teach me the proper way to hang shirts in the closet with the design/buttons facing the right. Which to a lefty I suppose it really is the right way, but I always hung my clothes up backward. So, I'd go through them with my right hand. That's one of the few things that I do right to left. But honestly, I don't really care which direction the design is facing. Just so long as it's hanging. I usually hang everything up inside out anyway.
Also, how do lefties handle driving on the left with the steering column on the right? As an American that's just awkward anyway, but as least over here, our drive thrus are left hand friendly. Unless you're a mailman.
Only recently have I gotten ahold of left-handed scissors and it feels much better and painless.
To this very day, here in Puerto Rico, there is still no support whatsoever, I believe, on left handed things for children. Only in college I have seen left-handed desks, and its only one per classroom. On the big lecture classrooms, only some of the left hand side seats have the left-handed desk, but are quickly taken, so I would usually take notes with my notebook on my lap. I've only really have gotten to see a group of left handed people, while taking a departmental test in one of the bigger anfitheaters of the campus, but it was to separate us from the right handed students. When that happened I was really kind of offended (mostly because the professors had broken everyone's concentration from the test), but I understood why. I've taken many tests in that setting and only once was it called out.
Traumatic was when having to cut paper and the scissors hurt my thumb. No one seemed to understand -- because I was using right handed scissors which was paining my left thumb. I tried turning the scissors over but that didn't work. Nothing I cut was straight because that edge was wrong.
It didn't take long for me to realize that I could write properly with my left as well as my right -- and that I held my left hand at the same sort of angle as I did with my right hand - just at the appropriate slant.
As I got older friends had fun showing me off - by telling people 'oh watch - she can write with both hands at the same time and something different with each.'
I was shy so very embarrassed at the attention - it was no big deal to me.
Later in life, a college professor told me that what I was able to do 'would be considered a learning disorder.' I laughed at his pompousness!!
Meanwhile, who does it bother when I get tired writing right handed and switch to left handed? Who does it bother when I sew left handed. When using oil paints, why would it bother anyone that I use a palette knife right handed when broad strokes are wanted - and left handed when using a teeny tiny brush for miniature strokes.
I knit and crochet right handed ... sew and cut left handed ... throw a ball left handed ... golf right handed and bowl left handed. Hmmmm, seems like a real disorder, doesn't it.
Apart from can openers (which I still to this day can't figure out how to use. I always put them on the wrong way, so cut it at the wrong place), I don't really have problems with with using right handed stuff. I prefer to use left handed scissors, but can easily use right handed ones in my left hand. Pie slices are annoying, but useable. I've mostly adapted how to use them to suit my needs. Some knives cause me to cut food diagonally, rather than straight, but I try to avoid using them when possible.
One thing that does bug me though is people borrowing my scissors when I was at school. I would tell them they were left handed and they would either decline to use them or they would be so bad at using them, I would offer to do it for them. If I'd done the same thing to someone with right handed scissors, I would have been laughed at.
Both my dad and I are lefties. I remember growing up and having to use righty scissors because the elementary school didn't have enough lefty ones. If I was lucky I was able to get lefty scissors before someone else did. If you hold righty scissors in your left hand it can hurt. Did anyone experience that?
I think it is extremely important for teachers to understand that any student may be ambidextrous, and allow the student to hold whatever instrument (and manipulate the writing paper!) in the manner most comfortable to the child.
I think it's likely that lefties are more frequently ambidextrous than righties. I also think this is due to the limited access to leftie gear. I must admit the roller hockey stick took me by surprise, though, as I bought the stick because I assumed I used a broom in a left-handed manner! I also use my flatware in the right-handed manner, although I think this was the one place where I was trained a certain way. A dinner knife is the only knife I can use to cut right-handed!
A year or so ago I took over most of the cooking at home and decided to get some left-handed knives. I went to our local boutique kitchen shop and the owner said "What's the difference?" when I asked for a left-handed knife! I later bought them from you guys (I didn't at first because there are restrictions on importing knives to Ireland and thought I'd be wasting everyone's time). I love them, but I find the same attitude at home (What's the difference?), with the result that I have to keep explaining that while someone somewhere local can more than likely sharpen their right-handed knives, it's highly unlikely that I'll find someone to sharpen my left-handed ones. But I think I'm wasting my time - for the same reason they don't understand the difference between the knives, they don't understand the difference in sharpening a left-handed versus a right-handed knife.
Anyway, advice to teachers:
1) If you're teaching children to start using a pencil, place the pencil on the desk with the sharpened end pointing toward the blackboard. The logic here is that most teachers, when placing a pencil on the desk horizontally to the student, will naturally place it in the direction the teacher would pick it up (so, basically, if the teacher is right-handed, s/he'll put the pencil on the desk with the point to the student's right). The problem with doing this is that most children will assume they are expected to pick up the pencil with the hand implied by the direction in which the teacher places the pencil. (That is so much more difficult to explain than to demonstrate!)
2) Take note of which hand the student holds the pencil in and place the page at the appropriate angle - to the left for righties and the right for lefties.
3) Make sure you explain to left-handed students that they need to form their letters in the SAME direction as the right handed students - most lefties have become very adept at mirroring long before they enter school, so this is an important instruction. I remember being as confused as heck when my first-grade teacher was teaching us to make the Sign of the Cross and she kept doing it backwards (so all the righties in the room would do it properly).
4) Remember that most lefties ARE adept at mirroring, so if you're teaching them something like knitting or sewing (if they still do those things in school) the student will most likely be able to follow you. YOU don't have to be able to follow the student's hand movements. More experence - I had a teacher who insisted she couldn't teach me to knit because SHE couldn't knit left-handed.
5) And speaking of hand-work - if you're teaching crochet, remember that what's normally the right side of a piece is the wrong side for a leftie. A leftie does actually crochet backwards. This is really important because it can make a huge difference to how a piece looks when it's finished, particularly if they're making a garment.
And being left handed is a real bonus when it comes to playing the piano or a sport like table tennis. Left handed kids will find coping strategies for themselves, making sure they sit on the left of a right handed person at meal times, mirroring movements etc.
But please, don't make these kids feel it's a problem to be left handed; it isn't. It's perfectly normal....and fun.
I have two right handed sons and when the time came for them to learn, I used a mirror image ie: I sat in front of them rather than than by their side - it worked!
& although i find it more challenging to support the right handed children i manage fine by using my right hand when working with them & find it quite easy to do this. however i have noticed that my right handed collegues are completely unable to work with the left handed child, often asking me "how can you just switch hands when you are working with the right handed children?, i can't do that when i'm working with the left handed child".
i found being left handed difficult when learning to write as a child, as the only left handed child in my class all through primary school. i was always much slower than my peers & last finished with any task that involved writing in my class, often having to stay in at break time to finish. for my first year of school my teacher spent a considerable amount of time taking the pencil out of my left hand and putting it into my right (i would put it straight back into my left). all the way through school and even college my work was smudged and my writing messy, & i still can't do joined up writing as i was given no support on how to do this left handed. Suprisingly (to me at least) i now often get complimented on my handwriting & use the correct grip & hand position (i appear to have worked it out for myself over the years as i was never shown by anyone).
just a small note on left handed scissors, as a child at school & at home i used right handed scissors (although to me they were just scissors as i didn't know there was any other kind) i loved cutting -out often got complimented by teachers on how neat i was at it & it was the only thing i could ever do better than my peers. yes i developed an awquard way of holding them / looking over the top of the blades etc, however altough it may look awquard & uncomfortable it has never felt that way. i didnt't even realise that i had an unusual way of holding scissors ultil i tried using left handed ones, which i am completely unable to use. therefore my personal oppinion is that unless they are struggling left handed children should be given normal, easily available 'right handed' equipment. as if the child can use these it will be a huge advantage to them rarther than becomming dependant on things that have to be specially purchesed (often only available online & at greater cost than standard equipment) & that in many circumstances will not be available at all.
I am now a teacher and always check how many left handed pupils I have and sit them so they don't bumparms with the children next to them.
Unfortunately nobody showed me how to write left handed and I started using the hook style. This is a big problem with any sort of ink as the writing becomes smudged. My inability to write legibly and quickly was always a disadvantage in exams. It held me back in the eleven plus but I still passed.
At secondary school I switched myself to an italic writing style and adopted Osmiroid fountain pens and their left handed nibs. These allowed a better hand position even with the paper straight.
I continued to suffer at GCE "O" level "A" level and as a undergraduate. It took me longer to write my Ph.D. thesis than it might otherwise have done.
These days I write very little in long hand since almost anything I write would have to be typed into a computer so I might as well type it in anyway. What hurts me is that I can find more useful advice on writing left handed in five minutes on the internet than I was ever taught at school.
I recently assisted my son with his research as he wrote a thesis on left-handedness and was horrified at the cruel ignorance of days gone by and the total neglect of 10% of our population now through ignorance caused by neglect. I feel compelled to do further work in this area as I feel very passionate about equal educational opportunities for our children. I am not a left-hander but appreciate through my fifth son that we live in a right-handed world and it's not good enough. It may be only 10% of people to us right-handers but to a left-hander it's 100% of their life.
Father of a five year old left handed daughter
In later life I became a gliding/flying instructor and it was a great advantage to be able to sit in either left or right pilot seat and use either hand equally well. It's interesting to note that at least a third of the pilots on the flying school were lefties!
Interesting observation: I'm majoring in engineering. As I look around in each of my STEM classes, I notice that maybe half the class is lefties. So this is where most of us are going haha?
these guidance is also helpful which i am not received in my school days....................
so thanks to left handers club....... so much.........!!!!!!!!!
I always found it awkward when I was learning to write. I wasn't "changed round", in fact I used to write with the "hook grip" up to the age of 18, when I changed to an orthodox grip. We had nib pens and then fountain pens, and I was always crossing the nibs and blots would go everywhere! Since leaving school, I have not used a fountain pen.
I can't imagine what teacher, let alone country, in this day and age is changing a child writing from left handed to right handed!!!!!!! If his parents aren't informing the teacher and school, maybe you should; giving her/him the tools and booklets that this site sells.
I am learning from this site just how lucky I was that my parents told my teachers not to "change" me and had really good teacher in second grade for penmanship that showed me how to hold my pen and paper. This was in the 1960s in the USA. My mother was ambidextrous up until high school where she made the decision to stick to right hand writing because of the type of desks. My great-grandfather was left handed and in school had his left hand tied behind his back and was beaten if he tried to use it. I guess in the long run it didn't do him much harm as he became a very successful business man with a town and a ferry named after him in his lifetime.
Why don't they find people like me so I can teach the teachers the needs of the alternate learner. Leftys are bored with limited thinkers and insecure people who don't have the visual acuity or the syncratic thinking of an Leonardo Divinci.
I had never had any problems at school, i didn't know there were left-handed scissors until 2nd grade so until then i got used to the normal scissors and leaned to the side (i borrowed a pair of leftie scissors to my righty bff and when she said it was impossible to cut with them i made her lean so she could see the line she complained it was too unconfortable; welcome to my world) my Elementary school teacher did not made a big deal out of it, she had been teactching for many years and did not demanded anyone's handwrite to be googly though that was the case for the other girls. The spiral notebooks don't bother me nor does the computer mouse. I avoid gel pens to avoid smudging.
About a month ago the music room was renewed, they thought it would be sophisticated to get desks with the writing surface attached rather than individual tables and desks.
When i walked in i asked the teacher if there was any lefthanded desk available her answer was "There are extra desks, sit between two of them", the desk lean to the left side so it was still painful to write; that day when i told my mom about that on the drive home and i cried my eyes out, my arm hurt just by looking at those.
My mom told my teatcher about my meltdown but all she did was steer the topic elsewhere and complain about her back so no progress was made.
Is it so bad to want them to at least get one lefthanded desk? If they did i knew they at least thought about it! If the other 15 kids get to have ergonomic desks (even they think they're unconfortable) why can't the 3 of us lefties be intitled to the same?
Tina
With the right handed desks I just turned sideways so the larger part of the desk was under my left arm. Not much room for books but it seemed to work for me. As for the gel pens, if you hold your pen correctly and have your paper slanted for lefties (opposite of the slant for righties) that should eliminate the smudging.
When I teach embroidery to right-handers, I switch my needle over to my right hand, and show them right-handed. When I teach left-handers, I show them left-handed. For me to teach right-handed, it does take effort and thought on my part, but that's my job!
SO OFTEN my left-handed students are thrilled to know that their teacher is also left-handed, because MANY of them report that they have had teachers say to them "I can't teach you, because you are left-handed". These are students who have paid just as much as the right-handed students to be there and to be instructed, yet the teachers seem to think it is ok not to bother to teach them left-handed. Can you imagine the outcry if I, as a left-handed teacher, turned up to a class of right-handed students and said "I'm sorry, I can't teach you, because you are right-handed"? I'd never be offered work there again!
Hopefully my left-handed stitch dictionary will help left-handed embroiderers. I know of right-handed teachers who own a copy just to take to classes with them, so that their left-handed students have a reference to follow. While it would still be better for the teacher to actually learn to SHOW the student in a left-handed manner (you pay for embroidery classes usually so that the stitches can be demonstrated and taught to you, not so that you can be referred to a book...) at least a left-handed reference is better than nothing.
In terms of embroidery teaching, discrimination against left-handers is still completely rife.
The left handed stitchers book is a great idea! The only stitch that I had much trouble with was the french knot, until I discovered that I just had to wrap the thread in the opposite direction from the right handed instructions!
One of the things lefties can do when trying to learn needle work from a rightie is sit directly in front and facing the instructor. This is what the mother of a friend of mine did when teaching her to knit and crochet. I would think it would work for embroidery also.
I would love to be able to find more lefty products here in the US. I love the left handed ruler I got from this website! It has made such a difference.
Recently, my husband (a righty) texted me (a lefty) and asked me to handle something with our daughter's school. (She is a lefty). Heather, who is 8, came home and told us she got in trouble for eatiing with the "wrong hand". When se told the teacher she couldn't eat with the other hand, she was told she was being defiant and she got lunch detention.
My husband thought this might be better for me to handle the situation. I was LIVID! Especially when I found out the lunch duty teacher had been a student teacher in Heather's room for 3 months. She should have realized that Heather was a lefty!
I called the school and spoke with the principal. She could not believe this happened. She had the duty teacher call me to explain her side. Mrs. B. said Heather was intentionally hitting elbows with the (right handed) boy next to her. Mrs. B. told me Heather was using her right hand before this. (I KNOW this is not true because Heather CANNOT eat with her right hand). Heather told me she tried to use her right hand (after she got in trouble) but "it didn't feel right".
I made sure my daughter knew that being left-handed is part of what makes her special. (She is the 3rd generation of lefty women, as my mom is also a lefty). And that NOBODY had the right to make her feel bad or upset because of being left handed. It was as much a part of her as her blond hair and blue eyes.
I realized the biggest issue is that they make the kids stand in ABC order and file into the seats (12 on a side) and sit down. When I go into a restaurant or crowded dinner table, I always look for the spot on the far left. The teacher and I came up with a solution. Heather is now allowed to either be the first or last one on the row so that she doesn't hit anyone with her elbow.
Oh...and the right-handed boy did NOT get lunch detention.
None of us ever had anyone try to "correct" our handedness. For me, growing up left handed, the biggest issue was handwriting. I always received C- in handwriting. In college, I had to complete an entire printing (manuscript) and cursive practice book. My teacher (who was left handed) talked a little bit about the difficulties lefties had with slanting "correctly". But she still marked me down for not slanting.
I ALWAYS had ink letters on the edge of my left hand.
In college, my biggest obstacle was desks. Most of our classrooms had the 1/2 desktop attached to the chair. There were a two or three lefty desks in each room, but there were 4 or 5 lefties in most of my classes. I ended up propping my open binder across my lap and writing on the left hand side of the binder.
I never learned to use any "left-handed" implements. Our left handed scissors were awkward (and scarce). I just learned to cut with my left hand. I learned to use a mouse with my right hand (and right hand settings) but this doesn't bother me as I have my left hand free to write if I need to). I don't find the 10 key pad to be a problem as I took a business machines class in college and learned to 10 key by touch on an adding machine (with my right hand).
As an adult, I've realized more things that have always been difficult, but I didn't attribute to my handedness. (Like opening doors or even turning keys in a lock).
Early on, I learned to sit on the left end of a table. Our family of 9 included 3 lefties. (An older brother as well). We had to arrange our rectagular table so 3 of us didn't bump elbows.)
My daughter recently had a run-in at school due to positioning, but I'll start a separate post for that one.
I very much agree with your statement, "As an adult, I’ve realized more things that have always been difficult, but I didn’t attribute to my handedness. (Like opening doors or even turning keys in a lock)."
My youngest daughter (who is now in Year 7 at secondary school) recently encountered a problem in a textiles lesson; she was french knitting when the teacher noticed she was doing it 'backwards' and proceeded to undo the work and insist she do it 'properly'. However, the teacher who has both my children for metalwork lessons is very understanding of their need to do things the opposite way to most of their classmates and tells them to stand in front of him and mirror his actions.
I think generally the problems come from a lack of understanding by right handers who are lucky enough to be able to do everything naturally.
My twin grand daughters have just turned two..Claire who is the quieter one definetly is going to be a lefty but her sister Amelia uses both hands equally ..their daddy (my son) is right handed
I would say my writing technique is fairly "normal and I keep my hand down low when writing..my primary school teacher always used to comment in my school reports that my writing needed attention..dont know why as it is quite neat
One of my pet hates are pens that are attached on the right hand side as ithe are in bank for example
When I browse through a magazine I always start at the back page as it seems more natural to me.I also have MS and they say that there is a higher incidence of MS sufferers that are lefties
At primary school I almost always topped my class for writing. Although dip pens and fountain pens were a hassle, I managed to work around them. I don't think there's a right or wrong way for left handers to position their paper, it depends on their hand position and writing style.
For me, spiral top notebooks work well.
It would be helpful if lots more gadgets etc were made to be used with either hand.
I've always been aware of my left-handedness, but only starting to play guitar I smacked my head on the wall for not being able to do something with my right hand.
I started taking lessons when I was about 13 years old, and my guitar teacher from a local music school never had a lefty student. He, as all of the right-handed people I know, tried to teach me the "RIGHT" way (intended using the left hand to make chords and the right hand to use a pick/finger the strings).
As a child I began this new hobby with a friend of mine, who was right handed, and I was shocked seeing how easy were for him the exercises our teacher gave us from time to time.
After two or three lessons I learned the difference between a right-handed guitar and a left-handed guitar, so I started switching the strings without telling the teacher. In my child mind I was acting like: I have to do this exercise, let me try to understand it in the lefty way and then let's try it the RIGHT way. This game went on for about 5-6 lessons, when I decided to tell my teacher I was not going to play in the right way anymore. He was stuck to his idea of me playing guitar as a right-handed person, but I made my decision, and now I have about 40 concerts on my shoulders as the lead guitar of a rock band.
So, to sum up: to all of you right-handed music teacher, it's your duty to try to teach a musical instrument "the other way", not the student's who has to learn it your way!
But I also wanted to point out that we have to also think about children that are being forced to squeeze into desks that are too tiny, tuck in shirts that then leaves them exposed to ridicule by classmates and the failure of our schools to treat all children dignity and respect.
Due to the one size fits all mentality of the school system, many children, including left handed children are expected to be the square pegs that must fit into the round holes. This is especially sad when the solutions are often quite simple to resolve, for instance seating a left handed child on the left side of the room. Thank you for taking on these issues that no one else seem to notice. BRAVO
I did not encounter left handed scissors until my teaching days and still find them as difficult to use as right handed ones. Left handed nibs for handwriting lessons in ink (age 11) were a must and I did discover a marvellous cartridge pen with a left handed nib but not until my 30's.
At Teacher's Training very little was made of left handed pupils and I encountered very few. Once qualified I always had 1 left hander in the class and very often up to three. Left handed scissors were always available, tried once and sometimes never again. I always made sure posture and sitting positions were correct and was careful the paper slanted in the correct direction. I admit I did not encourage pupils to write over the top of the paper but rather encouraged them to keep their wrist 'under' the writing as a right hander. I often speak to left handers who write 'over the top' and most say it is every bit as awkward and tiring as it looks and wish they wrote with their wrist 'under'
Yes, lecture hall tables with chairs attached for right handers are SO annoying and difficult to manage.
I am currently getting my masters in middle school math; my action research paper is on the success of the left handed student in math. Here are some of the strategies I have come up with to help my students.
• Seating is always helpful, along with when arranging in group project putting the left handers together.
• The right math tools, I love the left handed scissors, protractors and rulers.
• When using the number line (I use it for everything from teaching integers to money, it is a great visual). Encourage the leftie to start at the right and pull towards their body instead of push the pencil.
• Notebook, I have found that spirals that are on the top have been successful to use as journals, because they do not discriminate between hands, subsequently the lefties do not feel different. I would love to find binders that have the holes on the top to put their worksheet s and loose papers, but at the moment, I am still looking.
• Last - As a teacher I try to create the answer slots on the right side of the paper so the leftie does not lose his/her train of thought by lifting his hand to write the answer on the left.
These are just a few suggesting I have implemented, I would be very interested in other things that I can do to help my students. Any suggestions?
I'm cross-dominant, a true switch-hander, and I do this with the right half of the number line (or any straight line I have to draw!) When I get to the center, I switch over and pull from the right. Are you sure not everyone does this?
Also, there are left handed rulers? I never realized that rulers could be right handed. No wonder I turn them upside down.
I'm sure we didn't have left handed scissors at school but somehow I didn't have too many problems cutting. However, I was ecstatic when I got my first pair of left handed dress making scissors as an adult and found that the handles did *not* cut into my thumb and fingers as right handed scissor handles do.
p.s. do (did) any of you guys use CAPITALS when writing with a ball pen? (just seems easier for me!!)
I would like to say there are positives for being left-handed - We might not be the neatest joined up writers but we seem to be very artistic and good at maths.
I wonder if anyone has done studies on this?
Yes, I get the eyes, when I say I need to sit at the end of the table... I did find some camera's that were "Left Eyed". I could cope with the right handed buttons, but not the right eye (lol). So I am the product of being left handed in a right handed world.
I received some therapy for my vision, and it included exercises on eye hand coordination. The therapist was amazed, as I was doing things she had never seen. Seems I had acclimated my body so that I did all fine motor control with the left, and gross motor control with my right. I think it would be nice not to have to accomodate like that, but then again, doesn't that mean that we are constantly using both sides of our brain???
One point, Don't know if any of you noticed, but we eat with the fork in left hand, and when we need to cut meat, we keep fork in left hand and use the knife with our right.
Right handed people constantly switch their fork from right to left, so they can use their right for the knife. I always thought they were odd. very odd.
All of my schools have had left handed scissors, and not just one pair either, so that was no problem.
At secondary school I had a few problems with the sports teacher- every lesson I'd have to remind her of my handedness and she'd roll her eyes and sigh.
Desks have never been a problem. At school I always sat on the left of the table and explained why to any teacher who thought I wasn't following their seating plan. At my university we don't have chairs with a desk-thing attached, it's just a table and chair- no problem.
Teachers just need to be more aware- I don't think they are prejudiced towards left-handed children, I just think it's ignorance of the issue that left handers face.
I've also never got on with left handed bread knives, I expect it's because they weren't around so my mum taught me to cut bread with an ordinary one and I've always managed.
Within the setting where I work we have six lefthanded children and after talking with other practitioners I realised NONE of them understood the need to provide resources that would aid left handers in their development e.g. scissors.
I am currently studying towards a degree in Early Years and last year one module related to inclusion. As individuals, the class were asked to choose an area that they felt needed further investigation. Left handedness has always interested me as having a left handed father, i always thought it strange growing up that he held his pen in the "wrong" hand (sorry). Anyway, I chose lefthandedness and this was of interest to members of the group as within the group of 19 students 5 are left handed and the tutor pointed out that no one had ever chosen this area of interest before.
I prepared myself for the module, figuring Id gather all the relevant information I needed, put together a PowerPoint and put together an essay filled with left handed research and literature for all to read. But it did not work out the way I intended. I found very little information or research out there regarding lefthandedness itself, let alone in young children. I struggled to find anything I could use and definately no conflicing views (necessary when when writing a critical peice of work). I am VERY sad to say, I had to change my mind and look at another area of development, with regard to inclusion.
I have always tried in my work to ensure lefthanded children get the necessary resources available for them to progress as well as make sure they sit where they have space to write, with no "knocking" elbows. I talk to practitioners more, sometimes just to point out they are working with a lefthanded child (some adults just dont see it) and even parents about the differences, especially with regard to letter forming (sometimes the letters can be transposed), as some worry their child is "getting it wrong".
I was glad to see your email titled "Teacher training and left handed children" and have truely enjoed reading the other comments left here. Fingers crossed more literature and research will become available....Keep up the GREAT work...
If there is a "left handed mouse" to use with a conventional keyboard, I have never seen one. But now after 10 years of so of using a "right-handed mouse", I'm used to it, but it was a difficult chore.
I've always used a right-hand mouse. Before computers (Yes, I am that old) I worked in a store and had to use a cash register, which is nearly impossible to use left-handed, and later a desktop adding machine, which is also right handed. Since I was already "right handed" for those things, the mouse was simply fine in my right hand.
My Mum was a primary school teacher for many years and said she never had any training on how to teach left-handers to write.
My children are right-handed, but I gather from talking to parents of left-handers that things haven't improved a great deal since I was at school.
He only ever came home one time and told me about his 2nd grade teacher was telling him that he was holding his pencil wrong and trying to change him. I had my son show me how he holds his pencil, and he held it the same way that I do. I went straight to the school that next day, and when the teacher pulled out the writing handbook and tried to prove to me that my son was doing it all wrong, I told her it was a guide, not the Gospel, and from that point forward, she let him be.
(as an afterthought, told by my mother that my Great Grandmother used to tie my left hand behind my back to try and make me a (gasp!) rightie!) - still love her to bits though and she didn't succeed!!!!
LOOKING FORWARD TO 13th AUGUST (day after my 59th birthday! - cards and pressies gratefully accepted!!) - INTERNATIONAL LEFT HANDERS DAY - WE'RE RECOGNISED!!!!!! CELEBRATE MADLY!!!!!
Many years ago, when I was in Kindergarten, I remember that
left-handed SCISSORS were never available in class. It was
frustrating trying to use right-handed ones (they just folded the
paper as I tried to cut). My teacher told me I was just being
difficult and I didn't need different scissors. Craft time often
turned to tear time. Later in school I wished there were notebooks
and JOURNALS for lefties. SPIRAL NOTEBOOKS were agonizing. "Just
flip it the other way", was the common response. It would be nice if
manufacturers made left-handed stationary more readily available than
it is today.
I was thrilled to find your website.
I still get strange looks at restaurants when I always note that I
need to sit to the left of someone, so we won't bonk elbows!
My daughter groans every time that I note that someone is left-handed.
I find it quite exciting to meet a fellow lefty! Most of them write
with the "hook". I am lucky that I never developed the same writing
still.
I am also American. I don't know what the scissors looked like at your school, but the ones in mine clearly had hunter green rubber around handles, so there was no mistaking the left-handed scissors for the right-handed ones. However, because ours had the padding, the right-handed kids would not give them up, and unfortunately, our ignorant teachers let them get away with it.
Did you know that many things that may look ambidextrous are not? Take, for example, the butter knife.
At school I had a bad time with handwriting - my handwriting was deemed "poor, careless and illegible" No help was offered as to how I could improve. It wasn't until I was introduced to Italic writing an bought a left handed Italic pen that things improved. Left handed fountain pens make a big difference and now my writing is considered pretty O.K. There are some famous left handed writers - Gaynor Goffe being one. Don't ever try and change a left hander, whether child or adulkt. I was once asked if I would not find it easier to use my right hand to which I replied "About as easy as you would to use your left hand"
So use a left handed pen - Manuscript make some good ones in different sizes and a reasonable price. I also like using ink which I get from get from Private Reserve or Diamine by Mail order. There are some lovely colours.
Where are you demonstrating on 13 August - perhaps in London? . If so, I'd be happy to to demonstrate to any left handed people child or adult how I use my pens. Are you having any workshops on that day?
I hope you will prodce leaflet with all the excellent advice in your email.
Can you ensure that workshops are included at Teacher Training colleges, so that teachers get to find out about left handers during their training. There are a lot of us "lefties" around. Is it 35%? (or more?)
- Cartridge (ink) pens aren't very useful to left-handers. I remember
permanently having an inky edge of hand, and even left-handed nibs
seemed to catch and scratch on the paper.
- using a whiteboard remains a problem as my natural writing style
means my edge of hand rests on the writing surface. For whiteboards, I
have to hold the pen as one would a scalpel, which is tiring over
time.
- completely agree about sitting left-handers on the left-hand edge of
writing areas so they don't bump elbows with right-handers. I still do
this in meetings!
- if trying to teach joined-up writing to left-handers, don't punish
them if they don't manage it. I write capital Ns from right to left to
this day, and form letter Os by drawing a clockwise circle. This meant
that when trying to write joined-up (which I still don't) at school, I
used to go round and round in circles until finally I sling-shot off
to the right to form the next letter. I also cross Ts and Fs from
right to left. I only realised these differences in adulthood.
- many children nowadays use laptops as part of their everyday
learning. I use a mouse on the left (with the buttons NOT switched
over), and find that click-and-drag from right to left (my default
approach) sometimes highlights more than one wants, so one has to drag
from left to right.
- left-handed scissors in the classroom - what a joy they'd have been.
I use right-handed scissors in my right hand, because nothing else was
available.
- left-handed hockey sticks? I don't think they exist, but I remember
struggling with the "standard" hockey stick and using it bowl-side
forward in my left hand
- left-handed grips on racquets - I grip my squash racquet the
opposite way round from the way it's supplied (by adding a second grip
over the top) so that its ridges run parallel with the fingers of my
left hand.
As for handwriting schooling from 41/2 - 7 years was a waste of time, he suffered arm pain because he had to do it the schools way, he is left handed I cried on deaf ears. School became a chore for him. He is just about average now but if he had had the right left handed nurturing in those early years then maybe things would be different.
He is a wonderful little boy & has taught me so many things being the only leftie in the house!
I am left handed, with 2 out of 3 children left handed and a grandchild who may be. In my past also worked five years as a teaching assistant. So is a subject I am very aware of.
My dad 73 was possibly left-handed but it had been frowned on in his day and he was made to use his right.
Myself, when at school was made to use my right but when I bought home my first written work which looked bad, my dad put it up against a mirror and it was perfect and insisted that the school let me use my left hand from then on. Looking back I remember that the bell on my bike was pretty useless (one for my left thumb would have been much better as I always wobbled when trying to ring the bell).
When my second child went to pre-school when doing paintings was made to write her name on the right-hand corner of the page (not to my surprise she wrote it backwards as she started in the wrong corner). Once I made the teacher aware she was fine.
Once she started proper school left-handed awareness was at its peak and she was given a special taller chair etc. This did not make her feel special but different.
By the time my third child started school things had become more sensible and he had a choice of different materials i.e. sissors, pencils with grips.
Even teaching a child to button up their own coat and tie shoe laces is an obstacle for the right-handed person teaching.
About this time I became a teaching assistant and was pleased with the approach to left-handed children. If they struggled with sissors, writing implements they were given a suitable alternative to try.
Of course some things will not change in school i.e. door knobs are a problem for small children but impossible for left-handed small children and computer mice are always situated on the right.
I have seen many teachers in the playground not realising that a left-handed child needs to hold the bat in the left hand.
Even at my age I would like to crochet and will need someone left-handed to show me as all visual instructions are back to front to me.
I hope your cause to make new teachers aware goes well then if any of my grandchildren are left-handed they will have an easier time.
Iris
Anyway, Gram, Aunt Florence, Aunt Lillian, and Uncle George all married right-handed people and each couple had left-handed kids. Other than the fact that Uncle George's daughter adopted to infants who, ironically enough, also turned out to be left-handed, I have no clue about the rest of my grandmother's nieces and nephews.
My mother's sister married, but died childless. I am the only one of Mom;s kids who is left-handed and my ambidextrous son (an only child) is the only one of her grandchildren to be. One of my nieces just gave birth a to a girl a week after Gram died, so it's too early to tell with her, but we shall see. We at least know that in my direct line - mother to daughter to grandson, we have three generations of left-handedness.
My younger sister copied me and she is left-handed also.
The worse problem is one armed desks that you find in University classrooms. Many times there is not a left-handed desk. I have to pull another desk next to me so I can write on a surface.
Strange: One accounting class, there was a majority of left handed students (of course there were only 6 students enrolled in the course).
Make certain you get the "C" seat on an airplane, so your left arm is in the aisle.
The next day when I arrived at the school, I was told I had been transferred to Primary 5 where I could do less damage.
Many years when I began teaching I don’t think I gave left hand learners a second thought, besides the ordinary seating arrangements (which arouse from their neighbor complaining, never the left hand learner) and scissors. When my daughter was about 8 months old I noticed her left hand tendencies. As she grew, and I became more aware of her struggles I researched the ways I could help her.
One thing I noticed was in her first year of school. So many worksheets required students to find a matching picture from the first column. Left-hand learners automatically place their left hands on the left side of the paper causing the students to match the first picture they saw (one of the answers).
A second thing I noticed in the early years with LHL- is the process of ordering from least to greatest or greatest to least (or big to small). So many LHL will reverse the order. It isn’t that they don’t know the answer, or don’t listen to directions.” Their brain actually processes the information the same. Right to left is the natural function of their minds. How do we fix this? Easily, pull your LHL and work with them, have them choose, and point to wear they need to glue or write. They have the answers, just not the muscle memory to present the information
Learning to tell time was another way we needed to think outside the box. Classroom teachers need to be aware that the LHL processes the information in a counter clockwise fashion. How did we remedy this at home? Use very large pictures of clocks and use large red arrows to point out the direction of clockwise.” In addition, we used a large whiteboard, and had her draw out her own clock and move magnets into the number places. Long muscles create different memory patterns
I always use the term left-hand learner” when I train teachers. Teachers need to hear that it is not just a tendency to use a particular hand to write or cut. It truly is a brain process. Observing and adjusting the teaching style is needed. I cannot tell you the looks I get with teachers who feel that I am excusing my daughter’s learning needs. They are not excuses; they are legitimate brain based facts. Observe the natural tendencies and find a way to adapt your teaching style to adapt.
I will be very happy to work on this in the coming months. I would love to write a book! I haven’t even begun the issues in the middle grades. I am only a consultant, I do not hold a Ph.D, so my research and modifications are trial and error with my own daughter, as well as ideas from adapting teaching to learning styles, and observations from other LHL (and many ideas from products on ALH)
I have several quick tricks to share with parents or teachers that are quick fixes for many issues. I will gladly share more as they come to mind.
Allow students to write with flair pens, they don’t smudge and they have a higher visual impact
Use a graph paper for math. Those columns tend to drift and don’t line up. If that is not possible, print out a large graph with heavy dark lines on the computer, and tuck behind paper.
Use graph paper to teach printing and spelling. One letter per box.
Flip notebooks. I know that ALH sells LH notebooks, but many US schools supply classrooms with notebooks. Flip it so that the spine does not interfere with writing.
AND for the love of peace- don’t FORCE LHL to write in a binder. I would love for RH teachers to try it out backwards and see how annoying and painful it is!
If there is a specific question or need, ask. I may not have the answer right away, but I generally can come up with a modification to try.
When I studied to teach back in the mid-1980s, the colleges and school districts were aware of the learning disabilities that develop in left-handed students due to them having to adjust to living in a right-handed world, rather than being accommodated. It's a shame that there are any teachers out there at all who still believe that since all of the other kids can do something, a lefty should be able to do it, too.
-Please don't be lazy. Don't force a left handed student to write in a spiral book the
same as right handed students, simply look at the front of the book as they can
naturally place the label on the front for their view which will show you where it
begins.
-allow them to use items to help avoid smearing of the work.
-adapting to having the number keypad on a regular keyboard is not that difficult, I am a
full left handed person when it comes to writing and typing and this is one area i found
easy to adjust.
-PLEASE, for any classes that use any form of machinery or tools from sewing to
mechanics GIVE THE STUDENT EXTRA TIME TO ADJUST TO SAFETY FACTORS AND BE
SURE THE TOOL/MACHINE CAN BE ADJUSTED FOR SAFETY IF NEEDED! Too many times I
had to take extra time and lose marks just to do this for myself to avoid accidents,
even being called clumsy, slow. lazy or told I do not have the abilities needed for the type of job for doing so.
A great way to understand is to have a right handed teacher try a few things. Try cutting with left handed scissors, use a spiral notebook starting on the last page and have the paper on LEFT side of the spiral, use the keypad on their cell phones with their opposite hand than they normally use, try knitting, crocheting or any other craft with their left hand, set up and use equipment that is left handed by nature and this way they may get not only insight into the adjustments that are done regularly by their left handed students but may come up with options that could help students.
-Please don't force a left handed student to write in a spiral book the
same as right handed students, simply look at the front of the book as they can
naturally place the label on the front for their view which will show you where it
begins.
-allow them to use items to help avoid smearing of the work.
-adapting to having the number keypad on a regular keyboard is not that difficult, I
am a full left handed person when it comes to writing and typing and this is one area
I found easy to adjust.
-PLEASE, for any classes that use any form of machinery or tools from sewing to
mechanics GIVE THE STUDENT EXTRA TIME TO ADJUST TO SAFETY FACTORS AND BE
SURE THE TOOL/MACHINE CAN BE ADJUSTED FOR SAFETY IF NEEDED! Too many times I
had to take extra time and lose marks just to do this for myself to avoid accidents,
then being called clumsy, slow. lazy or told I do not have the abilities needed for the
type of job.
I taught myself to read when I was three and I was a librarian for eleven years. I was never a "math person" until I realized that math and language are essentially the same thing and I am now finishing my master's degree in middle and high school math education. I've learned that I'm a very good technical artist but lacking in creativity; on the flip side, I am not spectacular with arithmetic but very comfortable with abstract math, connections and creativity.
I've been wondering if my brain is cross-wired too! If math and language are processed through the more emotional hemisphere and art through the logical hemisphere. That would explain a lot.
I'm really glad I read this article and the comments because from what I'm reading, I seem to have more left-handed traits than I'd thought... things that I take for granted. When drawing lines I always start at the left and pull right. Doesn't everyone do that? If not, I need to root out my other stealthy leftie traits. I don't want to get rid of them! As a teacher it helps to know when you're doing something that will seem counterintuitive to the majority of your students so you can show them both ways.
I'm incredibly relieved that there are left-handed rulers. I end up flipping my head over and scrunching around to see it. I also have a very hard time distinguishing right from left in an image... embarrassing! I've had my class correct me before. I tell them teachers make mistakes too.
Thank you for your thoughts on left handed learners!
Raquel noted that she sees a lot of lefties in her stem classes. I noticed that as I got deeper into abstract math the proportions of lefties to righties changed; by the end it was 50/50. This makes me wonder about middle school math teachers versus high school math teachers. I'm willing to bet that there are more left-handed high school (math) teachers than middle school teachers because you find more math majors teaching high school whereas you have more education majors teaching middle school.
To teach me how to write, my right-handed parents sat across the table from me, so I learned how to hold a writing implement in a mirrored way from them, and I learned to form letters on my own, by tracing outlines of the letters without any guidance.
Since I can use right-handed scissors, that has never really been a problem for me, but I will ensure that I have some in my future classroom.
Encourage left-handed students to have their writing paper angled to the right (45 degrees). This prevents 'smudging' and makes it easier for the left-hander to read their work. It also helps to encourage a conventional pencil grip too.
Ensure that the left-handed scissors are not just left-handed grips - they need to be left-bladed! It was a revelation to me to use proper left-bladed dressmaking shears.
Thank goodness teachers no longer use chalk boards - as a left-hander writing with chalk and trying to look over my left shoulder at the students was a nightmare.
I just thought that because there is so much stress, pressure, insult given to left handers to live in a right handed world, well I honestly think that if we want to get our own back, we should give the righties a taste of their own medicine. I think LEFTIES should declare themselves or implement change acknowledge lefthandedness as a DISABILITY seeing that it is so wrong to be a lefty.
YES, WE SHOULD REQUEST THE LAW TO CHANGE, AND ACKNOWLEDGE US AS DISABLED.
WE MAY BE LEFTIES BUT OUR BRAINS, EYES, AND EARS AND THE REST OF US STILL WORK!!!!!!!
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IM TRYING TO SAY????????
It's something that teachers, left or right handed, should be given some training in - how to hold a pen/pencil (in both hands), it would help all of them I think, which ever their dominant hand is, to help all the students in thier classes. Mind you - as the above comment states - we're moving to technology so fast that writing may become obselete in the not too distant future.
By the way - do keyboards discriminate against lefties????
Not sure what you mean about keyboards (never had a problem), but I always found using the right handed mouse gave me loads of space on my desk to make notes left handed whilst all my colleagues had to move stuff around to get to their pen and paper (electronic office!! - don't make me laugh!!) - we'll always need paper and it's easier for us lefties!!
Was difficult to show my right handed son D-I-Y though (my daughter's sensible, she's a leftie!!)
Mirrors are helpful if you haven't found that tip yet!!
Best wishes to you and the bookends xx
I actually think I have the advantage being left-handed, since I've had to be creative all my life in order to use right handed tools (You should see how I use a manual can opener) in a left-handed way. I see many right-handed therapists struggling to figure out how to work with left-handed students, and they often come to me with their questions.
As for the keyboard, I don't think the keyboard itself is necessarily right-hand oriented. Of course, I have a laptop, so I have no right-hand number keypad. I only have the numbers across the top of the keyboard. There are number keypads that are separate from the keyboard that can be purchased. Those could be attached like a mouse, and be used on either side of the keyboard. Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone who makes a number keypad that has the numbers going right to left, so it would only be a halfway measure to fix the problem.
Philip Schwartz
I'm not sure whether this practice is done in other countries, but in the Philippines, as long as the teacher is aware of such things, I believe they are given consideration.
1. Position of paper when writing: The picture you have included in the "teacher Training of Left Handed Children is the perfect illustration of why Lefties usually have a terrible writing position. The girl has the paper slanted to the right, and she is also expected to SLANT her writing to the right. Pretty difficult to do both and not have most lefties not bend their wrist and hand way to the right. When my teacher would place my paper to the right, after she walked away, I would slant it to the LEFT, and therefore had no problem slanting my letters to the left and did so without having placing my wrist and hand in a contorted position.
2. Loose leaf spiral tablets: Obviously made for right handers, as they don't have the problem with the spiral wire being in their way when they are writing, as Lefties do pretty uncomfortably! So, what I would do is write in my spiral notebook, starting from the back page, placing the spiral to the left side so that it didn't bother me! Thus my left hand didn't have to be continually on top of the wire as I wrote! At first my teacher gave me a hard time about it, but I persisted and finally convinced her that it should really matter how I was holding my tablet, as long as I was using it for the purpose the notebook was made for--keeping notes! So all of my notes were kept in my spiral notebook from the back of the tablet toward the front!
3. Neatness affected as lefties often drag their writing hand over what they have just written. If they are using a pencil, they will often cause lead smudge marks. And if they are using pens, they will oftentimes smudge the ink! I have never seen a right hander with a dirty hand from writing, but you will usually see lefties with ink or lead marks on their hands after writing something. For left-handers to avoid this, they basically have to hold their hand slightly in the air so as not to touch the paper and smudge their writing! something right-handers don't have to do! And this not only can be pretty uncomfortable to do, but also can affect the way a lefty holds their pen or pencil! Teachers should be made aware of this when grading left-handed students on neatness!
4. classroom student desks: These chairs all have the desk area on the right side, making it easy for right-handers to use and difficult for lefties and another reason for the poor way they hold their hand and wrist when writing. First, the teacher makes the lefty slant their paper to the right, then they are forced to hold the paper way to the right side where the writing surface is, and then they are also forced to write their letters to the right, making it impossible for most lefties not to have a contorted writing style. And also a big reason why most lefties have such a hard time writing and most actually either slant their letters straight up or basically slanted backwards to the left.
My writing is not the greatest in legibility and I blame this on most of my teachers forcing me to write very uncomfortably and disciplining me when I continued to have problems conforming to their strict writing methods which were all geared to right-handers.
Thanks and hope this is helpful to you.
Bob
1.I held my paper slanted to the left so that could more easily slant my letters to the right without contorting my wrist and hand.
2. I placed my notebook backwards so that the spiral wire would be to the RIGHT and not in my way when writing, thus keeping my notes starting from the back page, toward the front page!
Interestingly, I only became aware of the challenges left-handers go thru via your articles. the biggest challenge i recall from school and college is the sitting/writing position. I always had to work this out for myself as I was all thru the years the only left handed person in class.
When I started reading stuff on the 'condition', I realised that there are some things that I could not and still cannot do with my left hand! Amazing, isn't it? For instance, I play the guitar like a right handed person. i also cannot hold my toothbrush with my left hand while brushing. I've tried and tried and found it impossible. Also, I cannot work with scissors using the left hand! Therefore, it seems the only thing I do with the left is write and eat. When using a fork on its own, i cannot use my right, if i do (and this includes writing as well), I become very clumsy and make a mess of everything.
Their cursive letter shapes are different in many cases to block letters and they make no accomadations for left handers.
They are getting so married to technology (smart boards, ipads, inquiry-based group learning) that there's no time for the basics.
However, in my new prep school when I was 9, the teacher identified that I and another left-handed girl needed to be seated at the end of our tables, to make sure our writing wasn't constantly interrupted by knocking elbows. I really appreciated this (although it was a bit disappointing not being able to sit right next to my friends all the time). It did make things much easier. More teachers need to recognise the small needs of left-handed children, as these little changes could make a big difference.
1) If using student chairs with a writing tablet like this: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=student chairs with tablet&hl=en&rlz=1T4GGHP_en-GBTR419TR419&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=IXpoT5ecK-ek0AXvhKmBCQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CFoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=641 sufficient left-handed chairs must be provided.
2) A left handed teacher cannot easily use a black/white board if it is positioned in the right-hand corner of a room.
3) If desks are positioned in a "U" shape around the room, or even if in rows to an extent, left-handed students should take the seats on the left side of the classroom in order to be able to face the teacher/board and write notes easily.
4) Left-handed rulers, protractors, slide rules etc must be provided for Maths and other relevant lessons.
5) Some sports allow for different handedness - you can have a left-handed tennis racket, lacrosse stick and fencing foil but there is no such thing as a left-handed hockey stick - perhaps hockey should be discontinued or be optional.
6) If students are taking part in cookery/domestic science lessons, appropriate equipment such as potato peelers, saucepans with a pouring lip etc should be provided for both left and right-handed students.
These are just a few ideas, I'm sure there are many more areas to be considered.
Thanks for all you're doing!
Susan
35/4yrs ago I was learning to write in the British miltary schools system & I will always remember at conversation I had with the teacher who's name and gender I can't remember. However, the conversation when something like this:-
Teacher - "You are a very lucky girl, you are on of the first children to be 'allowed' to write with their left hand!"
Me - I started laughing at which point the teacher demanded to know why I was laughing, so I explained as only a young child can "You make me use me right hand & my Daddy smash your teeth in".
To me at the time it was as simple as that, now people are proud of being left handed. Instead of left handed knifes, pens, scissors etc being 'specialist' items that cost a small fortune they are more main stream. Lefties no longer have to make do using right handed equipment or hide the fact, feel ashamed that they are lefties.
I would like to think that in the next few years we will be able to simply walk into shops & be offered left or right handed equipment as a matter of course. Just as we are able to chose a size or colour of items now. Having two American presidents out of the last three who are lefties might help towards that goal - maybe :-).
Mohamed Tawfic Ahmed
Professor, Suez Canal University, Egypt
Perhaps teachers especially EYFS should actually spend some time being left-handed to understand some of the problems these youngsters face.
On another note, I am a voice over artist as well as a teacher, and I'd like to offer my services for the production of your awareness campaign at a discounted price. Please see my website if you'd like to know - and hear - more: www.erinclarkvoice.com.
Thank you for helping me become a better teacher and parent to lefties! I love my lefty!
Erin.
if you say that you give a force, they need to know that how you give a force,
this is my personal experience that I catch things very quickly when I see them, I can't by heart it if some teacher says.
I also think that, when you write a answer, lefty ans a questions to the point, what is been asked, they don't like to make a story of the answer, telling about its past, etc. but according to a teacher a answer is complete if you write, how it came to existence etc etc, this could also be a matter to see upon.
And lastly, you all are doing a great work, keep going, I AM PROUD TO BE LEFTY!!!! :-)
I AGREE WITH U AS I ALSO EXPERIANCE the same thing i.e. am also lefty and i also feel proud on it. now one thing that every lefty have potential, the only thing make differance is understnding/analising ourself for which ciub help us.....
thnk u .........
i do not know what there called but there chairs with a table attached and everysingle one is for a right handed person in fact i dont think i have ever seen a left handed ones which mean i have to write either on my lap or find a table a proper one
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